Swiss 1.2-metre Leonhard Euler Telescope
Leonhard Euler Telescope, or the Swiss EULER Telescope, is a national, fully automatic 1.2-metre (47 in) reflecting telescope, built and operated by the Geneva Observatory. It is located at an altitude of 2,375 m (7,792 ft) at ESO's La Silla Observatory site in the Chilean Norte Chico region, about 460 kilometers north of Santiago de Chile. The telescope, which saw its first light on 12 April 1998, is named after Swiss mathematician Leonhard Paul Euler.
The enclosure of the Leonhard Euler Telescope with the higher situated New Technology Telescope in the background | |
| Alternative names | Swiss 1.2-m Leonhard Euler Telescope |
|---|---|
| Named after | Leonhard Euler |
| Part of | La Silla Observatory |
| Location(s) | Norte Chico |
| Coordinates | 29°15′34″S 70°43′59″W |
| Organization | Geneva Observatory |
| First light | 12 April 1998 |
| Telescope style | reflecting telescope |
| Diameter | 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) |
Location of Swiss 1.2-metre Leonhard Euler Telescope | |
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The Euler telescope uses the CORALIE instrument to search for exoplanets. In addition, the telescope uses the multi-purpose EulerCam (ecam), a high precision photometry instrument, and a smaller, piggyback mounted telescope, called "Pisco". Its first discovery was a planet in orbit around Gliese 86, determined to be a hot Jupiter with an orbital period of only 15.8 earth days and about four times the mass of Jupiter. Since then, many other exoplanets have been discovered or examined in follow-up observations.
Together with the Mercator Telescope, Euler was part of the Southern Sky extrasolar Planet search Programme, which has discovered numerous extrasolar planets. It has also been frequently employed for follow-up characterization to determine the mass of exoplanets discovered by the Wide Angle Search for Planets, SuperWASP.