CUBES has passed the European Southern Observatory (ESO)'s crucial Final Design Review and now the project can move into the manufacturing stage. UK ATC has played a key role in developing this groundbreaking spectrograph, which will become the first dedicated ultraviolet eye on the sky on ESO's Very Large Telescope.
The CUBES instrument has been specifically designed to observe the Universe in near-ultraviolet light between 300-400 nanometres - a region of the spectrum never before explored with such high sensitivity using large telescopes.
UK ATC is responsible for the detector sub-system work package and is also contributing to the optics work package - critical components that will enable CUBES to capture the faintest ultraviolet signals. The UK's contribution also includes Durham University, who are designing the image slicers and Dr Cyrielle Opitom from the University of Edinburgh who serves as Project Scientist for the consortium, leading the science team, which includes astronomers from universities across the UK, that will unlock CUBES' potential.
The instrument's capabilities will open new scientific frontiers. Ultraviolet observations are particularly valuable for detecting rare elements such as beryllium, europium, zirconium, germanium and uranium. This data will prove especially valuable for galactic archaeology and studying the early Universe's evolution through time. CUBES will also investigate gamma ray bursts and study comets within our own solar system, including searching for water on asteroids.
The consortium, led by INAF (the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics) and including partners from the UK, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Poland and Slovenia, will now begin construction. CUBES is expected to see first light later this decade when installed on one of the VLT's Unit Telescopes in Chile's Atacama Desert.
Gustavo Canedo, CUBES Project Manager at UK ATC, said: “We sincerely thank everyone who has contributed and supported the project from the very beginning, helping us achieve this important milestone.
“Passion, creativity and a collaborative environment, fostered by strong and transparent communication, has allowed the Project Team to achieve this remarkable outcome together.
“We're excited for the next phase of the project, which will mark the beginning of CUBES construction."
Dr Cyrielle Opitom, CUBES Project Scientist at the University of Edinburgh, said: “CUBES is a unique project. It has been extremely rewarding working with astronomers from both the UK and partner countries to uncover the science potential of the instrument. We are all looking forward to see the first observations coming in a few years."
