Przepraszamy! Ta strona nie została jeszcze przygotowana w Twoim języku, wyświetlamy zatem wersję angielską.
Page saved successfully
Couldn't save page :( Please try again.
ISAAC
Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera
ISAAC was the first Very Large Telescope (VLT) multimode instrument developed by ESO. Together with its “son”, SOFI, it was part of a new generation of machines working at infrared wavelengths, an underexploited field at that time, due to slower progress in the development of the astronomical detectors.
Installed in November 1998 on VLT Unit Telescope 1 (Antu), ISAAC could look into the dusty Universe — a previously hidden realm. Visible light cannot penetrate the huge clouds of dust found throughout the Universe, and before ISAAC and others of its kind were invented, astronomers had no way of knowing what lies behind or within these clouds. ISAAC quickly got to work on a variety of objects in the infrared Universe, from star-forming regions in the Milky Way to distant galaxies.
ISAAC was unique. In 1998 infrared studies were considered a dark art, because of the very limited field of view of infrared instruments, and because of the complexity of the observation procedures. ISAAC and SOFI were the first multimode instruments with two-dimensional detectors in the near infrared , “making it essentially a near-infrared EMMI,” says Claus Madsen in his book The Jewel on the Mountaintop. In a few seconds, ISAAC could be converted from an imaging camera into a spectrograph, and it could also measure the polarisation of the light; furthermore, the complexity of the infrared observations was hidden in pre-defined sequences, allowing even non-expert astronomers to perform them.
During its time of service ISAAC was used to make infrared images and spectra at wavelengths from 0.9–5 micrometres (up to seven times longer than can be seen by the human eye) achieving science highlights such as the most distant object discovered in the Universe in 2009 (eso0917) and observations of quasars that reconciled observations with astronomical models (eso0821).
To achieve maximum sensitivity, the complete optical system of ISAAC was housed in a large vacuum vessel with a diameter of 1.7 metres and cooled to a temperature of -200º C. It had two independent arms, each possessing a detector of 1024 x 1024 pixels that covered a wide range of infrared wavelengths. While 1 megapixel sounds modest by today's standards for digital cameras, these were then state-of-the-art detectors.
Now, ISAAC is resting. It was removed from its final home on Unit Telescope 3 to allow SPHERE to be installed. The last data taken with ISAAC were obtained on a bright star in the Orion Nebula on 12 December 2013, but its legacy at the VLT remains.
This raw ISAAC image was used, combined with many others, to generate the photo at the top of this page. All the images taken with astronomical instruments are monochromatic: the information on the colour is obtained by taking exposures through different filters. In infrared light, the sky is so bright that individual exposures must be kept very short. To reach the long total exposure time needed, hundred of exposures are combined. The dark spots are defects of the detector, and the bright line in the centre marks the separation between the areas of the detector processed by different electronics.
A raw spectrum from ISAAC
A long, narrow slit isolates a small strip of sky. On this image, the slit is vertical, and slightly curved by the optics in ISAAC. The spectrograph then splits the light from the slit into its individual infrared colours, each point of the slit forming a horizontal rainbow. In the lower part, the horizontal fuzzy line is the spectrum of a faint galaxy. The glowing areas on the edge mark the position of the four amplifiers dealing each with a quarter of the detector. These electronic devices are slightly warmer than the rest, causing a minute amount of infrared light registered by the detector.
ISAAC
The authoritative technical specifications as offered for astronomical observations are available from the Science Operation page.
We use cookies that are essential for accessing our websites and using our services. We also use cookies to analyse, measure and improve our websites’ performance, to enable content sharing via social media and to display media content hosted on third-party platforms.
You can manage your cookie preferences and find out more by visiting 'Cookie Settings and Policy'.
ESO Cookies Policy
The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy. It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy.
This Cookies Policy is intended to provide clarity by outlining the cookies used on the ESO public websites, their functions, the options you have for controlling them, and the ways you can contact us for additional details.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device by websites you visit. They serve various purposes, such as remembering login credentials and preferences and enhance your browsing experience.
Categories of cookies we use
Essential cookies (always active): These cookies are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our website. Without these cookies, the website cannot operate correctly, and certain services, such as logging in or accessing secure areas, may not be available; because they are essential for the website’s operation, they cannot be disabled.
Cookie ID/Name
Description/Purpose
Provider (1st party or 3rd party)
Browser session cookie or Stored cookie?
Duration
csrftoken
XSRF protection token. We use this cookie to protect against cross-site request forgery attacks.
1st party
Stored
1 year
user_privacy
Your privacy choices. We use this cookie to save your privacy preferences.
1st party
Stored
6 months
_grecaptcha
We use reCAPTCHA to protect our forms against spam and abuse. reCAPTCHA sets a necessary cookie when executed for the purpose of providing its risk analysis. We use www.recaptcha.net instead of www.google.com in order to avoid unnecessary cookies from Google.
3rd party
Stored
6 months
Functional Cookies: These cookies enhance your browsing experience by enabling additional features and personalization, such as remembering your preferences and settings. While not strictly necessary for the website to function, they improve usability and convenience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent.
Cookie ID/Name
Description/Purpose
Provider (1st party or 3rd party)
Browser session cookie or Stored cookie?
Duration
Settings
preferred_language
Language settings. We use this cookie to remember your preferred language settings.
1st party
Stored
1 year
ON | OFF
sessionid
ESO Shop. We use this cookie to store your session information on the ESO Shop. This is just an identifier which is used on the server in order to allow you to purchase items in our shop.
1st party
Stored
2 weeks
ON | OFF
Analytics cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors interact with our website, such as which pages are visited most often and how users navigate the site. This data helps us improve website performance, optimize content, and enhance the user experience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent. We use the following analytics cookies.
Matomo Cookies:
This website uses Matomo (formerly Piwik), an open source software which enables the statistical analysis of website visits. Matomo uses cookies (text files) which are saved on your computer and which allow us to analyze how you use our website. The website user information generated by the cookies will only be saved on the servers of our IT Department. We use this information to analyze www.eso.org visits and to prepare reports on website activities. These data will not be disclosed to third parties.
On behalf of ESO, Matomo will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
ON | OFF
Matomo cookies settings:
Cookie ID/Name
Description/Purpose
Provider (1st party or 3rd party)
Browser session cookie or Stored cookie?
Duration
Settings
_pk_id
Stores a unique visitor ID.
1st party
Stored
13 months
_pk_ses
Session cookie temporarily stores data for the visit.
1st party
Stored
30 minutes
_pk_ref
Stores attribution information (the referrer that brought the visitor to the website).
1st party
Stored
6 months
_pk_testcookie
Temporary cookie to check if a visitor’s browser supports cookies (set in Internet Explorer only).
1st party
Stored
Temporary cookie that expires almost immediately after being set.
Additional Third-party cookies on ESO websites: some of our pages display content from external providers, e.g. YouTube.
Such third-party services are outside of ESO control and may, at any time, change their terms of service, use of cookies, etc.
YouTube: Some videos on the ESO website are embedded from ESO’s official YouTube channel. We have enabled YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, meaning that no cookies are set unless the user actively clicks on the video to play it. Additionally, in this mode, YouTube does not store any personally identifiable cookie data for embedded video playbacks. For more details, please refer to YouTube’s embedding videos information page.
Cookies can also be classified based on the following elements.
Regarding the domain, there are:
First-party cookies, set by the website you are currently visiting. They are stored by the same domain that you are browsing and are used to enhance your experience on that site;
Third-party cookies, set by a domain other than the one you are currently visiting.
As for their duration, cookies can be:
Browser-session cookies, which are deleted when the user closes the browser;
Stored cookies, which stay on the user's device for a predetermined period of time.
How to manage cookies
Cookie settings: You can modify your cookie choices for the ESO webpages at any time by clicking on the link Cookie settings at the bottom of any page.
In your browser: If you wish to delete cookies or instruct your browser to delete or block cookies by default, please visit the help pages of your browser:
Please be aware that if you delete or decline cookies, certain functionalities of our website may be not be available and your browsing experience may be affected.
You can set most browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g. profile logging-in, shop check out).
Updates to the ESO Cookies Policy
The ESO Cookies Policy may be subject to future updates, which will be made available on this page.
Additional information
For any queries related to cookies, please contact: pdprATesoDOTorg.
As ESO public webpages are managed by our Department of Communication, your questions will be dealt with the support of the said Department.
ISAAC was the first Very Large Telescope (VLT) multimode instrument developed by ESO. Together with its “son”, SOFI, it was part of a new generation of machines working at infrared wavelengths, an underexploited field at that time, due to slower progress in the development of the astronomical detectors. 
ISAAC was unique. In 1998 infrared studies were considered a dark art, because of the very limited field of view of infrared instruments, and because of the complexity of the observation procedures. ISAAC and SOFI were the first multimode instruments with two-dimensional detectors in the near infrared , “making it essentially a near-infrared EMMI,” says Claus Madsen in his book The Jewel on the Mountaintop. In a few seconds, ISAAC could be converted from an imaging camera into a spectrograph, and it could also measure the polarisation of the light; furthermore, the complexity of the infrared observations was hidden in pre-defined sequences, allowing even non-expert astronomers to perform them.
