International Scientific Committee of the Canary Islands Observatories met in Turku
A meeting of the International Scientific Committee (CCI) of the Canary Islands Observatories was held at the University of Turku on 29 May 2024. The meeting was attended by CCI representatives from member countries all over Europe and the members of management of the Canary Islands Observatories.
The 91st meeting of the International Scientific Committee of the Canary Islands Observatories was held at the University of Turku on Wednesday, 29 May 2024. The meeting was preceded by a preparatory meeting on Tuesday, 28 May 2024, which took place at the Väisälä Space Park (formerly known as the Tuorla Observatory).
The CCI member country representatives from Finland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, and the UK gathered in Turku. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the observatories in La Palma and Tenerife, members of management of these observatory sites, and a representative of the European Space Agency (ESA).
Professor of Astronomy Seppo Mattila from the University of Turku is Finland's representative in the CCI and currently chairs the committee.
“Membership and participation in the committee is important for the University of Turku in relation to the ownership of the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT). The CCI meetings are used to discuss and decide on issues in the La Palma and Tenerife observatory sites, some of which directly affect the operation of the NOT telescope located there," says Mattila.
La Palma in the Canary Islands is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observations. The University of Turku, together with Aarhus University, owns the NOT telescope on the island. In Finland, the NOT telescope is used by researchers at the Universities of Turku, Helsinki and Oulu, as well as Aalto University and the Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO. La Palma is also home to the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), a 10.4 metre diameter telescope with a light gathering capacity equivalent to the largest VLT telescopes of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
"The NOT telescope is of great importance to Finnish astronomy as a whole. In addition to the view of the northern sky from NOT, our training and research in the Canary Islands will help Finnish astronomers to participate in the studies and projects of the European Southern Observatory (ESO)," says Professor Petri Väisänen, Director of the Finnish ESO Centre.
The topics discussed at the CCI meeting included the allocation of international observing time of the La Palma and Tenerife observatories, the operation and development of the observatories, and new telescope projects. The meeting was hosted by the University of Turku and sponsored by the Research Council of Finland and the Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO.
