European
Southern
Observatory
Instruments Overview
European
Southern
Observatory
After the ELT’s spectacular mirrors have collected, corrected and stabilised the light from astronomical objects, it is up to the instruments to analyse it in detail. The suite of instruments planned for the ELT includes cameras, to capture images, and spectrographs, which disperse light into its component colours, among other fantastic tools. Each of these will allow astronomers to observe and study the cosmos in a unique way.
Four of the instruments, the first generation, will start to operate at or shortly after ELT technical first light while an additional two (ANDES and MOSAIC) will start operations at a later stage. Throughout the telescope’s lifetime, other instruments will be installed on the telescope to study the Universe in ever more detail.
Selecting instruments for any telescope is a critical step in making sure that the astronomical community it serves can undertake the scientific projects for which the telescope was designed. ESO has been working with its community of astronomers and instrument builders to develop the sequence in which the instruments planned for the ELT will be built and delivered to the observatory. The result is an exciting programme of powerful facility instruments that can deliver the science cases for the ELT.
The first steps in developing the instrument plan were taken in 2007 when a plan for studying six instruments and two post-focal adaptive-optics-module concepts was presented to the ESO Council, ESO’s main governing body. Three additional instrument studies were chosen after an open call to the community for further concepts.
By early 2010 all of these ‘Phase A’ studies had successfully been completed in collaboration with institutes in the ESO community. Following recommendations by the ELT Science Working Group, the ELT Project Science Team, and ESO's Scientific Technical Committee, two first-light instruments were identified: a diffraction-limited near-infrared imager (ELT-CAM: MICADO) and a single-field near-infrared wide-band integral field spectrograph (ELT-IFU: HARMONI), including the adaptive optics systems required to deliver their science cases. The next three instruments, a mid-infrared imager and spectrometer (ELT-MDIR: METIS), a dispersion echelle spectrograph (ELT-ANDES: ANDES; formerly known as HIRES) and a multi-object spectrometer (ELT-MOS: MOSAIC), were considered of equal scientific importance.
On 10 July 2015, the ESO Council authorised the Director General to sign the contracts for the first set of instruments for the ELT, which includes MICADO, MORFEO, a multi-conjugate adaptive optics unit that will feed MICADO (and possibly additional future instruments), HARMONI and METIS. On 8 December 2021, Council gave permission for the agreements for ANDES and MOSAIC to be signed. A schedule for the ELT instruments is provided in the table below.
One of the highest scientific priorities for the telescope is to characterise exoplanets and, specifically, to take images of Earth-like planets. Such a giant leap from the capabilities we have today requires significant research into new technologies over several years. Therefore, an ambitious and powerful planetary camera and spectrograph (ELT-PCS) is included in the instrumentation plan, and the research and development for specific components required to build it will start as soon as possible.
We use cookies that are essential for accessing our websites and using our services. We also use cookies to analyse, measure and improve our websites’ performance, to enable content sharing via social media and to display media content hosted on third-party platforms.
The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy. It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy.
This Cookies Policy is intended to provide clarity by outlining the cookies used on the ESO public websites, their functions, the options you have for controlling them, and the ways you can contact us for additional details.
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device by websites you visit. They serve various purposes, such as remembering login credentials and preferences and enhance your browsing experience.
Essential cookies (always active): These cookies are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our website. Without these cookies, the website cannot operate correctly, and certain services, such as logging in or accessing secure areas, may not be available; because they are essential for the website’s operation, they cannot be disabled.
Functional Cookies: These cookies enhance your browsing experience by enabling additional features and personalization, such as remembering your preferences and settings. While not strictly necessary for the website to function, they improve usability and convenience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent.
Analytics cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors interact with our website, such as which pages are visited most often and how users navigate the site. This data helps us improve website performance, optimize content, and enhance the user experience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent. We use the following analytics cookies.
Matomo Cookies:
This website uses Matomo (formerly Piwik), an open source software which enables the statistical analysis of website visits. Matomo uses cookies (text files) which are saved on your computer and which allow us to analyze how you use our website. The website user information generated by the cookies will only be saved on the servers of our IT Department. We use this information to analyze www.eso.org visits and to prepare reports on website activities. These data will not be disclosed to third parties.
On behalf of ESO, Matomo will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
Matomo cookies settings:
Additional Third-party cookies on ESO websites: some of our pages display content from external providers, e.g. YouTube.
Such third-party services are outside of ESO control and may, at any time, change their terms of service, use of cookies, etc.
YouTube: Some videos on the ESO website are embedded from ESO’s official YouTube channel. We have enabled YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, meaning that no cookies are set unless the user actively clicks on the video to play it. Additionally, in this mode, YouTube does not store any personally identifiable cookie data for embedded video playbacks. For more details, please refer to YouTube’s embedding videos information page.
Cookies can also be classified based on the following elements.
Regarding the domain, there are:
As for their duration, cookies can be:
Cookie settings: You can modify your cookie choices for the ESO webpages at any time by clicking on the link Cookie settings at the bottom of any page.
In your browser: If you wish to delete cookies or instruct your browser to delete or block cookies by default, please visit the help pages of your browser:
Please be aware that if you delete or decline cookies, certain functionalities of our website may be not be available and your browsing experience may be affected.
You can set most browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g. profile logging-in, shop check out).
The ESO Cookies Policy may be subject to future updates, which will be made available on this page.
For any queries related to cookies, please contact: pdprATesoDOTorg.
As ESO public webpages are managed by our Department of Communication, your questions will be dealt with the support of the said Department.
