Pounds 3.5 million in funding from STFC over the next two years has put UK astronomers in a strong position to take a leading role in the development of key instruments on the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The E-ELT is planned to be the largest optical and infrared telescope in the world and will be tens of times more sensitive than any current ground-based optical telescope. The project is currently awaiting final approval for construction to begin.

It is expected that partners in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will be asked in December 2011 to take a decision on whether to start construction of the project. This preliminary funding from STFC, agreed after peer review, means crucial design and technology work is already underway.

This will allow the UK to lead the development of one of the two `first light' instruments on E-ELT, while positioning two other teams to play major roles in delivering the first generation instrument suite. This significantly enhances the opportunities for UK industrial involvement, in terms of direct contracts to work on the project and through ownership of vital technological know-how.

Professor Colin Cunningham, from STFC's UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) who is leader of the UK E-ELT Project Office said: "This funding from STFC will allow the UK to put itself in the best possible position to develop key instruments for the E-ELT with its international partners. The fact that ESO has already highly rated the early designs for these instruments is testament to the world-leading expertise of our scientists and engineers. We are looking forward to turning these designs into exciting new capabilities for the astronomy research community."

The E-ELT will allow astronomers to make huge strides toward our understanding of the first objects in the Universe, the effects of dark matter and energy (thought to make up most of our Universe, but as yet not directly observed or understood), and planets outside of our Solar System, including rocky planets in 'habitable zones' around nearby stars.

The UK took part in successful Phase A studies for instruments called HARMONI, (link opens in a new window)EAGLE (link opens in a new window), OPTIMOS-EVE (link opens in a new window), EPICS and METIS. This new funding allows further design towards a first light E-ELT instrument based on HARMONI.

It also funds continued studies in the UK that will allow teams to bid for construction of the other instruments that will follow. These will ultimately provide a suite of mutually-complementary instruments for observations of the faintest planets, stars, and galaxies that are well beyond the reach of existing telescopes.

An important element of the funded programme is a project called CANARY on STFC's William Herschel Telescope in the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes in La Palma. CANARY will prototype key concepts in adaptive optics, particularly those required for the EAGLE instrument. Adaptive optics allows astronomers to correct the blurring induced in astronomical images by the Earth's atmosphere.

STFC's funding, combined with that from French partners, will enable innovative tests with CANARY, including sending four laser beams into the sky simultaneously to create artificial stars.

This UK instrument programme will be delivered in close collaborations between Durham University, the University of Oxford, and STFC's UK ATC and RAL Space, together with leading international institutes.

Professor Isobel Hook, the UK E-ELT Project Scientist from the University of Oxford, said: "This new financial commitment from the STFC means that UK astronomers will have access to the earliest scientific results from this revolutionary telescope - an exciting prospect that will be the culmination of many years of hard work by the instrument teams".