Tests of FORS — the first major VLT instrument

This video clip shows the FORS1 instrument for the VLT during the preparations for the acceptance tests in Europe. FORS (built under ESO contract in two copies by a consortium consisting of Landessternwarte Heidelberg and the University Observatories of Göttingen and Munich, Germany) will be the first scientific instrument to be mounted on Unit Telescope 1 of the VLT later this year. With this instrument astronomers will be able to observe extremely faint objects ranging from the most remote quasars near the edge of the observable universe to the enigmatic tiny bodies in the outer part of our solar system.