Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Visible Multi Object Spectrograph
open-in-new
<p>The Visible Multi-Object Spectrograph (VIMOS) is a wide field imager and a multi-object <a href="/facts/Spectrograph/BjshQbA8">spectrograph</a> installed at the <a href="/facts/European_Southern_Observatory/mJtjDbwx">European Southern Observatory</a>'s <a href="/facts/Very_Large_Telescope/xUQCLysQ">Very Large Telescope</a> (VLT), in Chile. The instrument used for deep astronomical surveys delivers visible images and spectra of up to 1,000 galaxies at a time. VIMOS images four rectangular areas of the sky, 7 by 8 <a href="/facts/Arcminutes/tybs6YGC">arcminutes</a> each, with gaps of 2 arcminutes between them. Its <a href="/facts/Principal_investigator/GXE6ILvW">principal investigator</a> was <a href="/facts/Olivier_Le_F%25C3%25A8vre/uYW8jbsY">Olivier Le Fèvre</a>. </p><p>The Franco-Italian instrument operates in the visible part of the spectrum from 360 to 1000 <a href="/facts/Nanometer/a98sjHyu">nanometers</a> (nm). In the conceptual design phase, the <a href="/facts/Multi-Object_Spectrometer/BjshQbA8">multi-object spectrograph</a> then called VIRMOS included an additional instrument, NIMOS, operating in the near-infrared spectrum of 1100–1800 nm. </p><p>Operating in the three different observation modes, direct imaging, multi-slit spectroscopy, and integral field spectroscopy, the main objective of the instrument is to study the early universe through massive <a href="/facts/Redshift_survey/mXtC61WX">redshift surveys</a>, such as the <a href="/facts/VIMOS-VLT_Deep_Survey/blH2Ik3E">VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey</a>. </p><p>VIMOS saw its <a href="/facts/First_light_(astronomy)/pHI5o0r0">first light</a> on 26 February 2002, and has since been mounted on the Nasmyth B focus of VLT's <i>Melipal</i> unit telescope (UT3). </p><p>It was retired in 2018 to make space for the return of CRIRES+. </p>