HAWK I CCD

Reinhold Dorn working on the HAWK I CCD. The HAWK-I instrument is mounted on ESO's VLT Nasmyth (side) port. HAWK-I is attached on Yepun, Unit Telescope number 4 of ESO's Very Large Telescope, and saw First Light on the night of 31 July 2007. As the telescope tracks the celestial object under study, the entire instrument (2.2 tonnes) must rotate with great precision about its optical axis to hold the image stationary while the exposure is taken.