Transcript Document

Providing Access for US Astronomers
to the Next Generation of Large
Ground Based OIR Telescopes
1. Scientific Potential
2. Current Design Efforts
3. Complementarity with JWST
4. Community Involvement
The NAS/NRC Decadal Survey Report:
“The Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (GSMT), the
committee’s top ground-based recommendation….is a 30m-class ground-based telescope that will be a powerful
complement to [JWST] in tracing the evolution of galaxies
and the formation of stars and planets.”
“The committee recommends that technology development
for GSMT begin immediately and that construction start
within the decade.”
Community Vision for GSMT:
The GSMT Science Working Group
At NSF’s request, AURA’s New Initiatives Office convened
a Science Working Group (SWG) to “advise the NSF
Division of Astronomical Sciences on a strategy for guiding
federal investment in a Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope
(GSMT).”
With a broad membership base from national and
international groups that expect to play a role in
developing next-generation telescopes, the SWG, chaired
by Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, gave their first report to the NSF in
2003, June: Frontier Science Enabled by a Giant
Segmented Mirror Telescope
GSMT’s Science Working Group Report:
Science
“The unique challenge of astronomy in the 21st century is to
study ‘the evolution of the universe in order to relate causally
the physical conditions during the Big Bang to the
development of RNA and DNA’ (Riccardo Giacconi). A 20-m
to 30-m telescope will provide the unprecedented capability
to meet this challenge.”
GSMT’s Science Working Group Report:
Synergy with JWST
“In order to reap the enormous potential synergy between
the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and a 20-m to
30-m telescope, it is essential to initiate major design and
technology development efforts now to ensure that facility
operations coincide with the early JWST era.”
GSMT’s Science Working Group Report:
Community Involvement
“Federal investment now in a major technology development
program targeted at key areas can advance multiple design
programs, and will ensure a strong public voice at all stages
in the development of next-generation telescopes.” NSF
should “’seize the moment’ and provide funding for
advancing key technologies”.
GSMT’s Science Working Group Report:
Technology
While there are significant technical challenges to
building telescopes of this size, there appear to be no
show stoppers
Adaptive optics systems will be critical to the success
of a GSMT and are a key challenge, but
Advanced AO systems have moved from the lab to
the telescope and have become a routine tool for the
study of phenomena on all scales – from planets and
their atmospheres in our own solar system, extrasolar planetary formation and debris disks around
stars, to black holes and extra galactic systems.
The Use of Adaptive Optics Systems for Data
Collection is Steadily Increasing
Refereed Papers with "Adaptive Optics" in the Abstract
120
100%
100
Number of Papers - Science
+ Instrumentation
Percent that are Science
80%
60
40%
40
20%
20
0%
0
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
Year
2000
2002
2004
Percent
60%
Number
80
GSMT & JWST – The Power of Two
• The top two priority missions of the 2001
Decadal Survey in Astronomy and
Astrophysics
• Each gives orders of magnitude gain in
sensitivity over existing ground and space
telescopes
• Complementary capabilities and unique
discovery spaces of each telescope open a
new, exciting epoch for cosmic discovery
Statement by the AAAC in Annual Report:
Science and Synergy with JWST
• “The ambitious science goals, which include
understanding the formation of galaxies and the chemical
elements within just the first one billion years of the Big
Bang, and the formation of stars and planets, will only be
fully realized through operational overlap of the
facilities, as HST and large-ground based telescopes
have demonstrated over the last decade. Progress on
these scientific objectives is heavily dependent on
GSMT being developed on the same timescale as
JWST.”
Percentage of Refereed HST Papers with
Ground based OIR “support”
20%
Percent
16%
% HST papers w ith all ground 'scope
support
%HST papers w ith big 'scope support
only
%HST papers w ith Keck support only
12%
8%
4%
0%
1991
1994
1997
Year
2000
2003
Key Actions taken by AURA in Support of
Decadal Survey’s call for a GSMT:
• Engaged the community to define the science capabilities
required for a GSMT
• Developed a point design for a GSMT in order to study design
options and identify technology challenges
• Entered into a partnership with UC, Caltech and ACURA
(CANADA) to carry out the design and development phase for a
30-meter telescope – TMT in order to:
– Ensure access by US community to 30-meter class telescope via
public-private partnership as recommended by the Decadal Survey
– Involve the community during Design & Development phase
• Submitted proposal to NSF in order to:
– Support public participation in TMT partnership, and
– Advance the design of an alternative GSMT concept
AURA’s NSF Proposal Will provide support to
more than one GSMT design study
• US leadership in astronomy has depended on a
broad range of public and private OIR facilities
– 1948 – one 5-meter - Palomar
– 1970’s – 3-4m telescopes (CTIO, KPNO, CFHT, Lick, IRTF)
– 1990s – 6-10 m telescopes: (Keck, Magellan, Gemini, MMT,
HET, LBT)
– 21st century – TMT, GMT, …
• AURA provides public access to first ranked facilities
through
– partnerships (Gemini, WIYN, SOAR…) and
– TSIP (Keck, HET, MMT, Magellan …)