The latest instrument installed on the VLT telescope, in Chile, the MOONS spectrograph, made its first observation, announced the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon. This instrument can observe about a thousand astronomical objects simultaneously and is decisive for understanding how galaxies formed and evolved, including the Milky Way.
By capturing infrared light, MOONS can penetrate cosmic dust and analyze the light from millions of stars. The instrument allows 3D mapping of the distribution of stars and galaxies at distances up to 40,000 light-years in the Milky Way and more than 13 billion light-years in the distant Universe.
Scientists from FCUL are involved in the project, including José Afonso, co-principal investigator and expert in the study of galaxies, who hopes the instrument will allow understanding what led to the peak of galaxy activity about ten billion years ago and what motivated its decline in more recent history.
Alexandre Cabral, expert in astronomical instrumentation and researcher at FCUL, stated that MOONS was one of the greatest challenges faced, representing the culmination of 16 years of work from the first sketches of the concept to first light. Over the next ten years, scientists expect to collect data from about ten million astronomical objects.
