The 4 largest telescopes in the world located in Chile have been equipped with “MATISSE“, a new instrument developed by the OCA, allowing to use their 4 beams simultaneously.
MATISSE calibration masks, printed on a Stream 30 Pro from Volumic 3D, saved a significant amount of time in realigning and transporting this precious instrument.
The Volumic team is proud of the limitless applications of its equipment and the new possibilities offered to its customers. This, added tothe support and advice provided to help them succeed in their ambitious projects.
MATISSE (Multi AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment), one of the few projects for which France is responsible to ESO (European Southern Observatory), was shipped in early October 2017 to the Atacama Desert in Chile. This in order to be installed on the VLT (Very large telescope) of the ESO, the most powerful European astronomical observatory in the world. Eight to ten months of performance validation, “on the sky” in real conditions, will then be necessary for the instrument to be made available to the international astronomical community.
For researchers, one of the major objectives of MATISSE is the observation and understanding of our own Earth and all the planets. In this perspective, the instrument will make it possible to observe the sky with an unequalled level of detail in the infrared range and to recombine the light of four telescopes (of 8 meters each!) on the eight telescopes of the VLT of Mount Paranal in Chile.
To go further :
L’OCA :
http://www.oca.eu
The official site of the observatory of Paranal (Chile):
http://www.eso.org/public/france/about-eso/travel/paranal/
MATISSE :
http://www2.cnrs.fr/presse/communique/5209.htm
https://blogs.futura-sciences.com/feldmann/2017/08/29/matisse-linstrument-francais-va-equiper-vlt/
#imprimante3D #volumic3D #oca #eso #cnrs #telescope #impression3D #outillage3D #frenchfab #madeinfrance
Crédit photos : (C) Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur – Christophe BAILET
