Agreement signed for METIS instrument for E-ELT

ESO has signed an agreement with a consortium of institutes around Europe for the design and construction of METIS, an infrared camera and spectrograph for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT).

The agreement was signed by H. W. (Willem) te Beest, Vice-President Executive Board, Leiden University, on behalf of the consortium, and Tim de Zeeuw, ESO Director General, at a ceremony at the Science Faculty Club of Leiden University in the Netherlands, on 28 September 2015.

METIS is one of the Phase 1 instruments for the E-ELT. It will offer imaging and medium-resolution spectroscopy over a wavelength range from 3–19 micrometres, and high-resolution integral field spectroscopy over a wavelength range of 3–5.3 micrometres.

The people in the photo are (from left to right): Wilfried Boland (NOVA Director), Philippe Galdemard (CEA Saclay, METIS LPM), Christoph Haupt (ESO, METIS Project Manager), H. W. (Willem) te Beest (Vice-President Executive Board, Leiden University), Adrian Glauser (ETH Zuerich, METIS LPM), Sascha Quanz (ETH Zuerich, Project Scientist METIS), Bernhard Brandl (Leiden University, METIS PI), Tim de Zeeuw (ESO, Director General), Thomas Henning (MPIA, METIS Science Team), Ralf Siebenmorgen (ESO, METIS Project Scientist), Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden University, METIS Science Team), Rieks Jager (NOVA, METIS Consortium Project Manager), Paul Groot (Chair NOVA Board), Bart Vandenbussche (KU Leuven, METIS LPM), Felix Bettonvil (NOVA, METIS LPM) and Alistair Glasse (UK-ATC, Co-PI).