First Technical Light with new Wide Field Corrector and Aquisition & Guiding systems

by Joar Brynnel + Roelof de Jong on 2024-12-05

Following the successful 4MOST Paranal installation campaigns in October and November, on November 22 the Consortium and ESO met for the VISTA telescope re-commissioning readiness milestone. The purpose of this milestone was to verify that the VISTA telescope is ready for re-commissioning with the new 4MOST hardware. Once the new Wide Field Corrector and the Acquisition & Guiding and Wave Front Sensing systems have been fully characterized and commissioned, the VISTA telescope will be ready for installation of the remaining 4MOST subsystems, which in turn means start of formal 4MOST verification and commissioning.

We are pleased to report that the November 22 readiness review was successful, which allowed for the start of telescope recommissioning on November 24. It is very exciting to see the VISTA telescope back on sky after being dormant for quite a while. The testing of the telescope has now reached a point where we were able to make images on the technical cameras. With this message, we are delighted to share the official 4MOST “First Technical Light” image with you. The image, taken during the night of December 5, shows the galaxy NG2207. Image quality is already very good, which gives us great confidence in the performance of the VISTA telescope in the new 4MOST configuration.

The amount of work done, enabling the project to reach this milestone, is nothing short of amazing. On behalf of our entire team, we extend our deepest gratitude to each member of the consortium and the ESO support team for your support and dedication. Reaching this significant milestone would not have been possible without your collective efforts, expertise, and commitment.

Looking forward to the next exciting steps towards completing 4MOST!

Joar and Roelof