From the VLT to the E-ELT: building a Brazilian-UK partnership on astronomical instrumentation for the world's largest telescopes

• Grant number: 14/50826-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2015
• End date: March 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Astronomy - Astronomical Instrumentation
• Agreement: CONFAP ; Newton Fund, with FAPESP as a partner institution in Brazil ; STFC, UKRI
• Principal Investigator: Beatriz Leonor Silveira Barbuy
• Grantee: Beatriz Leonor Silveira Barbuy
• Principal researcher abroad: Chris Evans
• Institution abroad: Science and Technology Facilities Council, Edinburgh (STFC), Scotland
• Host Institution: Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas (IAG). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The world's largest optical-infrared telescope: the science case for the E-ELT spans the whole range of contemporary astronomy, from observations of the most distant galaxies known at the very dawn of time, to searches for biological tracers in the atmospheres of planets outside of our own solar system. The first stages of construction of the E-ELT are now under way. We intend to develop instrumentation for the E-ELT, as well as for the VLT. The main objectives of this proposal are the development of instrumentation, in particular the CUBES spectrograph for the VLT, and the MOSAIC spectrograph for the E-ELT, and the related science, in ollaboration with UK partners. (AU)