VLT Survey Telescope - Science With The VST

Science With The VST

In planetary science, the survey telescope aims to discover and study remote Solar System bodies such as trans-Neptunian objects, as well as search for extrasolar planet transits. The Galactic plane will also be extensively studied with VST, which will look for signatures of tidal interactions in the Milky Way, and will provide astronomers with data crucial to understand the structure and evolution of our Galaxy. Further afield, the VST will explore nearby galaxies, extragalactic and intra-cluster planetary nebulae, and will perform surveys of faint object and micro-lensing events. The telescope will also peer into the distant Universe to help astronomers find answers to long-standing questions in cosmology. It will target medium-redshift supernovae to help pin down the cosmic distance scale and understand the expansion of the Universe. The VST will also look for cosmic structures at medium-high redshift, active galactic nuclei and quasars to further our understanding of galaxy formation and the Universe’s early history.

Through the VST ATLAS survey, the telescope will target one of the most fundamental questions in astrophysics today: the nature of dark energy. The survey aims to detect small-amplitude oscillations known as ´baryon wiggles’ that can be detected in the power-spectrum of galaxies and are the imprint of sound waves in the early Universe on the distribution of matter. The dark energy equation of state can be determined by measuring the features of these oscillations. Extrapolating from previous surveys, it is very likely that the VST will make some unexpected discoveries with major consequences for the current understanding of the Universe.