University scientists in epic house race with new telescope

Published:


2025-10-22 09:00:00

Scientists are celebrating a brand new period of cosmic discovery after their revolutionary new telescope captured its first knowledge from the universe.

The 4MOST telescope will discover the formation and evolution of stars and planets alongside galaxies and blackholes at a fee not seen earlier than.

Astronomers from the colleges of Southampton and Portsmouth are a part of the mission group, which incorporates greater than 700 scientists worldwide.

The 4MOST super-scope, referred to as the

four-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope

, operates from the European Southern Observatory in Chile. It can measure the sunshine of practically 2,500 celestial objects at a time, serving to astronomers research their chemical composition and properties.

Dr Phil Wiseman

from the University of Southampton might be working to crunch the huge quantities of knowledge produced by the telescope.

He mentioned: “4MOST is poised to crack the universe’s largest secrets and techniques. We’ll be getting probably the most exact measurement ever of darkish vitality, the mysterious drive tearing the cosmos aside.”

The evaluation might be undertaken by a collaboration of 4MOST named the Time-Domain Extragalactic Survey (TiDES) that primarily targets exploding stars, of which the colleges of Southampton and Portsmouth are founding members.

Dr Wiseman added: “Through our TiDES work, we’re constructing the most important catalogue of supermassive blackhole plenty and unlocking the secrets and techniques of the universe’s fast evolution.

“By weighing a large catalogue of 1,000 monster blackholes and observing 10,000 lensed galaxies, we are going to lastly perceive the engine driving cosmic growth and galaxy development.”

Thousands of intelligent fibre cables

The 4MOST telescope has been outfitted with practically 2,500 fibres, every one the dimensions of a human hair, which might be used to construct a map of how galaxies type and the way supermassive blackholes have been born.

Southampton astrophysics pupil Matt Quilt, who joined the college final month, is now working with Dr Wiseman and the scientific group as a postgraduate researcher, investigating supermassive black holes.

He mentioned: “4MOST might discover issues within the universe by no means seen earlier than – and to be a part of that so early in my profession, after becoming a member of Southampton simply weeks in the past, is basically thrilling.

“We nonetheless don’t know all that a lot in regards to the atmosphere round black holes, how the celebs, mud and fuel behave and the way this pertains to the unusual explosions I’m investigating.

“Being part of 4MOST is thrilling – to have the chance to help discover new things about our universe drew me to Southampton and it’ll open the door to many future opportunities for me.”

Verge of a brand new period of cosmic discovery

The 4MOST telescope will observe a brand new set of objects within the sky each 10 to twenty minutes utilizing its progressive fibre cables.

Experts from Southampton and Portsmouth, working underneath TiDES, hope the info can higher perceive how stars evolve and die, and contribute to the measurement of the results of the mysterious darkish vitality drive.

Dr Chris Frohmaier, from the University of Portsmouth, mentioned: “4MOST will allow us to gather spectra for the most important explosions within the universe at unprecedented volumes and scale. These explosions, referred to as supernovae, will permit us to measure huge distances throughout the cosmos and research the mysterious drive referred to as darkish vitality that’s inflicting the accelerating growth of the universe.

“I’m most excited by the overwhelming quantity of knowledge that can arrive from the variety of telescopes the world over that the UK universities have invested in. Not solely will this put us on the international forefront of scientific exploration, however it’s going to additionally allow us to steer with the technical achievements essential to analyse these observations.”

See extra at

www.4most.eu/cms/home

.