The 3D-NTT will be a visitor instrument for the NTT, built by GEPI (Paris), LAM (Marseille) and LAE (Montréal, Canada). It is a spectro-imager offering two modes: a low resolution mode (100-1000) with a Tunable Filter, and a high resolution mode (10 000 - 40 000) with a standard scanning Fabry-Perot.

This instrument will be dedicated to the study of kinematics and dynamics of galaxies at different redshifts as well as the study of nearby galaxies in different lines.

In the frame of a large scientific collaboration, gathering European teams as well as collaborators from other countries, two large programmes have been selected by the ESO Observing Programme Committee : "Characterizing the interstellar medium of nearby galaxies with 2D maps of extinction and abundances" and "Gas accretion and radiative feedback in the early universe".

The first programme consists of the observation of the ionized gas in galaxies of the SINGS sample (43 out of 75 can be observed from La Silla). Mapping the stellar formation and dust extinction together with the metallicity (through a 2D measurement of the line ratio with the Tunable Filter) will enable to better understand the nature, origin and evolution of these galaxies. The 2D maps will be compared with the available maps in FIR (MIPS/Spitzer) and UV (Galex) allowing a detailed analysis of the extinction and its relation with other physical quantities such as metallicity. The data obtained for nearby galaxies will have a high resolution, both spatial and spectral, thus furnishing a unique reference sample when studying galaxies at larger z.   

The second programme aims at detecting galaxies with a high stellar formation rate around quasars, in order to check if quasars with a high UV luminosity can stop the stellar formation rate as already suggested by some recent observations at the AAT. Such a result could put important constraints on the cosmological mod

A large variety of programmes may be led with such an instrument on different types of galaxies, compact groups or clusters as well as Galactic objects like planetary nebulae.

The instrument will be open for the ESO community through collaborations.

Olivier Hernandez, Ph.D., instrument scientist of 3DNTT