A new astronomical instrument has just been installed on the European Southern Observatory (ESO) 3.6-m telescope at La Silla in Chile. The first images have now been obtained and hold great promise for future research programs, ESO astronomers declare.The Thermal Infrared MultiMode Instrument (TIMMI2) was built in a collaboration between ESO and a consortium headed by the Jena University Observatory in Germany. It detects infrared radiation in the 5-24 micron mid-IR spectral region.
TIMMI2 is particularly well suited for observations of the complex processes that take place in the innermost regions of star-forming clouds. It is also a forerunner of a similar, but even more powerful instrument to be installed at the 8.2-m VLT telescopes on Paranal during the next few years.
Among the first images are some of the most penetrating mid-infrared views ever obtained of the central region of the Orion Nebula.
(Editor's Note: Five photos are available at this URL.)
[Contact: Ralf Siebenmorgen]
02-Apr-2001
