In February the 20th 2012 begins the meeting in which HEXA will be presented to the astronomical community: a projecto for a new 6.5 metre (21.33 feet) telescope for Calar Alto Observatory (Almeria). HEXA will provide the possibility to perform large spectroscopic surveys of the sky, what will allow dealing with key scientific problems in the field of the evolution of galaxies, stellar structure or the nature of dark energy.
The congress “HEXA: an instrument for spectroscopic surveys” has been inaugurated at the Astrophysical Institute of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), a meeting to expose the HEXA Project to the astronomical community, with the will to identify the scientific cases that will determine its final features, and to begin the preliminary design.
HEXA, a telescope with a primary mirror of 6.5 metres intended to be placed at Calar Alto Observatory, arises from the need to have spectroscopic data on large sky areas. The spectrum of the Light of a celestial object provides crucial information about its composition, temperature, density or velocities and, up to now, there are no instruments capable of providing massive spectroscopic surveys with high resolution. “HEXA poses a huge technological challenge to Spain and, over all, an unique scientific opportunity”, says David Barrado, Director of Calar Alto Observatory.
Preliminary outer design for the building that will house HEXA telescope |
After two decades of photometric (or imaging) surveys such as SDSS, 2MASS or WISE, it has become evident the lack of high resolution spectroscopic counterparts, to solve key problems related to the evolution of galaxies, the nature of dark energy or stellar physics.
This way, the data produced by HEXA will be the ideal complement to the photometric data already available, and will allow an optimum exploitation of space missions as Gaia, a satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) that will produce the ever largest census of stars in our Galaxy, and will discover hundreds of thousands of new cosmic objects.
Both the features and the working procedure of HEXA will make of it a pioneer instrument. Barrado points out that ”on the one hand, it will be a scientific ‘laboratory’ designed to answer astrophysical problems, but on the other hand it will work in a way very different most other telescopes, because it will generate data in a sequential manner, surveying all the sky visible from Almeria”.
Preliminary inner design for the building that will house HEXA telescope |
Furthermore, the analysis of the data generated by HEXA will require innovative strategies. ”Exploiting this bulk of data will pose an overwhelming task that will have to be organized in a similar way to what is being done at experiments such as those of CERN, with a very large scientific team making use of the results. No doubt this is an opportunity for developing and improving the scientific-technological tissue, with local lidership and with a central role for Spanish, and specially Andalusian teams”, states Barrado.
During this congress, until February the 22nd, the Basic optical and instrumental concepts for HEXA will be discussed, and there will be the chance to explore the synergies and collaboration possibilities with other projects as Gaia, MEGARA or WHT/WEAVE, and the different scientific ambits in which HEXA is useful will be analyzed.
Calar Alto Observatory, jointly managed by the Spanish CSIC through the Astropysical Institute of Andalusia (Granada), and by the German Max Planck Society through the Institute for Astronomy (Heidelberg), is the most outstanding astronomical complex in continental Europe. It is place at Sierra de los Filabres mountain range (Almeria) and it offers expceptional observing conditions in optical and infrared wavelengths for Spanish and German astronomers, and for the international community as well.
Among the research works performed at Calar Alto we find the study of the structure of the Galaxy, star formation from interstellar matter, research on extragalactic systems such as galaxies and quasars, the analysis of the structure and evolution of stellar objects or the study of the history of the universe as a whole.
Calar Alto Observatory maintains, too, important collaborations with other national and international observatories, and with space projects.
Images:
Preliminary outer design for the building that will house HEXA telescope
Preliminary inner design for the building that will house HEXA telescope
© Calar Alto Observatory, February 2012