The Birth of Telluric Planets with MATISSE (Multi-AperTure Inteferometry and SpectroScopic Experiment)
MATISSE, a giant and sharp eye on the Universe
Academy 3 highlight
MATISSE is a unique Space observation instrument on the international scene that will provide unprecedented high-resolution data on Stars and Galactic Nuclei allowing a huge step forward in our understanding of the Universe
The project
After 15 years of work, our group has successfully built a unique space observation instrument: MATISSE (Multi-AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment). MATISSE combines the beams of four of the telescopes of the “Very Large Telescope Instrument” (VLTI) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), one of the most prestigious optical observatories in the world (Chile). It operates in the L, M and N emission bands, thus from 3 to 13 microns of wavelength, with spectral resolutions ranging from 30 to 4500, and provides polychromatic images. Altogether these make MATISSE a unique instrument in the world with unprecedented spectroscopic capabilities and extended spectral coverage. These specifications allow MATISSE to observe and characterize simultaneously both the spatial distribution and the chemical characteristics (composition, grain size, crystallinity, etc.) of the warm dust and gas material that surround many astrophysical sources such as young stars and active Galactic Nuclei. More, MATISSE allows us to explore for the first time the closest environments of the stars, less than 10 Astronomical Units wide (1 AU = the Sun-Earth distance), and to perform this exploration at the currently highest possible resolution (a fraction of an AU).
MATISSE has been installed in the Atacama Desert in Chile. It started to operate in April 2019. The Academy 3 support allowed us to conduct some of the first observing sessions, and to lead training sessions for a few French observers including students.
MATISSE is now ready to observe the Universe. Therefore, over the next decade, MATISSE will provide unprecedented observations addressing many critical scientific questions such as the structure of Active Galactic Nuclei, the origin of dust in our Universe, the imaging of planet-forming regions around solar system analogs, etc. MATISSE is thus on its way to generate new important data and science that will make a large step forward in our understanding of the Universe.
The +
MATISSE is a unique worldwide instrumentation achievement. Its construction relied on a large multidisciplinary and international effort. It is currently the only space observation instrument operating in the mid-infrared, while combining the observation capacity of 4 telescopes. This makes it the most accurate observation instrument at the present moment. It is open to the entire scientific community.
What’s next?
More than 120 international observing proposals have already been submitted through the ESO calls from September 2018 to April 2019, to use MATISSE to observe different parts of the Universe. Tens of PhD students will be involved in these projects. Breakthrough scientific results are thus expected in the next decades thanks to MATISSE.
Project information
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Scientific domain
Astrophysics and Optical Instrumentation
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Theme
Optical Interferometry
Stellar Physics
Active Galactic Nuclei
Solar System;
Extrasolar Planets
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Key words Stellar Physics
Young Stellar Objects and Protoplanetary Disks
Active Galactic Nuclei
Long Baseline Optical Interferometry
Planetary Bodies and Embryos
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Total budget
Total budget allowing development and installation of MATISSE |
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Partner laboratories and internationale collaboration
MATISSE was designed, funded and built, in close collaboration with ESO (Agreement No. 39662/ESO/11/31373/YWE signed in 2011), by a consortium composed of institutes from:
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Project members
LOPEZ Bruno, Principal Investigator
LAGARDE Stéphane, Project Manager
PETROV Romain G., Instrument Scientist
BERIO Philippe, co-Head of the Data Reduction Software with Florentin Millour
MILLOUR Florentin, co-Head of the DRS, Head of the Stellar Physics Team of the MATISSE Science Group, coordinator of the science observations
MATTER Alexis, Head of the Exposure time Calculator, co-Responsible of the Young Stellar Object group with our Consortium partners of Germany and the Netherlands, national coordinator of the VLTI Center.
CRUZALÈBES Pierre, co-Head with Romain Petrov of the Commissioning, coordinator of the calibration star catalogue.
MEILLAND Anthony, Head of the MATISSE Control Software
ALLOUCHE Fatmé, Head of the Commissioning analysis,
ROBBE-DUBOIS Sylvie, Head of the instrumental tests (AIT and AIV). |
Project valorization
In 2017 the project was awarded a ‘Trophée de l’Innovation du Conseil départemental des Alpes Maritimes’.
For public access, the MATISSE project is advertised in a journey diary: https://www-matisse.oca.eu/fr/accueil-matisse
During the development phase of the project, most of the presentations, listed below, have been given at specialized conferences (type SPIE) dedicated to astronomical instruments. The first astrophysical observations and results will be published in 2020.
Conferences :
- R.G. Petrov, MATISSE, the thermal infrared VLTI instrument, Ground-based thermal infrared astronomy – past, present and future, On-line, 12 - 16 October 2020.
- E. Kokoulina, First MATISSE L-band observations of HD 179218. Is inner 10 au region carbonaceous ? Ground-based thermal infrared astronomy – past, present and future, On-line, 12 - 16 October 2020.
- A. Matter, Spatially resolving the chemical composition of the planet building blocks. Ground-based thermal infrared astronomy – past, present and future, On-line, 12 - 16 October 2020.
- Lopez, B., Lagarde, S., Matter, A.,..., Antonelli, P.,..., Bailet, C., Berio, P.,..., Bresson, Y.,..., Cruzalèbes, P., Delbò, M.,..., Fanteï-Caujolle, Y.,..., Meilland, A.,..., Millour, F.,..., Petrov, R., Robbe-Dubois, S.,..., Stee, P. and Weigelt, G. (43 auteurs) "The installation and ongoing commissioning of the MATISSE mid-infrared interferometer at the ESO Very Large Telescope Observatory", SPIE 10701 Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging VI, Austin, USA, 9 july 2018, vol. 10701 (2018)
- Petrov, R., Allouche, F., Berio, P., Chelli, A., Cruzalèbes, P., Fanteï-Caujolle, Y., Jaffe, W., Glindemann, A., Lagarde, S., Lopez, B., Matter, A., Meilland, A., Millour, F., Morel, S., Paladini, C., Rivinius, T., Robbe-Dubois, S., Rousseau, S., Schoeller, M. and Varga, J. "Commissioning MATISSE: first results", SPIE 10701 Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging VI, Austin, USA, 9 july 2018, p. 1070109 (2018)
- Robbe-Dubois, S., Lagarde, S., Antonelli, P., Lopez, B.,..., Bailet, C., Brio, P., Bresson, Y.,..., Cruzalèbes, P., Fanteï-Caujolle, Y., Marcotto, A., Matter, A., Meilland, A., Millour, F.,..., Petrov, R., Rousseau, S., Soulain, A.,..., Chelli, A., Guitton, F.,..., Pichon, B., Spang, A.,..., Stee, P. and Weigelt, G. (61 auteurs) "MATISSE: Performance in laboratory, results of AIV in Paranal, and first results on sky", SPIE 10701 Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging VI, Austin, USA, 9 july 2018, vol. 10701 (2018)
- Matter, A., Lagarde, S., Petrov, R., Berio, P., Robbe-Dubois, S., Lopez, B., Antonelli, P., Allouche, F., Cruzalèbes, P., Millour, F., Bazin, G. and Bourgès, L. "MATISSE: specifications and expected performances", SPIE-Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging V, vol. 9907 (2016)
- Matter, A., Lopez, B., Antonelli, P.,..., Lagarde, S.,..., Petrov, R., Berio, P., Millour, F., Robbe-Dubois, S.,..., Lanz, T.,..., Cruzalèbes, P.,..., Bresson, Y.,..., Allouche, F.,..., Bailet, C.,..., Clausse, J. M.,..., Delbò, M.,..., Fanteï-Caujolle, Y.,..., Guitton, F.,..., Marcotto, A., Martinache, F.,..., Meilland, A. and al. (107 auteurs) "An overview of the mid-infrared spectro-interferometer MATISSE: science, concept, and current status", SPIE - Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VI, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, June 26, 2016 vol. 9906 (2016)
- Millour, F., Berio, P., Heininger, M., Hofmann, K. H., Schertl, D., Weigelt, G., Guitton, F., Jaffe, W., Beckmann, U., Petrov, R., Allouche, F., Robbe-Dubois, S, Lagarde, S., Soulain, A., Meilland, A., Matter, A., Cruzalèbes, P. and Lopez, B. "Data reduction for the MATISSE instrument", SPIE, Edimbourg (2016)
- Millour, F., Hron, J., Chiavassa, A., Weigelt, G., Soulain, A., Khorrami, Z., Meilland, A., Nardetto, N., Paladini, C., Domiciano de Souza, A., Niccolini, G., Hofmann, K. H., Schertl, D., Stee, P., Bendjoya, P., Thévenin, F., Vakili, F., Bério, P., Lanz, T., Matter, A., Cruzalèbes, P., Petrov, R. and Lopez, B. "Grown-up stars physics with MATISSE", SPIE: Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging V, vol. 9907 (2016)
- Petrov, R., Berio, Pe., Jaffe, W., Lagarde, S., Matter, A., Millour, F., Vannier, M. and Lopez, B. "A triple modulation to optimize the accuracy of the VLTI instrument MATISSE", SPIE conference Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging V, Edimburgh, UK, juin 2016, sous presse (2016)
- Soulain, A., Millour, F., Lopez, B., Lagadec, E., Matter, A. and Hofmann, K. H. "Sharp images of WR104", SPIE-Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging V, vol. 9907 (2016)
- Wolf, S., Lopez, B., Augereau, J. C., Delbò, M., Dominik, C., Henning, T., Hofmann, K. H., Hogerheijde, M., Hron, J., Jaffe, W., Lanz, T., Meisenheimer, K., Millour, F., Pantin, E., Petrov, R., Schertl, D., van Boekel, R., Weigelt, G., Chiavassa, A., Juhasz, A., Matter, A., Meilland, A., Nardetto, N. and Paladini, C. "Science with MATISSE", SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, vol. 9907 (2016).
Publications:
- Vargas J. et al.The asymmetric inner disk of the Herbig Ae star HD163296 in the eyes of VLTI/MATISSE : evidence for a vortex ? A&A, 2020.
Finally, the MATISSE User Manuel document provided by our team at ESO during the Preliminary Acceptance Europe phase of the project is now the central document which is used by the international users to prepare their observations. This document is used worldwide: http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/matisse/doc/VLT-MAN-ESO-289268_P103.pdf
