Active Physics & Astronomy Chemistry

CUBES: The Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph for the VLT

Funder STFC (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Science and Technology Facilities Council
Funding £1.3M
Period Mar 2024 — Mar 2028

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

The Very Large Telescope in Chile is getting a new ultraviolet spectrograph called CUBES, designed to capture light between 305 and 400 nanometres—a range that ground-based telescopes have long struggled to observe efficiently. This matters because the near-ultraviolet region holds crucial information about stellar chemistry, the formation of elements in stars, and the composition of objects in our own Solar System. Current instruments lose most of this light before it reaches the detector. CUBES will change that, opening a window on astrophysical processes that have been difficult to study from Earth. The UK is taking scientific leadership of the project and will design and build the entire detector system, including the CCD camera, electronics, and cryostat. If successful, CUBES will give astronomers a uniquely powerful tool for understanding how stars evolve, how elements are forged, and how planetary systems form. This is fundamental science. It will not directly change everyday life or infrastructure. But similar investments in specialised astronomical instruments have historically driven advances in detector technology, precision optics, and cryogenic systems—technologies that later find their way into medical imaging, satellite sensors, and industrial manufacturing.

View original technical description
The four 8.2m telescopes of ESO's Very Large Telescope are the world's most scientifically productive ground-based observatory at visible/infrared wavelengths. Looking to the future of the VLT there has been a long-standing aspiration for an optimised near-ultraviolet (NUV) spectrograph, which culminated in plans for the Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES). High-efficiency observations of the ground UV (305-400 nm) with CUBES will remain uniquely competitive for many years, opening new discovery space for a broad range of astrophysics--from stellar astrophysics and nucleosynthesis to compelling cases from extragalactic astronomy and Solar System science. The UK objectives within CUBES are the scientific leadership of the project (via the role of the CUBES Project Scientist); influential roles in the optical design (fore-optics, image slicers and spectrograph); and the design and delivery of the entire detector sub-system (CCD & electronics, detector cryostat and cryostat control electronics). The proposed UK participation in the development of CUBES will deliver impact across multiple aspects of the project, including high science return, the participation of UK industry, international collaboration with European and non-European partners, as well as training opportunities for junior engineers and scientists.

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Researchers

David Lunney (Co-Investigator)Ruben Sanchez-Janssen (Principal Investigator)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

CUBES - Phase A
Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) for the VLT
UKELT: The next generation instrumentation suite for the Extremely Large Telescope
UK participation in the pre-production phase of CTA - extension 2018-2019
UK Participation in the CTA pre-production phase

Original classification

Research Grant

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