Artist depiction of the METIS instrument set to be used with the Extremely Large Telescope upon completion.  Credit: ESO

The ELT will be the largest optical to mid-infrared telescope on Earth when it starts operations towards the middle of this decade. With its 39-metre primary mirror and advanced adaptive optics systems, it will have six times the resolution of the James Webb Space Telescope. METIS will take full advantage of this remarkable telescope and its adaptive optics to probe the astronomical targets with revolutionary precision.

This artist’s rendering shows the Extremely Large Telescope in operation on Cerro Armazones in northern Chile. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

METIS is constructed by the METIS consortium which consists of 13 partner organisations and is led by the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) represented by the University of Leiden. ETH Zurich in collaboration with PlanetS is one of the partners and has two leading roles in this project and a major hardware contribution: Prof. Sascha Quanz is leading the METIS Science Team and Dr. Adrian Glauser is leading the METIS Systems Team that develops the METIS instrument. ETH Zurich is further responsible for developing and providing the METIS cryostat. More details can be found on the project webpage.

Now that the instrument has passed this Preliminary Design Review, the METIS consortium will continue to develop its design in further detail before construction on the instrument starts.