UNIDIA
Engineering and Instrumental Developments Unit for Astrophysics
From instrumental design to the exploitation of observables
Flash News
MOONS takes off for Chile
MOONS: The largest astronomical instrument begins its journey to Chile
An 11,000 km journey to the stars
MOONS, a state-of-the-art spectrograph built by a consortium of six countries (the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Portugal, Switzerland, and Chile) as well as ESO, will set sail to unlock the secrets of the Universe. This month, after more than a decade of innovation and collaboration, MOONS (Multi-Object Optical and Near-Infrared Spectrograph) left the UK Astronomy Technology Center (UK ATC) in Edinburgh, where the entire instrument was assembled and tested. This marks the start of an 11,000 km journey to the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Paranal site in Chile.
MOONS was built by an international consortium led by the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, involving collaboration across six countries. Th`is project marks a significant milestone for French science and engineering, particularly through the development of new expertise in using fibers in cryogenic environments—a responsibility led by France.
Its journey to Chile marks the final stage before its integration into ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and its first use in 2026.
UK ATC has led the project, which has been supported from the outset by CNRS-INSU and the Paris Observatory-PSL. Within the consortium, France has been responsible for the fiber link, the slit environment, the shutter, and the data reduction pipeline.
Its unique capabilities will enable astronomers to study millions of stars and galaxies, providing unprecedented data on the formation and evolution of galaxies and the structure of our Milky Way. This will help answer some of the biggest questions in astronomy.
Contact :
Hector FLORES, Co-PI Français du projet, LUX, Observatoire de Paris-PSL, CNRS, hector.flores@obspm.fr
Isabelle GUINOUARD Chef de Projet Français, UNIDIA, Observatoire de Paris-PSL, CNRS, isabelle.guinouard@obspm.fr
Frédéric ROYER, Responsable DRS, LIRA, Observatoire de Paris-PSL, CNRS, frederic.royer@obspm.fr
UNIDIA is a scientific and technical support service of the Observatoire de Paris-PSL and the CNRS. Its shared nature enables it to work on the biggest instrumental projects of the Paris Observatory laboratories, designed to prepare for the astrophysics of the future.
We are organized into a quality/product assurance department and three technical divisions. The first is dedicated to all mechanical stages, from design to assembly and testing of parts manufactured in our workshop. The second covers all areas of instrument development, and the third is dedicated to software engineering.
These divisions design innovative hardware and software solutions for astrophysical instrumentation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum (from radio to very high energies). We have the technical expertise to collect light, transport it via thousands of optical fibers and inject it into spectrographic slits. With our scientific, statistical and IT expertise, we also master the entire chain of collecting and analyzing massive data, within the framework of DRS (Data Reduction Software), also known as "pipelines".
Thanks to our cutting-edge know-how, our instruments are capable of observing thousands of objects every night with unrivalled precision, providing scientists with a wealth of accurate information for the first time. A case in point is the Gaia instrument, for which one of our technical divisions plays a major role, being responsible for processing spectroscopic data and multiple stars.
These instrumental and software performances are revolutionizing the way we see the Universe as a whole, and helping to answer questions that have remained unanswered for decades, such as the origin of dark matter or the structure of our Galaxy.
As part of our training activities, we contribute to the teaching provided in the Master’s courses at the Observatoire de Paris-PSL, and every year we welcome trainees and apprentices of all levels to help them discover our exciting professions. UNIDIA is at the cutting edge of instrumental and computing know-how dedicated to astrophysics, and offers many opportunities for those who wish to contribute to the future of astrophysics.
