Colibri, a new hyper-responsive telescope, delivers its first images in Mexico

This telescope is nothing spectacular and its mirror, 1.30 meters in diameter, would even make you smile, while the thresholds of 5 and 10 meters for a terrestrial telescope have already been crossed a long time ago. But the “first light”, as the first image captured is called, delivered during the inauguration of Colibri, on September 7, is an event. The interest of this instrument, installed within the National Astronomical Observatory of San Pedro Martir, in Mexico, is the exceptional speed with which it can point towards an astronomical object.

The result of a Franco-Mexican collaboration supervised by the CNRS, with the support of the National Center for Space Studies, Aix-Marseille University, the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico, Colibri was developed to capture transient astronomical events, the duration of which can vary between a few seconds and a few hours. This telescope can in fact point to any region of the sky in less than twenty seconds.

With its three cameras allowing simultaneous observations in the visible and infrared, its vocation is in particular to be able to study gamma-ray bursts, phenomena caused by the fusion of very dense objects (neutron stars or black holes) or by the collapse of very massive stars, causing the birth of a black hole. These flashes, of considerable power, provide information on the history of the Universe.

This little 8-tonne gem is robotized and carries out observations and surveys without human intervention, based on an observation program, which increases its responsiveness and reduces operating costs. It was designed as part of the Franco-Chinese SVOM space mission, successfully launched on June 22 to scan gamma-ray bursts.