The Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal in northern Chile, is certainly one of the premier ground-based observatories. But a new infrared instrument recently installed on the telescope has actually made the VLT even much better.
The Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) was delivered to Chile in December, 2021 and the first test observations were brought out starting in February of this year. ESO, the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, an international company which coordinates the usage of VLT and a number of other observatories, says this infrared instrument “will have the ability to see more and in finer information, blazing a trail in Solar System, exoplanet and galaxy observations.”
The very first authorities image launched from ERIS verifies this assertion. This image above reveals the galaxy NGC 1097, comparing the view of ERIS, right, with a picture of the exact same galaxy taken with the previous instrument, NACO, which is made up of the Nasmyth Adaptive Optics System (NAOS) and the Near-Infrared Imager and Spectrograph (CONICA), left.
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As you can see, the brand-new instrument shows the galaxy in unbelievable information. NGC 1097 lies 45 million light-years far from Earth, in the constellation Fornax. ERISs view shows a clearer image of the gas and dusty ring that lies at the center of the galaxy, with a crisper view of the bright spots in the surrounding ring, which are excellent nurseries.
Light for ERIS, the Very Large Telescopes newest infrared instrument. This image has been taken through 4 different filters by ERISs cutting edge infrared imager, the Near Infrared Camera System– or NIX. The filters have been represented here by blue, green, red and magenta, where the last one highlights the compact regions in the ring. To put NIXs resolution in perspective, this image reveals, in detail, a portion of the sky less than 0.03% the size of the full Moon. Credit: ESO/ERIS group
The ERIS instrument combines an advanced infrared imager, the Near Infrared Camera System– or NIX imager (NIX) and an integral-field spectrograph (SPIFFIER– SPectrometer for Infrared Faint Field Imaging), both of which utilize a laser-assisted adaptive optics system to improve the imaging performance. The adaptive optics fixes for the blurring impacts of Earths atmosphere in genuine time. ESO states ERIS will be active for at least 10 years and is anticipated to make significant contributions to a myriad of subjects in astronomy, varying from far-off galaxies and black holes through to exoplanets and dwarf worlds within our own Solar System.
” We expect not only that ERIS will fulfil its primary clinical objectives,” stated Harald Kuntschner, ESOs project scientist for ERIS, in a news release, “but that due to its adaptability it will likewise be used for a wide array of other science cases, ideally resulting in brand-new and unanticipated outcomes.”
ERIS is mounted on the VLTs Unit Telescope 4 and authorities say the upgrade provides some essential improvements to the center for the coming years.
” ERIS breathes new life into the fundamental adaptive optics imaging and spectroscopy capability of the VLT,” states Ric Davies, the Principal Investigator of the ERIS consortium and researcher at limit Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. “Thanks to the efforts of all those included in the task over the years, many science tasks are now able to gain from the charming resolution and level of sensitivity the instrument can accomplish.”
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ERISs view shows a clearer picture of the gas and dirty ring that lies at the center of the galaxy, with a crisper view of the bright spots in the surrounding ring, which are stellar nurseries.
Light for ERIS, the Very Large Telescopes latest infrared instrument. The ERIS instrument combines a cutting edge infrared imager, the Near Infrared Camera System– or NIX imager (NIX) and an integral-field spectrograph (SPIFFIER– SPectrometer for Infrared Faint Field Imaging), both of which utilize a laser-assisted adaptive optics system to enhance the imaging performance. ESO states ERIS will be active for at least 10 years and is expected to make substantial contributions to a myriad of subjects in astronomy, varying from remote galaxies and black holes through to exoplanets and dwarf worlds within our own Solar System.
