  The Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) is a second-generation VLT
panoramic integral-field spectrograph under preliminary design study. MUSE has
a field of 1x1 arcmin**2 sampled at 0.2x0.2 arcsec**2 and is assisted by the
VLT ground layer adaptive optics ESO facility using four laser guide stars. The
simultaneous spectral range is 465-930 nm, at a resolution of R~3000. MUSE
couples the discovery potential of a large imaging device to the measuring
capabilities of a high-quality spectrograph, while taking advantage of the
increased spatial resolution provided by adaptive optics. This makes MUSE a
unique and tremendously powerful instrument for discovering and characterizing
objects that lie beyond the reach of even the deepest imaging surveys. MUSE has
also a high spatial resolution mode with 7.5x7.5 arcsec**2 field of view
sampled at 25 milli-arcsec. In this mode MUSE should be able to obtain
diffraction limited data-cubes in the 600-930 nm wavelength range. Although the
MUSE design has been optimized for the study of galaxy formation and evolution,
it has a wide range of possible applications; e.g. monitoring of outer planets
atmosphere, environment of young stellar objects, super massive black holes and
active nuclei in nearby galaxies or massive spectroscopic surveys of stellar
fields in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies.
