The VISTA consortium
VISTA was conceived and developed by a consortium of 18 universities in the United Kingdom, led by Queen Mary, University of London and became an in-kind contribution to ESO as part of the UK’s accession agreement. Project management for the telescope design and construction was undertaken by the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre (STFC, UK ATC). Provisional acceptance of VISTA was formally granted by ESO at a ceremony at ESO’s Headquarters in Garching, Germany, attended by representatives of Queen Mary, University of London and STFC, on 10 December 2009 and the telescope is now operated by ESO.
The VISTA consortium consisted of:
- Queen Mary, University of London
- Queen’s University of Belfast
- University of Birmingham
- University of Cambridge
- Cardiff University
- University of Central Lancashire
- Durham University
- The University of Edinburgh
- University of Hertfordshire
- Keele University
- Leicester University
- Liverpool John Moores University
- University of Nottingham
- University of Oxford
- University of St Andrews
- University of Southampton
- University of Sussex
- University College London