​CUBES (Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph) is an advanced astronomy instrument designed for the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. 

Light generated by astronomical objects extends beyond the visible spectrum therefore to fully explore this information astronomy instruments must be able to capture different wavelengths.

CUBES has been designed to observe in the Universe in near-ultraviolet (between 300-400 nanometres) and this high resolution spectrograph will be the most efficient instrument taking spectra in near-UV.

UV is particularly useful in detecting rare elements such as beryllium, europium, zirconium, germanium and uranium. The data will be especially valuable for Galactic archaeology, studying the early Universe and its evolution though time. CUBES will also be used to study gamma ray bursts and comets  within our own solar system.

Currently in the final design stage, CUBES is led by Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and is a collaboration between institutes across the UK, Germany, Brazil and Poland.

​UK ATC are responsible for the detector sub-system work-package and are also contributing to the optics work-package. In addition, Durham University are responsible for the design and procurement of the image slicers one of the key optical components of the instrument. Dr Cyrielle Opitom, from the University of Edinburgh, is the Project Scientist for the consortium and leads the science teams. 

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