Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy: Progress Report

Abstract

VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) is a 4-m wide-field survey telescope (1.65 diameter in the IR), equipped with a near-IR (0.85–2.3 μm) camera facility for performing extensive surveys of the southern skies with sensitivity matched to the needs of 8-m-class telescopes. IR imaging surveys particularly target the cold, the obscured, and the high-redshift Universe, to generate science directly and also select objects worthy of further study by the VLT. Details of the design and expected performance of VISTA were given in The Messenger 117, page 27, so here we describe, mainly in pictures, progress in implementing VISTA. VISTA’s first Public Surveys are expected to begin in late 2007.