ESO 1.52-metre telescope

The ESO 1.52-metre telescope was build essentially as a twin of the 1.5-metre telescope at the Observatoire de Haute Provence in France. Two instruments were offered at the ESO 1.52-metre telescope: the B&C spectrograph and FEROS. From October 1994, the time on this telescope was divided between Brazilian national time and ESO time. The telescope was decommissioned at the end of 2002.

After a shutdown lasting almost 20 years, the ESO 1.52-metre telescope was re-commissioned and modernised in 2022 as part of the PLATO Spec international project under Czech leadership. The reconstruction was carried out by ProjectSoft HK a.s. The telescope was equipped by the Chilean project partners with the new Pucheros+ spectrograph, which was replaced in 2024 by the even more powerful PLATO Spec instrument. The modernised telescope with a top-of-the-line instrument, which is operated remotely, will primarily be used to research extrasolar planets, but also eruptive and variable stars in connection with the space missions of the European Space Agency PLATO and later ARIEL.