The Italian Nazionale Galileo Telescope (TNG) is located at the Observatory on Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma. With a primary mirror of 3.58 metres in diameter, it is the most important installation of the Italian astronomical community in the visible/infrared range. The TNG is equipped with 3 instruments permanently installed in its foci and offers a variety of observing modes covering the optical and near-infrared spectrum, offering wide-field imaging up to high-resolution spectroscopy. Its most relevant instrument is the HARPS-N "High Precision Radial Speed Planter in the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of the most accurate spectrographs in the world that has the main objective of discovering and characterizing extrasolar planets the size of the Earth (Echelle spectrometer at 383-633 nm wavelengths and with spectral resolution of R = 115000). In practice HARPS-N measures the slight oscillation of the star caused by the presence of the planet (in m/s) with which it can estimate the mass of the exoplanets, their chemical composition and distance to the star. History The agreements for the construction of the telescope in La Palma were signed in 1979 and the telescope The telescope saw its "first light" in 1998. Until June 2004, the telescope was operated by the Galileo Galilei Genter, created in 1997 by the Consorzio Nazionale per l'Astronomia e l'Astrofisica (CNAA). From July 27, 2004, the new Galileo Galilei Foundation, funded by the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), is responsible for the management of the TNG. Results The TNG is currently looking mainly for exoplanets, a very relevant field in astrophysics at the moment. The first exoplanet discovered by the TNG was the Kepler 78 b, a planet similar to Earth in size and mass but much hotter, surface temperature can reach 5,000 degrees. Another exoplanet also in the news, and
The Italian Nazionale Galileo Telescope (TNG) is located at the Observatory on Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma. With a primary mirror of 3.58 metres in diameter, it is the most important installation of the
The William Herschel Telescope (WHT) is the second largest telescope of Roque de Los Muchachos in La Palma. With a primary mirror of 4.2 m in diameter it is also the second largest telescope in Europe only after the Gran Telescopio de Canarias (primary mirror 10.4 m). At present this telescope is of modest size, nevertheless remains one of the most productive in scientific publications of the world. It has a f2.8 focal ratio and is Cassegrain-Nasmyth type. The William Herschel telescope can be visited at concerted visits. To book a visit to the Observatory: Visits. History The UK's Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) began planning the telescope in 1974 with a final budget of 10 million pounds. In 1981, 20% of the SERC negotiated a 20% stake with Holland, so the telescope belongs to the United Kingdom and the rest to the Netherlands. The first light of the telescope was on June 1, 1981 using the instrument TAURUS-2. Results The most outstanding results extracted with data obtained in this telescope are: * The discovery of the first evidence of a supermassive black hole (Sgr A*) in the center of the Milky Way. * The first optical observation of a gamma ray burst Curiosities * The telescope takes the name of the astronomer William Herschel (Germany 1738 - England 1822), a musician without scientific formation who began his interest in the astronomy to the 35 years of age. This astronomer discovered the planet Uranus with a 1.2m reflecting telescope that built the same along with his sister since he could not afford to buy a refractor telescope of similar size to the use at the time. Herschel was also a pioneer in the design of the azimuth
The William Herschel Telescope (WHT) is the second largest telescope of Roque de Los Muchachos in La Palma. With a primary mirror of 4.2 m in diameter it is also the second largest telescope in
The Gran Telescopio de Canarias on the island of La Palma is currently the largest optical-infrared telescope in the world and one of the most advanced. The primary mirror consists of 36 hexagonal segments of 1.90 m vertices, 8 cm thick, and 470 kg, which act together as a single mirror. The GTC collecting surface is equivalent to that of a telescope with a mirror diameter of 10.4 m. The focal length is 169.9 m and therefore the maximum field of view is 20 arcmin in diameter (about the size of the full Moon). History After years in the drawing boards of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, in 1994 GRANTECAN SA when it was founded, with the aim of designing and building the world's largest telescope: the Gran Telescopio Canarias. Subsequently, agreements were signed with the Government of Mexico, for two of their universities to participate in the project and also joined as a partner the United States, through the University of Florida. The telescope cost no less than 130 million euros and has an annual budget of nearly 9 million Euros. The construction of the telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos on the island of La Palma, began in 2000 and the start of the science phase began operating in March 2009. The telescope time is shared by Spanish scientists (90%), Mexico (5%) and the U.S. (5%), the same percentage who contributed to the initial project. Curiosities We can compare the power of sight of the telescope to four million human eyes. It could distinguish the headlights of a car at about 20,000 miles away. The metal structure of the dome is assembled with screws 16,000 and 43,000 metal nuts. The mirrors are cleaned with powdered snow made of carbon dioxide. There are
The Gran Telescopio de Canarias on the island of La Palma is currently the largest optical-infrared telescope in the world and one of the most advanced. The primary mirror consists of 36 hexagonal segments of
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