Telescopes
Below are links to a number of telescopes I have used and worked for in my career. There is a focus on optical observatories, and high angular resolution.
VLT observatory
The European Southern Observatory operates a unique suite of 4 8m class telescopes, which can be combined as intereferometer (VLT-I). I develeped methods to push the sensitivity of the mid-infrared interferometric instrumentation, and we currently use MATISSE to take the first direct images of the immediate, dusty environments of active galactic nuclei.
More on the observatory project's you can find:
ESO;
VLT Paranal instrumentation;
VLTI-Matisse;
VLTI-MIDI
Large binocular telescope
The large binocular telescope has a unique approach to higher angular resolution. It operates two AO-assisted 8.4m telescopes on a single mount, which allows to realize wide-field fizeau interferometry at interferometric 23m resolution. The LBT is clearly a stepping stone into the future of extremely large telescopes, and our instrumentation program developed strategies for vibration control, and interferometric imageing in the context of the LINC-NIRVANA camera.
More on the project you can find:
LBTO and
LINC
W. M. Keck Observatory
The telescopes’ primary mirrors are 10-meters in diameter and are each composed of 36 hexagonal segments that work in concert as a single piece of reflective glass.
The Keck Interferometer was a ground-based component of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. At 4,150 meters (13,600 feet) above the Pacific Ocean, atop the dormant volcano Mauna Kea on the "Big Island" of Hawaii,
More on the project you can find:
WMKO and here:
NASA Keck Interferometer
ELT - the extremely large telescope
ESO is construction the world's first 39m optical telescope, planned to have scientific first light in 2027. The generation of ELTs will deliver space-like sensitivity with optical resolution of a long-baseline interferometer. This unique combination will allow to pear into the hearts of stellar clusters, and galaxies, to reveal the secrets. We intend to measured black hole masses directly at high redshifts.
My team is focussed on delivering warm optics, and calibration hardware for the MICADO instrument, which will be the first instruments to see the sky through an ELT.
My personal mission as instrument scientist of MICADO is to develop the astrometric observing mode. The unique combination of angular resolution and light collecting power will allow to perform photon-noise limited relative astrometry at the level of 20-50 µas over the MICADO field-of-view.
More on the project you can find:
ELT project and
MICADO.
