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The Very Large Telescope’s Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) recently marked 20 years of operations, but the job is not done for this workhorse instrument, write Instrument Scientist Luca Sbordone and Fellow Camila Navarrete.
HORuS, a new high-resolution spectrograph for the Gran Telescopio Canarias, will facilitate an expanded range of optical and near-infrared studies, explains Instrument Scientist Carlos Allende Prieto.
The BICEP Array will bring a new level of sensitivity to observations of cosmic microwave background polarization patterns on large angular scales, says Clem Pryke on behalf of the BICEP/Keck Collaboration.
The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment CubeSat mission aims to observe atmospheric escape from a dozen or more exoplanets by monitoring them in the near-ultraviolet, explains Principal Investigator Kevin France.
Optical communications will provide the next generation of interplanetary missions with high-bit-rate data transmission, requiring modifications on the ground and in space, explains Leslie Deutsch.
The Emirates will shortly join the ranks of space-faring nations by sending an orbiter to Mars, aiming to make novel observations and inspire the country, write the mission leadership team.
As the Tianwen-1 spacecraft is scheduled for launch in late July or early August, the mission chief scientist and his team provide an overview focusing on the scientific objectives and instrumentation of China’s first Mars mission.
PolarLight is the first dedicated soft X-ray polarimeter in space since the 1970s and is attempting to reopen this long-awaited window in astronomy, explain Principal Investigator Hua Feng and Ronaldo Bellazzini.
In its second extended mission at Ceres, the Dawn spacecraft returned a harvest of high-resolution data on the intriguing Occator crater, a landmark for understanding the role of impacts in shaping ice-rich bodies, explain Project Scientist Julie Castillo-Rogez and Chief Engineer Marc Rayman.
A cost-efficient overhaul of the 50-year-old Molonglo radio telescope will equip it as a standalone fast radio burst detector and localizer, explain Adam Deller and Chris Flynn.
The Spitzer Space Telescope may be modest in size compared to its optical counterparts, but the low temperatures of its optics gave its infrared instruments excellent sensitivity, explains Facility Scientist Thomas Roellig.
As the Solar Orbiter spacecraft is scheduled for launch this month, European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Project Scientists provide an overview of this major ESA–NASA mission to the Sun.
The BlackGEM project brings a wide-field robotic optical telescope array with outstanding image quality, sensitivity and field-of view to the Southern Hemisphere to explore the multi-colour explosive Universe, explains Principal Investigator Paul Groot.
The China Square Kilometre Array (SKA) team recently completed the first SKA regional centre prototype, marking an important leap forward towards a future large-scale deployment, explain Tao An, Xiang-Ping Wu and Xiaoyu Hong.
As the CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) is scheduled for launch later this year, European Space Agency (ESA) Project Scientist Kate Isaak and Principal Investigator Willy Benz give an overview of ESA’s first science mission dedicated to the follow-up of known exoplanets orbiting bright stars.
The Faint Intergalactic medium Redshifted Emission Balloon (FIREBall-2) is an ultraviolet multi-object spectrograph mission designed to observe the faint gas surrounding z ≈ 0.7 galaxies from the very top of the Earth’s stratosphere, explains Project Scientist Erika Hamden.
The 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (4MOST) is a versatile optical survey instrument that will be installed on the VISTA telescope in 2022, offering medium- and high-resolution spectra and an innovative operations mode, explains Principal Investigator Roelof de Jong on behalf of the 4MOST Consortium.
SCExAO is an instrument on the Subaru Telescope that is pushing the frontiers of what is possible with ground-based direct imaging of terrestrial exoplanets, explains Thayne Currie, on behalf of the SCExAO team.
The OSIRIS-REx mission has reached its target, asteroid Bennu, and is engaging in reconnaissance and early science observations in preparation for sample collection. Principal investigator team Heather Enos and Dante Lauretta provide an overview.
Until now, radio astronomers had to choose between sensitivity or field of view. The new Apertif system provides both, enabling studies of low-mass galaxies, galaxy interactions and fast radio bursts, write Betsey Adams and Joeri van Leeuwen.
