MATISSE to shed light on the formation of Earth and planets

The MATISSE instrument is ready to be sent to Chile, where in the next few weeks it will be installed on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the world's most powerful astronomical observatory. This achievement is the outcome of fifteen years of development, including a final year of testing at the Laboratoire J.-L. Lagrange (Observatoire Côte d'Azur/CNRS/Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis). The instrument, for which France is responsible under the auspices of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is international in scope. By observing the protoplanetary disks that surround young stars, the MATISSE project should improve our understanding of the formation of the Earth and of planets in general. MATISSE is one of the few projects for which France has responsibility under the auspices of the ESO. In early October 2017, the MATISSE (Multi AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment) instrument will travel to the Atacama desert in Chile to be installed on the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), the world's most powerful astronomical observatory.