SCIENTISTS from the North-East are part of a team working on a project that will offer “a unique new view of the universe”

A powerful new camera has been installed on the world’s largest telescope as part of a study led by Professor Vik Dhillon and his Sheffield University team with researchers from the University of Warwick and Durham University.

HiPERCAM, whic is worth 3.5 million Euros, will take high-speed images of objects in the universe on the Gran Telescopio Canarias.

He said: “This provides us with a unique new view of the universe which, history tells us, is when major new discoveries are made.”

Prof Dhillon said the images produced will allow the dead remnants of

stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes, to be studied in

unprecedented detail.

These objects have extreme gravities, densities and pressures which

allow researchers to test theories of fundamental physics.

Prof Dhillon said: “The high speed essentially provides a slow-motion

view of rapidly varying celestial objects.”