Thirty Years of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo

22 Sept 2026, 09:00 → 24 Sept 2026, 18:00 Atlantic/Canary

Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain

Thirty Years of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo

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Celebrating Past, Present and Future of the Largest Italian Optical Telescope

 

2026 marks the 30^th anniversary of the inauguration of the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) and provides an opportunity to meet for a Great Celebration and to reflect on the impact of our telescope on the astronomical community under several aspects:

• the technical and scientific achievements during these 3 decades;

• the institutional and international collaborations born to exploit its capabilities;

• the availability to students and researchers of state of the art instrumentation;

• the legacy of inspiration and values that brought together the Italian community to obtain, maintain and support a national project. 

The meeting will allow the key contributors of this 30 years long adventure to get together and highlight the role of the TNG on research and innovation. It will also be the ideal framework where to discuss the options for future direction to follow in order to maintain top level science in the years to come when ELT, Plato, HWO, Einstein Telescope and several other facilities will be available. 

The meeting will take three days, beginning on September 22^nd with the 30^th anniversary Celebration Ceremony with Political and Academic Authorities in the premises of the TNG at the Observatory of Roque de Los Muchachos. On the following two days, on September 23-24, the Scientific Workshop will be held at Palacio Salazar in Santa Cruz de La Palma, with invited speakers and oral and poster contributions. A round table with INAF governing bodies and scientific experts discussing on the future of the TNG will conclude the meeting.

Contributions

We will be pleased to accept oral or poster contributions on 3 main subjects:

• Origins and Early days

• • Memories and lessons learned from who has been there since the beginning

• Role and contribution of the TNG during these 30 years

• • Scientific and technical achievements as a front line Italian observing facility
  • The TNG as a catalyst for national and international collaborations
  • Training facility and test-bench for a new generation of astronomers

• Proposals for the future

• • New Instrumentation and technical improvements to make the TNG future proof
  • Science fields where the TNG will be able to compete for scientific excellence

 

The Meeting will be held in hybrid format, and Zoom/Meet link will be sent to registered participants attending online. 

 

 

Tuesday 22 September

30th anniversary Celebration Ceremony at the TNG in the observatory

Wednesday 23 September

1 L'inaugurazione del TNG

Speaker: Cesare Barbieri

2 Early site testing investigations at TNG site

Speaker: Sergio Ortolani

11:00 Coffee break

3 30 anni e non sentirli

Speaker: Adriano Ghedina (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

4 "I feel positive vibrations" - How we wrote some (little) chapter of optics with the TNG"

Speaker: Roberto Ragazzoni (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

5 Thirty Years of TNG: Evolution and Scientific Impact of the Archival Data

Speaker: Riccardo Smareglia (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

12:45 Lunch break

6 TNG Contributions to the study of Dual and Changing-Look AGN

Speaker: Martina Scialpi (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

7 The TNG fundamental contribution to exoplanet discoveries and science

Speaker: Aldo Stefano Bonomo (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

8 Unveiling Alien Skies: The TNG's Evolving Role in Exoplanetary Atmosphere Breakthroughs

Speaker: Francesco Borsa (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

9 Observing young planetary systems with TNG

Speaker: Serena Benatti (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

16:05 Coffee break

10 Characterization of the multi-planetary system HD 23472

Speaker: Francesca Manni (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

11 Stars and stellar clusters at the TNG

Speaker: Angela Bragaglia (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

12 HARPS-N at TNG: Fourteen Years of Continuous Evolution

Speaker: Rosario Cosentino (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

13 The Glass Ceiling Through the Lens of Science: Gender Inequality in Astronomy, at INAF and Beyond

Speaker: Silvia Piranomonte (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

Social dinner

Thursday 24 September

14 30 Years of Small Bodies Research at the TNG in 30 minutes: Unveiling the Origins of the Solar System

Speaker: Elisabetta Dotto (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

15 From the icy dwarf planets to the JWST revolution: the TNG legacy in trans-Neptunian surface science

Speaker: Javier Licandro

16 PRIMASS project at TNG

Speaker: Vania Lorenzi (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

17 SiFAP2 at the TNG: spying on the quickly variable optical sky

Speaker: Alessandro Papitto (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

18 Fast optical photometry with SiFAP2@TNG and e- SiFAP@TNG

Speaker: Filippo Ambrosino (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

10:45 Coffee break

19 30 anni in 30 minuti: transienti

Speaker: Paolo D'Avanzo (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

20 Two decades of exploring the Universe with Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows

Speaker: Andrea Melandri (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

21 TNG in the LSST Era: Real-Time Spectroscopy of Rare Transients and Multi-Messenger Synergies

Speaker: Silvia Piranomonte (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

22 Observations of LRNe and other Gap Transients with TNG

Speaker: Andrea Reguitti (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

23 Interacting Transients: A View from TNG

Speaker: Giorgio Valerin (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

24 The ASTRI Mini-Array air-Cherenkov gamma-ray astronomy experiment at the Teide Observatory

Speaker: Giovanni Pareschi (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

13:00 Lunch break

25 La Palma Quantum Interferometer: A next frontier for microarcsecond resolution in astronomy

Speaker: Francisco Prada

26 LOCNES Telescope Commissioning and first observations

Speaker: Riccardo Claudi (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

27 Bringing ESO Laser Expertise to TNG: Deployment of the New Laser Facility for Future Adaptive Optics Operations

Speaker: Mauro Centrone (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

28 The Role of the TNG in Education and Public Outreach

Over the past three decades, the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) has combined world-class scientific research with a strong commitment to education and public outreach. Through educational programs, public events, guided visits, and digital communication, the TNG has promoted astronomy among students, teachers, and the general public, fostering scientific literacy and inspiring future generations.
This contribution reviews the evolution of the TNG's Education and Public Outreach activities and highlights the TNG’s collaboration with the central communication structures of INAF, including the Unità Supporto alla Comunicazione ed Educazione (USC&E), the INAF Press Office, and the Social Media Group. These collaborations have enhanced the dissemination of scientific results and strengthened the impact of outreach initiatives at the national level.
On the occasion of the TNG's 30th anniversary, this presentation reflects on the role of TNG as both a research infrastructure and a bridge between astronomy and society, while looking ahead to future opportunities for science communication and public engagement.

Speaker: Gloria Andreuzzi (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

29 Round table: the INAF vision of the future of the TNG

Speaker: Isabella Pagano (INAF)

16:00 Workshop closing coffee and the Awards Ceremony for Photography and Literary Contests