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SINFONI installed at the Very Large Telescope |
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| New instrument at the Very Large Telescope allows
three-dimensional astronomical observations with a precision never achieved before. Scientists from MPE, ESO, and NOVA celebrate the successfull startup of their new instrument, SINFONI, which will allow the study of the universe with unequalled definition and in three dimensions. The "Spectrograph for Integral Field Observation in the Near Infrared": SINFONI, is the first equipment of its kind permanently installed on a large and modern telescope. On the night of July 9, 2004, the detector of SINFONI received the first light from the southern skies from its new position on Yepun, which is one of the four 8,2 meter telescopes of the ESO Very Large Telescope, located in the Chilean Atacama desert. With adaptive optics, SINFONI can provides a new level of image detail, while its spectrometer simultaneously disperses the incoming light into more than 2000 spectra. The first views of the Galactic Center and of distant galaxies, located several billions of light-years away, gave a taste of how SINFONI will contribute further to the study of the universe. For more specific details read : |
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| Press release at MPG ( in German ) | |
| Press release at ESO | |
SINFONI at UT4 |
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Illustrations
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© 2004 by R.Abuter rabuter@mpe.mpg.de