English: The KMOS instrument mounted on ESO’s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. KMOS is unique as it will be able to observe not just one, but 24 objects at the same time in infrared light and to map out how their properties vary from place to place. It will provide crucial data to help understand how galaxies grew and evolved in the early Universe — and provide it much faster than has been possible up to now. KMOS was built by a consortium of universities and institutes in the United Kingdom and Germany in collaboration with ESO. In this picture KMOS is the silver structure at the centre, surrounded by the blue ring structure that connects it to the VLT Unit Telescope 1, which appears on the left. On the right the large silver cylinder supports the extensive KMOS electronics and allows them to rotate as the telescope moves across the sky.