OXFORD University is to lead the first stage of a major European telescope project after a landmark deal. 

A contract to build the first instrument of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) has been signed by the European Southern Observatory and the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, which funds scientific research. 

The instrument - known as HARMONI - will be a £14.2m spectrograph designed by Oxford researchers and will help give new insights into objects in the universe such as galaxies.

Project leader Professor Niranjan Thatte of Oxford University's department of physics, said: "It will revolutionise observational astronomy through the 2020s and beyond.

"By studying the light from galaxies, distant and nearby, in great detail, we hope to unravel the physical processes that have shaped the cosmos throughout its history."

The spectrograph will be built jointly by Oxford University, the United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre and RAL Space.

"HARMONI has been designed to be a workhorse instrument," Prof Thatte added.

"It will be utilised by all the early science being carried out at the E-ELT. 

"That’s why we designed it to be easy to calibrate and operate, providing the E-ELT with a ‘point and shoot’ spectroscopic capability."

The E-ELT will be perched on top of the Cerro Armazones mountain in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and will be equipped with giant main mirror 39 metres in diameter. 

Scientists hope it will allow them to peer further back into the history of the universe, studying distant and young galaxies in greater detail that before.

The HARMONI will split light coming in from objects in the sky, allowing astronomers to learn their temperature, motion and chemical makeups.