Yunnan University completes first telescope of its kind

Mephisto in Yunnan. [Photo/ynu.edu.cn]

The world's first large-field, multi-channel photometric survey telescope, named Mephisto, was completed in Southwest China's Yunnan province on Dec 21, 2023. It is also the first telescope to capture celestial images in the blue, yellow, and red channels simultaneously.

The concept and development of Mephisto were initiated by the South-Western Institute for Astronomy Research of Yunnan University.

Mephisto excels in providing ultra-high precision photometry and color information of celestial bodies, creating a colorful record of the motion and changes in cosmic objects.

From October 2022 to December 2023, Mephisto underwent an 1800-hour trial run, generating more than 70,000 scientific images.

Now, Mephisto is set to embark on a year-long pilot survey, exploring new celestial bodies and delving into the fundamental aspects and prerequisites of the nature, formation, and evolution of various celestial objects.

Telescope image of H II galaxy NGC2903 by Mephisto. [Photo/ynu.edu.cn]