The Multi Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph for the VLT (MOONS) on its Way to Paranal

Published: 11 Dec 2025
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After extensive assembly and testing work at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) in Edinburgh, ESO and the MOONS team are happy to announce that the instrument is ready for shipping. The testing included not only pure performance aspects, but also of operability in Paranal and safety (among others). MOONS will provide exquisite simultaneous optical to near-infrared spectra for close to 1000 locations at a time (either in high or low resolution mode, R=6000 and R=18000 for the H band, respectively). The instrument will be located at UT1 and will be able to reach objects in the whole 25 arcmin diameter field of view of the telescope. Tools have been produced by the consortium and, in collaboration with ESO, embedded in the ESO "ecosystem" to help the community exploit at maximum the capabilities of MOONS, from highly reddened corners of the milky way to the deepest extragalactic fields.