About the project
The project secures access for norwegian astronomers to the NOT. Observations can be acquired in either visitor mode at the telescope or through service mode. The NOT is a versatile telescope that can be used to observe a wide range of different objects in the night sky. In recent years, astronomers from the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics have used the NOT for studies of for example gravitational lenses, exoplanets and small solar system bodies. The NOT has a student programme that enables students at the MSc and PhD levels to spend extended periods at the NOT and get advanced training in operating a professional telescope. The NOT student program gives priority to students from the nordic countries.
Background
In 1984, the Research Councils of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden (Iceland joined later) formed the Nordic Optical Telescope Scientific Association (NOTSA) with the purpose of building a medium-size optical and near infrared telescope for the astronomical communities in the respective countries. The telescope, a Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with a 2.56 m diameter main mirror and equipped with active optics, was inaugurated in 1989 at the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands. Regular observations started in 1990. The telescope has been shown to have outstanding optical quality and the site is one of the world's best, giving a very high fraction of the time high angular resolution.
In 2020, NOTSA has been replaced by a new organisational structure, where the NOT is owned jointly by the universities of Aarhus (Denmark) and Turku (Finland). Other institutions can join as partners, through partner agreements. Presently, the Universities of Iceland and Stockholm, as well as the University of Oslo, on behalf of the Norwegian astronomy community, have signed partner agreements.
The University of Oslo entered into a partner agreement with NOT, funded by the Research Council of Norway and an own contribution, securing Norwegian astronomers about 10% of the nights available to the partners, but allocated on a competitive basis. The current partner agreement is for the period January 2024 - December 2028.
