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The Large Binocular Telescope conducts observations with two 8.4m- diameter mirrors on a common mount, providing a collecting area equal to a single 11.8m mirror and interferometric capability with an edge-to-edge baseline of 22.8m. With these attributes, the LBT is the first of the emerging generation of Extremely Large Telescopes.
The telescope is located on Mt Graham in southeast Arizona, which at 3200m is one of the highest observatory sites in North America. The LBT Observatory operates as an international collaboration with partners in Germany, Italy, and the United States.
SOUL is the upgrade of the single conjugated adaptive optics systems operating at the Large Binocular Telescope. Thanks to photon counting cameras, SOUL will push the adaptive optics correction with natural guide stars to its ultimate limit given by the flux of photons of the reference star. SOUL will allow higher contrast in visible images searching for exo-planets around fainter local stars and offer diffraction limited resolution to extra galactic targets in the near infrared.
The Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) is a near-infrared instrument at the Cassegrain focus of UT4. ERIS has two science arms, SPIFFIER and NIX. SPIFFIER (IFS) is a medium-resolution integral field spectrograph covering J to K band. NIX is capable of imaging between J and M band, focal and pupil-plane coronagraphy between K and M band, and long-slit spectroscopy in the L band. ERIS is designed to be used in conjunction with UT4's deformable secondary. The atmospheric turbulence can be sensed with either a natural guide star, or a single artificial star generated with the Laser Guide Stars Facility. ERIS replaces many of the functionalities provided by both NaCo and SINFONI within a single instrument.
ELT (Extreme Large Telescope, see elt.eso.org for more info) is the world’s largest telescope under construction (39 m diameter) and it is considered worldwide to be one of the highest priorities in ground based astronomy. ELT will lead to a greater advancement of astrophysical knowledge, allow a deeper exploration of our Universe, and give sharper views of cosmic objects than ever before.
MORFEO (formerly know as MAORY) , as first generation ELT instrument, will help compensate for the distorsion of light caused by turbolence in the Earth’s atmosphere which make astronomical images blurry (Adaptive Optics, see here for more information on Adaptive Optics).
MAVIS is an instrument being built for the ESO’s VLT AOF (Adaptive Optics Facility, UT4 Yepun). MAVIS stands for MCAO Assisted Visible Imager and Spectrograph. It is intended to be installed at the Nasmyth focus of the VLT AOF and is made of two main parts: an Adaptive Optics (AO) system that cancels the image blurring induced by atmospheric turbulence and its post focal instrumentation, an imager and an IFU spectrograph, both covering the visible part of the light spectrum.
MAVIS will take advantage of the superb performance of the AOF (powerful Laser Guide Stars and Deformable Secondary Mirror). MAVIS will push AO toward the visible, and, using the Multi-Conjugate AO concept, will provide a 30”x30” wide field of view at an angular resolution close to the diffraction limit of the 8-m aperture. This is unprecedented in ground-based instrumentation.
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is a ground-based, extremely large telescope currently under construction at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. With a primary mirror diameter of 25.4 meters, it is expected to be the largest Gregorian telescope ever built, observing in optical and mid-infrared wavelengths (320–25,000 nm). Commissioning of the telescope is anticipated in the early 2030s.
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