© NOVA
METIS, the only infrared first-light instrument and offering imaging and medium-resolution spectroscopy over a wavelength range from 3-19 microns and high-resolution integral field spectroscopy from 3-5.3 microns, will be built by a consortium of institutes around Europe, and is led by NOVA - The Netherlands Research School for Astronomy. Next to NOVA, the consortium consists of the Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie (MPIA) (Germany), the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UKATC, United Kingdom), the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), CEA Saclay (France), ETH Zuerich (Switzerland) and Universitaet Wien on behalf of the A* consortium (Austria), all being present at the ceremony.
In Greek mythology, Metis was the first wife of Zeus and mother of Athena, goddess of wisdom. The METIS instrument, in conjunction with the huge light collecting power and resolution of the E-ELT, will allow many advances in a wide range of astronomical topics, including the study of proto-planetary discs and the formation of planets, detailed investigations of the properties of exoplanets and, closer to home, the formation and history of the Solar System. METIS will also probe the growth of supermassive black holes as well as study star-forming galaxies in the early Universe.
METIS will complement the HARMONI spectrograph and MICADO imager, the latter also having Dutch contributions. All first light instruments will take a decade for realization, and at ASTRON several core elements will be built by the NOVA Optical Infrared Instrumentation group.
Straight after the signing ceremony, the METIS kick-off consortium started, settling the beginning of design phase B.