VISTA - The World's Most Powerful Survey Telescope

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ESOcast 12: VISTA - A Pioneering New Survey Telescope Starts Work.

VISTA (the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) is a new telescope that has just started work at ESOs Paranal Observatory in Chile and has made its first release of pictures.

VISTA is a survey telescope working at infrared wavelengths and is the worlds largest survey telescope. Its large mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive detectors will reveal a completely new view of the southern sky.

Spectacular pictures of the Flame Nebula, the Centre of the Milky Way and the Fornax Galaxy Cluster show that it is working very well.

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VISTA is the latest telescope to be added to ESOs Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is housed on the peak adjacent to the one hosting the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and shares the same exceptional observing conditions.

VISTA's main mirror is 4.1 metres across and is the most highly curved mirror of this size and quality ever made — its deviations from a perfect surface are less than a few thousandths of the thickness of a human hair — and its construction and polishing presented formidable challenges.

VISTA was conceived and developed by a consortium of 18 universities in the United Kingdom led by Queen Mary, University of London and became an in-kind contribution to ESO as part of the UK's accession agreement. The telescope design and construction were project-managed by the Science and Technology Facilities Council's UK Astronomy Technology Centre (STFC, UK ATC).

Provisional acceptance of VISTA was formally granted by ESO at a ceremony at ESO's Headquarters in Garching, Germany, attended by representatives of Queen Mary, University of London and STFC, on 10 December 2009 and the telescope will now be operated by ESO.

Read more: http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2009/pr-49-09.html

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ESOcast is produced by ESO, the European Southern Observatory. ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy designing, constructing and operating the worlds most advanced ground-based telescopes.

• http://www.eso.org/
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[MeloDeath31]

"vista is working extremely well"

first time i heard that.

[Temuldjin]

so this means we can no longer say "vista sucks ?" :( ?

[MrScadino]

@rafadelriordrl - Iwant update your projects here in phillippies the most powerful bomb..I want projects that kid of amazing bomb in worlds..Please help me... Sergio C. Adino is update your corporate world now..

[rafadelriordrl]

las ciencias nos han mostrado cual es la naturaleza infinita en la que el hombre empieza a conocer, es un gran paso, pero no deja de ser muy pequeño para lo que falta por explorar...

[PauliJones17]

I'm proud and I thank God for having been part of this great project.

[JustinBringit]

This topic is paramount........A must have technological advancemennt priority.

[tsukanoffkirill]

Those 5 people who disliked it must have missed the button...

[99trance]

To all the people telling Vista jokes ...... I laughed while eating some marmite on toast with extra butter thats melted everywhere ........ So thats all that matters : - ))))))))))

[Ebdan88]

@Cripwalker2006 What i am writing about you mean :-) how many years is it that they have sent the Hover telescope to space!!? We know that there are sending life pictures 24 hours a day, and until now most people of the world have seen a couple of pictures from it!! there isnt a site which shows exacly what few people at the top are observing!! why?Because some private ultra rich, Greedy groups have highJacked Goverments around the world. Bad times, and its going to get much worse!! Now you know

[Cripwalker2006]

@Ebdan88 what the fuck are you talking about

[TubedProductions]

@Cripwalker2006 You obviously cant take a joke ;)

[Cripwalker2006]

"vista is working extremely well" then how comes my vista keeps on crashing.