MPG/ESO telescope
Part ofLa Silla Observatory Edit this on Wikidata
Location(s)Atacama Desert
Coordinates29°15′28″S 70°44′12″W / 29.25786°S 70.736648°W / -29.25786; -70.736648 Edit this at Wikidata
OrganizationEuropean Southern Observatory
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Edit this on Wikidata
Altitude2,375 m (7,792 ft) Edit this at Wikidata
First light22 June 1983 Edit this on Wikidata
Telescope styleRitchey–Chrétien telescope Edit this on Wikidata
Diameter2.20 m (7 ft 3 in) Edit this at Wikidata
Secondary diameter0.84 m (2 ft 9 in) Edit this at Wikidata
Angular resolution0.3 arcsecond Edit this on Wikidata
Collecting area3.8 m2 (41 sq ft) Edit this at Wikidata
Focal length17.6 m (57 ft 9 in) Edit this at Wikidata
Mountingequatorial mount Edit this on Wikidata Edit this at Wikidata
Websitewww.eso.org/public/teles-instr/lasilla/mpg22/ Edit this at Wikidata
MPG/ESO telescope is located in Chile
MPG/ESO telescope
Location of MPG/ESO telescope
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The MPG/ESO telescope is a 2.2-metre f/8.0[1] (17.6-metre[2]) ground-based telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in La Silla, Chile. It was built by Zeiss and has been operating since 1984. It was on indefinite loan to the European Southern Observatory from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA). In October 2013 it was returned to the MPIA. Telescope time is shared between MPIA and MPE observing programmes, while the operation and maintenance of the telescope are ESO's responsibility.[3]

The telescope hosts three instruments: the 67-million-pixel Wide Field Imager[4] with a field of view as large as the full Moon, which has taken many amazing images of celestial objects; GROND, the Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near-Infrared Detector, which chases the afterglows of the most powerful explosions in the universe, known as gamma-ray bursts; and the high-resolution spectrograph, FEROS, used to make detailed studies of stars.[5]

In November 2010 it was used to observe HIP 13044, and marked what was thought to be the first time a planetary system in a stellar stream of extragalactic origin had been detected.[6] However, subsequent analysis in 2014 found no evidence for a planet orbiting the star.[7]

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ "The ESO/MPI 2.2m Telescope". ESO. 2 June 2014.
  2. ^ "GROND - a 7-channel imager" (PDF). Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  3. ^ "European Southern Observatory". ESO. 2 June 2014.
  4. ^ a b "WFI—Wide Field Imager". ESO. 19 May 2014.
  5. ^ "MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope". ESO. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  6. ^ Bowdler, Neil (18 November 2010). "'Alien' planet detected circling dying star". BBC News. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  7. ^ Jones, M. I.; Jenkins, J. S. (2014). "No evidence of the planet orbiting the extremely metal-poor extragalactic star HIP 13044". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 562: id.A129. arXiv:1401.0517. Bibcode:2014A&A...562A.129J. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201322132. S2CID 55365608.
  8. ^ "Diamonds in the Tail of the Scorpion". ESO. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  9. ^ "Is it a Bird…?". www.eso.org. European Southern Observatory. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  10. ^ "The globular cluster NGC 6388 observed by the European Southern Observatory". ESO Press Release. Retrieved 13 February 2013.

External links

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