page_title: VISTA (telescope)
section_title: The project
hierarchical_section_title: VISTA (telescope) / The project
caption_attribution_description: English: This early morning shot shows the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) in front of the Paranal summit. VISTA is a wide-field telescope that will perform a series of very broad surveys of the sky in infrared light. Thanks to its fairly large primary mirror, with a diameter of 4m, these surveys will show quite faint objects. The goal of these surveys is to create large catalogues of celestial objects for statistical studies and to identify new targets for the VLT. This picture was obtained in November 2007 during sunrise.
context_page_description: The VISTA is a wide-field reflecting telescope with a 4.1 metre mirror, located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. It is operated by the European Southern Observatory and started science operations in December 2009. VISTA was conceived and developed by a consortium of universities in the United Kingdom led by Queen Mary University of London and became an in-kind contribution to ESO as part of the UK's accession agreement, with the subscription paid by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.
  VISTA is a survey telescope working at infrared wavelengths, and is by far the largest telescope in the world dedicated to surveying the sky at near-infrared wavelengths. The telescope has only one instrument: VIRCAM, the Vista InfraRed CAMera. This is a 3-tonne camera containing 16 special detectors sensitive to infrared light, with a combined total of 67 million pixels.
  A second-generation instrument called 4MOST, a 2400-object fibre-fed multi-object spectrograph, is under development for installation around 2022.
context_section_description: VISTA is carrying out surveys of the southern sky at near infrared wavelengths. Such surveys should both return direct scientific results and help select objects for further studies with larger telescopes. There are two related projects: the Wide Field Camera (WFCAM) on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope in Hawaii carries out infrared surveys of the northern sky, and the VLT Survey Telescope in Chile carries out surveys of the southern sky in visible light.
  The project was initiated in 1999 by the VISTA Consortium of 18 universities in the United Kingdom (UK), which obtained funding from a joint infrastructure fund of the UK government and further funding from the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. The project is valued at €46M (£36M).
  After considering several sites in Chile, the consortium chose the Paranal Observatory of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), namely a secondary peak 1,500 m from the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The consortium selected the UK Astronomy Technology Centre to take technical responsibility for design and construction of the telescope. Two years later – in 2002 – the UK joined ESO, and VISTA became an in-kind component of the joining fee. The consortium then completed the construction and commissioning of the telescope, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council – on behalf of the UK – handed over the telescope to ESO, for the benefit of astronomers in all its member countries.
caption: Early morning shot shows VISTA in front of the Paranal summit.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "This early morning shot shows the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) in front of the Paranal summit. VISTA is a wide-field telescope that will perform a series of very broad surveys of the sky in infrared light. Thanks to its fairly large primary mirror, with a diameter of 4m, these surveys will show quite faint objects. The goal of these surveys is to create large catalogues of celestial objects for statistical studies and to identify new targets for the VLT. This picture was obtained in November 2007 during sunrise.", "Image Artist": "", "Image Copyright": "ESO/H.H.Heyer"}