Agreement Signed for METIS Instrument for E-ELT

ESO has signed an agreement with a consortium of institutes around Europe [1] for the design and construction of METIS, an infrared camera and spectrograph for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT).

The agreement was signed by H. W. (Willem) te Beest, Vice-President Executive Board, Leiden University, on behalf of the consortium, and Tim de Zeeuw, ESO Director General, at a ceremony at the Science Faculty Club of Leiden University in the Netherlands, on 28 September 2015.

Bernhard Brandl, the Principal Investigator of METIS, was also in attendance as well as all Co-Investigators and the project managers of all the partners in the consortium.

METIS is one of the Phase 1 instruments for the E-ELT. It will offer imaging and medium-resolution spectroscopy over a wavelength range from 3–19 micrometres, and high-resolution integral field spectroscopy over a wavelength range of 3–5.3 micrometres. METIS is the only E-ELT Phase 1 instrument to work at these longer mid-infrared wavelengths and complements the MICADO camera and HARMONI spectrograph.

The METIS instrument, in conjunction with the huge light-collecting power and resolution of the E-ELT, will allow many advances in a wide range of astronomical topics. These include the study of protoplanetary discs and the formation of planets, detailed investigations of the properties of exoplanets and, closer to home, the formation and history of the Solar System. METIS will also probe the growth of supermassive black holes as well as study star-forming galaxies in the early Universe.

METIS, like the other E-ELT instruments, builds on development work at ESO and in the community over many years. It is the successor to earlier ESO mid-infrared instruments, including VISIR and CRIRES.

In Greek mythology, Metis was the first wife of Zeus and mother of Athena, goddess of wisdom.

Notes

[1] The consortium consists of the Nederlandse Onderzoekschool Voor Astronomie (NOVA), represented by Leiden University (the Netherlands), the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, represented by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA) (Germany), the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UKATC) (United Kingdom), the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), CEA Saclay (France), ETH Zürich (Switzerland) and Universität Wien on behalf of the A* consortium (Austria).

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory