Twenty-five years ago, on September 28, 1979, the Canada-France-Hawaii
Telescope (CFHT) was inaugurated on top of Mauna-Kea, a 4,200-meter high
dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii.
From the photographic emulsion of the first light to today’s 340
Mega-Pixel digital camera, CHFT’s instruments are cutting edge; its
camera is the largest ever built in operation on a telescope. With
high-resolution or multi-object spectroscopy, adaptive optics and
polarimetry, CFHT has played an important role for a quarter of a
century in the development of astronomy, thanks to the support of its
member agencies in Canada, France and the State of Hawaii.
Once one of the large telescopes in the world, with a mirror 3.6-m in
diameter (a ‘small’ telescope by today’s standards), CFHT continues to
serve the astronomical community with stunning images and groundbreaking
discoveries, from the small bodies of our solar system to remote
galaxies; this has been possible due to a state-of-the-art instrument
complement well-suited to the relatively modest size of its mirror and
the extraordinary quality of its site.
The spectacular image released today is one of the best ground-based
images ever made combining wide field and high resolution. It is the
result of tens of hours of telescope time spent on a single 1-degree by
1-degree field for the CFHT Legacy Survey (CFHTLS), one of CFHT’s most
ambitious scientific endeavors so far. Canada and France are devoting
500 nights of telescope time to the CFHTLS over 5 years to tackle
important questions in today’s astronomy.
While there are still years to go to complete the CFHTLS, this image
comes as a spectacular milestone to celebrate 25 years of excellence…
and counting!
Link: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope 25th Anniversary Images
