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ESO 3.6 m Telescope

{{Short description|Optical reflecting telescope in Chile}}

{{Redirect|ADONIS|the encryption machine|KL-7|other uses|adonis (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox Telescope}}

image:ESO3 6 Telescope.jpg

The ESO 3.6 m Telescope is an optical reflecting telescope run by the European Southern Observatory at La Silla Observatory, Chile since 1977, with a clear aperture of about {{convert|3.6|m|in}} and {{convert|8.6|m2|sqft|abbr=on}} area.

The telescopes uses the HARPS instrument and has discovered more than 130 exoplanets. In 2012, it discovered Alpha Centauri Bb, a now-disproven possible planet in the Alpha Centauri system only 4.4 light-years away.http://www.planetary.org, Bruce Betts, [http://www.planetary.org/blogs/bruce-betts/20121017-Alpha-Centauri-first-planet-discovery.html B. Betts - First Planet Discovered in Alpha Centauri System - TPS], 18 October 2012

ESO collaborated with CERN on building the telescope.{{Cite book|last=Madsen|first=Claus|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/818323656|title=The jewel on the mountaintop : fifty years of the European Southern Observatory|date=2012|publisher=Wiley-VCH|isbn=978-3-527-41203-7|location=[Weinheim]|oclc=818323656}}{{Cite book|last=Reiz|first=Anders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFrvAAAAMAAJ|title=ESO/SRC/CERN Conference on Research Programmes for the New Large Telescopes, Geneva, 27-31 May 1974: Proceedings|date=1974|publisher=Organizing Committee of the Conference|language=en}} It saw first light in 1976 and entered full operations in 1977.{{cite web|title=Telescopes and Instrumentation, the ESO 3.6-metre Telescope|url=http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/lasilla/36.html|access-date=2011-05-02|type=Table on the right of the page}} When completed it was one of the world's largest optical telescopes. It received an overhaul in 1999 and a new secondary in 2004. The ESO 3.6-metre Telescope has supported many scientific achievements and presented ADONIS, one of the first adaptive optics system available to the astronomical community in the 1980s.

Instruments

Since 22, the ESO 3.6 m telescope has hosted HARPS, the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher and NIRPS, the Near Infra Red Planet Searcher. HARPS is a fibre-fed high resolution echelle spectrograph dedicated to the discovery of extrasolar planets. Other instruments on the telescope, now decommissioned, include:{{cite web|url=http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/lasilla/telescopes/3p6/index.html | title = The ESO 3.6m Telescope | access-date = 2011-05-26}}

  • CES: is a spectrograph that provides a resolving power of up to 235,000 in the 346–1028 nm region.
  • EFOSC2: the ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (v.2), is a very versatile instrument for low resolution spectroscopy and imaging.
  • TIMMI-2: the Thermal Infrared MultiMode Instrument dedicated to the 3–25 μm spectrum.
  • ADONIS: is the acronym for Adaptive Optics Near Infrared System, and was a second-generation adaptive optics system for the astronomical community. More than 40 peer-reviewed scientific articles were published based on this instrument data. ADONIS is the final version of diverse Adaptive Optics (AO) prototypes named Come-on and Come-on +. It was offered in its final version in October 1996 as an official ESO instrument, then decommissioned in 2001. ADONIS was the first AO system offered to a large community of astronomers.

Recent scientific achievements

File:Свежий снимок Новой Центавра 2013.jpg]]

The ESO 3.6 m telescope has made several scientific discoveries since it saw first light. Recent astronomical achievements were made possible by HARPS, a "top-class" instrument. This include finding the lightest exoplanet known at the time of discovery in, Gliese 581e, with only twice the mass of the Earth,{{cite news|url=http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0915/ | title = Lightest exoplanet yet discovered | date=2009-04-21 | publisher=ESO| access-date = 2011-05-26}} and the richest planetary system known at the time, with up to seven planets orbiting a Sun-like star.{{cite news|url=http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1035/ | title = Richest Planetary System Discovered | date=2010-08-24 | publisher=ESO| access-date = 2011-05-26}}

The telescope was also involved in solving a decades-old mystery regarding the mass of Cepheid variable stars. By using the HARPS instrument, astronomers detected for the first time a double star where a pulsating Cepheid variable and another star pass in front of one another, which allows to measure the mass of the Cepheid. The study concluded that the mass prediction coming from the theory of stellar pulsation was correct while the value calculated was at odds with the theory of stellar evolution.{{cite news|url=http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1046/ | title = Pulsating Star Mystery Solved | date=2010-11-24 | publisher=ESO| access-date = 2011-05-26}}

The discovery of the extrasolar planet Gliese 581 c by the team of Stéphane Udry at University of Geneva's Observatory in Switzerland was announced on April 24, 2007.{{cite news | url=http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070424_hab_exoplanet.html | title=Major Discovery: New Planet Could Harbor Water and Life | last=Than | first=Ker | date=2007-04-24 | publisher=space.com | access-date=2007-04-29}} The team used the telescope's HARPS spectrograph, and employed the radial velocity technique to identify the planet's influence on the star.{{cite news | url=http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070424_exoplanet_side.html | title=Planet Hunters Edge Closer to Their Holy Grail | last=Than | first=Ker | date=2007-02-24 | publisher=space.com | access-date=2007-04-29}}

By 2009, the telescope was used to discover 75 exoplanet candidates.{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/19/space.new.planets/index.html | work=CNN | title=32 planets discovered outside solar system - CNN.com | access-date=4 May 2010 | date=19 October 2009}} In 2011, another 50 exoplanet candidates were announced.[http://phys.org/news/2011-09-exoplanets-harps.html 50 new exoplanets discovered by HARPS]

Contemporaries on commissioning

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: 0.5em auto;"

|+Largest optical astronomical telescopes in 1976

width=18 | #

! Name
(observatory)

! Image

! Aperture

! width=60 | M1
area

! Altitude

! width=60 | First
light

! Special advocate

{{small|1.}}

| align=left | BTA-6
{{small|(Special Astrophysical Obs)}}

| bgcolor=#ddd | 80px

| 238 inch
605 cm

| 26 m2

| {{convert|2070|m|ft|abbr=on}}

| 1975

| Mstislav Keldysh

{{small|2.}}

| align=left | Hale Telescope
({{small|Palomar Observatory}})

| bgcolor=#ddd | 80px

| 200 inch
508 cm

| 20 m2

| {{convert|1713|m|ft|abbr=on}}

| 1949

| George Ellery Hale

{{small|3.}}

| align=left | Mayall Telescope
{{small|(Kitt Peak National Obs.)}}

| bgcolor=#ddd | 80px

| 158 inch
401 cm

| 10 m2

| {{convert|2120|m|ft|abbr=on}}

| 1973

| Nicholas Mayall

{{small|4.}}

| align=left | Víctor M. Blanco Telescope
{{small|(CTIO Observatory)}}

| bgcolor=#ddd | 80px

| 158 inch
401 cm

| 10 m2

| {{convert|2200|m|ft|abbr=on}}

| 1976

| Nicholas Mayall

{{small|5.}}

| align=left | Anglo-Australian Telescope
{{small|(Siding Spring Observatory)}}

| bgcolor=#ddd | 80px

| 153 inch
389 cm

| 12 m2

| {{convert|1742|m|ft|abbr=on}}

| 1974

| Prince Charles

bgcolor=#edf3fe

| {{small| 6.}}

| align=left | ESO 3.6 m Telescope
{{small|(La Silla Observatory)}}

| bgcolor=#ddd | 80px

| 140 inch
357 cm

| 8.8 m2

| {{convert|2400|m|ft|abbr=on}}

| 1976

| Adriaan Blaauw

{{small|7.}}

| align=left | Shane Telescope
{{small|(Lick Observatory)}}

| bgcolor=#ddd | 80px

| 120 inch
305 cm

| ~7 m2

| {{convert|1283|m|ft|abbr=on}}

| 1959

| Nicholas Mayall

Gallery

= Telescope and site =

Image: 3.6-m Telescope at La Silla.jpg|The ESO 3.6-metre telescope.

Image: 3,6-m Telescope at La Silla.jpg|The road to the telescope at La Silla.

Image: LaSillaByNight2.jpg|Euler Telescope and the ESO 3.6 m Telescope (background).

Image: La Silla 3.6m telescope.jpg|Panoramic view of the ESO 3.6-metre telescope's dome.

Image: ESO-The Milky Way above La Silla-phot-27-04-hires.jpg|La Silla—Early evening scenery (in the distant right: the ESO 3.6 m T.)

Image:Construction of the ESO 3.6-metre telescope.jpg|Construction of the ESO 3.6-metre telescope.{{cite news|title=Three Very Different Telescopes at La Silla|url=http://www.eso.org/public/images/comparisons/potw1219a/|access-date=8 May 2012|newspaper=ESO Picture of the Week}}

= Images from telescope =

Image:NGC 2207 and IC 2163.jpg|NGC 2207 and IC 2163, two interacting galaxies (captured by EFOSC2)

Image: NGC 520.tif|NGC 520, colliding galaxies

See also

References

{{reflist|refs=

[http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?db_key=AST&db_key=PHY&db_key=PRE&qform=AST&arxiv_sel=astro-ph&arxiv_sel=cond-mat&arxiv_sel=cs&arxiv_sel=gr-qc&arxiv_sel=hep-ex&arxiv_sel=hep-lat&arxiv_sel=hep-ph&arxiv_sel=hep-th&arxiv_sel=math&arxiv_sel=math-ph&arxiv_sel=nlin&arxiv_sel=nucl-ex&arxiv_sel=nucl-th&arxiv_sel=physics&arxiv_sel=quant-ph&arxiv_sel=q-bio&sim_query=YES&ned_query=YES&aut_logic=OR&obj_logic=OR&author=&object=&start_mon=&start_year=&end_mon=&end_year=&ttl_logic=OR&title=&txt_logic=OR&text=ADONIS&nr_to_return=200&start_nr=1&jou_pick=NO&ref_stems=&data_and=ALL&group_and=ALL&start_entry_day=&start_entry_mon=&start_entry_year=&end_entry_day=&end_entry_mon=&end_entry_year=&min_score=&sort=SCORE&data_type=SHORT&aut_syn=YES&ttl_syn=YES&txt_syn=YES&aut_wt=1.0&obj_wt=1.0&ttl_wt=0.3&txt_wt=3.0&aut_wgt=YES&obj_wgt=YES&ttl_wgt=YES&txt_wgt=YES&ttl_sco=YES&txt_sco=YES&version=1 ADS query results for "ADONIS"]

{{cite book|chapter=The COME-ON/ADONIS systems|author=Gérard Rousset and Jean-Luc Beuzit|title=Adaptive optics in astronomy|editor=François Roddier|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-521-55375-9|pages= 171 et seq}}

{{cite book|title=An acre of glass: a history and forecast of the telescope|author=Jack B. Zirker|pages=[https://archive.org/details/acreofglasshisto00zirk/page/204 204]|publisher=JHU Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8018-8234-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/acreofglasshisto00zirk/page/204}}

}}

External links

  • {{Commons category inline}}
  • [http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/lasilla/telescopes/3p6/index.html ESO 3.6m homepage]
  • [http://www.eso.org/ ESO homepage]
  • [http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/lasilla/instruments/adonis/ ADONIS ESO webpage]

{{European Southern Observatory}}

Category:Reflecting telescopes

Category:European Southern Observatory

Category:Astronomical observatories in Chile