VISTA (TELESCOPE)

'VISTA' is the Visible & Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, a 4m telescope which is being built at Paranal Observatory in Chile. It is expected that it will be operational in the first half 2008. It will have a wide field of view, and as the name suggests it will focus on infrared surveys of the sky. VISTA is being built close to ESO's VLT for a consortium of 18 UK universities led by Queen Mary University of London, and will become an ESO telescope on completion.
VISTA will be operational in spring / summer 2008, as the mirror polishing is taking longer than originally anticipated. While it is called the Visible and Infra-red Survey Telescope for Astronomy, it will (initially at least) only have a near-infrared camera. although it is also capable of operating in the visible with a suitable camera. The near-infrared camera will be the fastest surveying instrument in the near-infrared. Currently WFCAM on the UK InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT) is the fastest. ESO has selected six public surveys for VISTA which will take up 75% of the available observing time.

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External links

★ Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) on the internet

★ ''Telescope boost to UK astronomy'' BBC News Online, 30 May 2007 (accessed 30 May 2007)