Forum for Science, Industry and Business

High-resolution View into the Infrared Universe

MATISSE is a second-generation Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) instrument providing extremely high spatial resolution. It is a combined imager and spectrograph for interferometry in the mid-infrared 3–5 μm spectral region (L- and M-bands) and the 8–13 μm region (N-band). MATISSE builds on the experience gained with the VLTI’s first-generation instruments, but vastly extends their capability to produce detailed images.

Four-telescope interferogram of Sirius recorded at “First light” observations on 18 February 2018 with VLTI-MATISSE. The image is a colourised version of the interferogram at infrared wavelengths.

ESO/MATISSE consortium

The domes of the 8.2 m UT telescopes and the 1.8 m AT telescopes of ESO’s VLT on top of Cerro Paranal (Chile).

Gerd Weigelt/MPIfR

The instrument exploits multiple telescopes and the wave nature of the light to produce more detailed images of celestial objects than can be obtained with any existing or planned single telescope. High- resolution imaging in the infrared is technically demanding but has yielded spectacular results in detecting planet-forming discs around stars, images of the surfaces of stars, and dusty discs around Active Galactic Nuclei.

The target of the First Light observation was the bright star Sirius (see Fig. 1). Figure 2 shows the ESO VLT, which consists of four telescopes with a mirror diameter of 8.2 m (the Unit Telescopes) and four telescopes with 1.8 m mirror diameter (the Auxiliary Telescopes).

Because of the technical challenges, only a few mid-infrared interferometers have observed prior to MATISSE: the SOIRDETE prototype at the Plateau de Calern in France, the ISI interferometer of the Berkeley University and the Keck interferometer in the US, and, the ESO-MIDI instrument. MATISSE is designed for a broad range of science goals with as prime science cases the studies of the discs around young stars and Active Galactic Nuclei.

The capability of MATISSE is unique in the world: It will open the infrared L-, M- and N-bands (respectively 3.0–4.1, 4.6–5.0 and 7–13 μm) to long-baseline infrared interferometry. The angular resolution in the L-band will be about 3 milliarcseconds (mas), equivalent to 0.3 AU for a star at 100 parsec distance.

With various spectral resolutions between R ~ 30 and R ~ 5000, MATISSE can distinguish characteristic atoms and molecules in stars and galaxies. The second unique capability is high-fidelity mid-infrared imaging — closure-phase aperture-synthesis imaging — performed with up to four 8.2 m telescopes or 1.8 m telescopes.

“Single telescopes can achieve a maximum spatial resolution that is proportional to their mirror diameter. To obtain a higher resolution, we combine or interfere the light from four different VLT telescopes”, says Bruno Lopez from the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur at Nice, the principal investigator of MATISSE. “This interferometric technique can provide us with a high spatial resolution that is proportional to the distance between the telescopes. Therefore, MATISSE is able to deliver the sharpest images ever in the 3–13 μm wavelength range.

Gerd Weigelt, Coinvestigator at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, adds: “MATISSE will also allow us to obtain a high spectral resolution in addition to high spatial resolution. Therefore, we will be able to perform our studies in many different spectral channels distributed across an individual spectral line and even measure the velocity distribution in astronomical objects, which is very essential to reveal the physical properties of the objects.”

The MATISSE spectral bands will provide mid-infrared high angular resolution images that can be linked to observations at similar resolution in the submillimetre domain, with the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). MATISSE can be seen as a successor to MIDI (the MID-infrared Interferometric instrument) and a precursor of the future METIS instrument for the ELT.

The success of this MATISSE first light was only possible because of the hard and passionate work of many engineers and researchers and their institutes. Together with GRAVITY operating at the VLTI, MATISSE is a complex and challenging instrument: 3 tons, more than ten thousand elements machined and aligned to better than a thousandth of a millimetre, 20 cubic metres of volume.

Further testing of MATISSE will continue through 2018 and normal observations, open to all ESO astronomers, will begin early in 2019.

MATISSE was designed, funded and built in close collaboration with ESO, by a consortium composed of French (INSU-CNRS in Paris and OCA in Nice hosting the P.I. team), German (MPIA, MPIfR and University of Kiel), Dutch (NOVA and University of Leiden), and Austrian (University of Vienna) institutes. The Konkoly Observatory and Cologne University have also provided some support to the manufacture of the instrument.

Local Contact:

Prof. Dr. Gerd Weigelt,
Head of Research Group „Infrared Interferometry“
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn.
Fon: +49 228 525-243
E-mail: gweigelt@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de

Dr. Udo Beckmann
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn.
Fon: +49 228 525-321
E-mail: ubeckmann@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de

Dr. Norbert Junkes,
Press and Public Outreach
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn.
Fon: +49 228 525-399
E-mail: njunkes@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de

Weitere Informationen:

https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/pressreleases/2018/3

Norbert Junkes | Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie

Im Focus: Color effects from transparent 3D-printed nanostructures

New design tool automatically creates nanostructure 3D-print templates for user-given colors
Scientists present work at prestigious SIGGRAPH conference

Most of the objects we see are colored by pigments, but using pigments has disadvantages: such colors can fade, industrial pigments are often toxic, and...

Im Focus: Unraveling the nature of 'whistlers' from space in the lab

A new study sheds light on how ultralow frequency radio waves and plasmas interact

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles present new research on a curious cosmic phenomenon known as "whistlers" -- very low frequency packets...

Im Focus: New interactive machine learning tool makes car designs more aerodynamic

Scientists develop first tool to use machine learning methods to compute flow around interactively designable 3D objects. Tool will be presented at this year’s prestigious SIGGRAPH conference.

When engineers or designers want to test the aerodynamic properties of the newly designed shape of a car, airplane, or other object, they would normally model...

Im Focus: Robots as 'pump attendants': TU Graz develops robot-controlled rapid charging system for e-vehicles

Researchers from TU Graz and their industry partners have unveiled a world first: the prototype of a robot-controlled, high-speed combined charging system (CCS) for electric vehicles that enables series charging of cars in various parking positions.

Global demand for electric vehicles is forecast to rise sharply: by 2025, the number of new vehicle registrations is expected to reach 25 million per year....

Im Focus: The “TRiC” to folding actin

Proteins must be folded correctly to fulfill their molecular functions in cells. Molecular assistants called chaperones help proteins exploit their inbuilt folding potential and reach the correct three-dimensional structure. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) have demonstrated that actin, the most abundant protein in higher developed cells, does not have the inbuilt potential to fold and instead requires special assistance to fold into its active state. The chaperone TRiC uses a previously undescribed mechanism to perform actin folding. The study was recently published in the journal Cell.

Actin is the most abundant protein in highly developed cells and has diverse functions in processes like cell stabilization, cell division and muscle...