Telephone: +34 922 425400 
Fax: +34 922 425401 
Web: http://www.ing.iac.es/ 
Apartado de Correos, 321 
  38780 Santa Cruz de La Palma 
Canary Islands; SPAIN 
 
The Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes 
 The Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes is an establishment of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the UK and the Nederlandse Organisatie Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek of the Netherlands.
 
MEDIA RELEASE

 

Press Release ING 2/99 
Date: Wednesday 7 April 1999 
Embargo: For immediate release 
 
 
WORKSHOP ON INSTRUMENTATION AT ING. THE NEXT DECADE
 
 

From 7th to 9th April a workshop dedicated to instrumentation at the ING will take place at Halifax Hall of Residence, The University of Sheffield, UK. The new decade brings into routine operation a number of larger than 8-m telescopes. The Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes must adapt to these new parameters, and present a viable future instrumentational and operational development route to maximise its future effectiveness and relevance to the astronomical communities needs.

The aim of this workshop is to communicate to the astronomical user's of the ING facilities, the future directions that the ING is planning. At the same time, the users will be able to feedback their wishes. This will help the ING in adjusting its plans to better meet the scientific and technical needs of the users.

Discussions and presentations from those involved with other observatories facing similar challenges will shed light on common solutions, and perhaps unique avenues for development.

The following topics will be covered:

- The 8-m impact
- Science on sub 8-m telescopes
- The USA and European approach
- The ING strategy
- Instrumentation for sub 8-m telescopes
- The science/instrumentation synthesis

During panel discussions several interesting questions will be discussed:

What are the 'big' astronomical science issues?
What instrumentation is needed to address these issues?
What is best carried out on 4-m or 2-m telescopes?
What facilities are now redundant?
Do sub 8-m telescopes have a future?
The La Palma GTC/LAST 8-m future?
What role for 'robotic' telescopes?
Which operational models should be developed?
The position of survey programmes?
Opportunities for greater European sub-8m telescope networks?

The workshop is organised by ING with the kind help and cooperation of the Astronomy Group of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Details about the workshop location and arragements, and the scientific programme can be found in this web page:

http://zwolle.ing.iac.es/IWG/Conf/ http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/ING/Conf/sheffield.html (UK mirror)

Dr N A Walton, ING workshop chairman will be contactable throughout the workshop at:
Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 8811
Fax: +44 (0) 114 266 3898