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Istituto italiano di astrofisica - national institute for astrophisics

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VST beyond 2021

From Apr 2022 the INAF-ESO agreement for the VST operations in Paranal will expire, and INAF will gain full ownership of the telescope. To explore the various options, INAF has appointed a working group to review the scientific potential of the VST telescope and to present to the INAF management the potential options on the future of telecope operations
VST beyond 2021

VST (an acronym for VLT Survey Telescope) is one of the largest telescopes in the world designed for wide-field surveys in the optical bands. The telescope has a 2.6-m aperture and is equipped with a single dedicated focal plane instrument: OmegaCAM, which is sensitive in the optical (0.3 - 1.0 microns) range over a 1 square degree field of view.

From Apr 2022 the INAF-ESO agreement for the VST operations in Paranal will expire, and INAF will gain full ownership of the telescope.

To explore the various options, INAF has appointed a working group "VST beyond 2021" to review the scientific potential of the VST telescope and to present to the INAF management the potential options on the future of telecope operations.

For more information:

  • visit the web section VST beyond 2021 maintained by INAF Scientific Directorate

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Apr 22, 2026

ALMA WITNESSES STAR BIRTH BEYOND THE EDGES OF THE MILKY WAY A new study, led by INAF, has mapped, for the first time, the mass distribution of newly formed cores in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Thanks to high-resolution images from ALMA, it has emerged that these cores form according to the same patterns observed in the Milky Way. The result suggests that the initial fragmentation mechanisms of gas and dust clumps, from which stars are born, are universal and independent of the galactic environment.

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Jan 26, 2026

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CALVERA EXPLODED WHERE IT SHOULDN’T HAVE: A “RUNAWAY” PULSAR DEFIES THE RULES OF THE MILKY WAY

Aug 29, 2025

CALVERA EXPLODED WHERE IT SHOULDN’T HAVE: A “RUNAWAY” PULSAR DEFIES THE RULES OF THE MILKY WAY A stellar explosion, a pulsar, and a supernova remnant - that’s the story of Calvera. Positioned more than 6,500 light-years above the Galactic plane, this system is rewriting what we know about stellar evolution in our galaxy. The research originates from a team at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), in collaboration with the University of Palermo, and is detailed in a study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics