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The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a ground-based optical and near-infrared observatory designed to observe from 0.31 to 28 microns. If completed on-schedule, TMT will be the first of the new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes.

Science Case

TMT will be a general purpose observatory capable of investigating a broad range of astrophysical problems including:

• Dark energy, dark matter and tests of the Standard Model
• First stars, first galaxies and the epoch of reionization
• Galaxy assembly and evolution over the past 13 Gyrs
• Connection between supermassive black holes and galaxies
• Star-by-star dissection of galaxies out to 10 Mpc
• Physics of star and planet formation
• Exoplanet discovery, characterization and the search for life
• Kuiper belt object surface chemistry
• Solar system planetary atmosphere chemistry and meteorology

A Detailed Science Case [1] for TMT is available.

Observatory design

By virtue of its 30m segmented mirror, TMT will be more sensitive than existing ground-based telescopes by factors of 10 (natural seeing mode) to 100 (diffraction-limited mode).

• Segmented (492 x 1.4 m hexagons), f/1, filled aperture, 30-m primary mirror

• Ritchey-Chrétien, altitude-azimuth mount

• Wavelength coverage: 0.31 -– 28 μm

• Nasmyth platforms for long-term mounting of diverse instrument suite

• Rapid instrument switching: < 10 min

• Rapid target acquisition: < 5 min

• Multi-conjugate adaptive optics (AO) and laser guide star (LGS) systems at first-light

• Diffraction-limited images: 0.015 arcsecs @ 2.2 μm over a 30 arcsec field-of-view

• Scientific synergy with James Webb Space Telescope and Atacama Large Millimeter Array

Scientific instrumentation

Early-light capabilities

• Diffraction-limited LGS-AO imaging and integral-field spectroscopy (0.8 –- 2.5 μm)
• LGS-AO multi-slit spectroscopy (0.8 -- 2.5 μm)
• Wide-field multi-object spectroscopy (0.3 -- 1 μm)

Additional first-decade capabilities

• Extremely high contrast (10e8 @ 1.65 μm) planet imaging and spectroscopy

• Echelle spectroscopy (0.31 -- 1 μm, R ∼ 50 000)

• AO-fed echelle spectroscopy (1 -– 2.5 μm, R ∼ 25 000)

• AO-fed mid-IR imaging spectroscopy (8 -– 28 μm)

• AO-fed precision astrometric imaging (1 -– 2.5 μm)

• Multiple NIR integral-field units over a 5 arcmin field-of-view, with individual AO correction

Location

Under construction.

Partnership

The TMT Observatory Corporation is a partnership between:

• Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA) [2]

• California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
• University of California (UC)

The current US$ 80 million, five year design and development program is planned for completion in 2009. Construction is expected to commence immediately thereafter, leading to initial science operations in the second half of the next decade. The Moore Foundation has committed US$ 200 million for construction. Caltech and UC have committed an additional US$ 50 million each. TMT is actively seeking additional major partners for the construction and operations phase.

TMT has received design and development funding from the following public and private organizations:

• Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
• Canada Foundation for Innovation
• Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation
• National Research Council of Canada
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
• British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund
• Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)
• National Science Foundation (NSF)

See also

Under construction.

References

1. http://www.tmt.org/foundation-docs/TMT-DSC-2007-R1.pdf
2. http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/acura/en/index.html

External links

• Project web site: http://www.tmt.org
• TMT foundation documents: http://www.tmt.org/foundation-docs/index.html
  • Construction Proposal (2007)
  • Detailed Science Case (2007)
  • Observatory Requirements Document
  • Observatory Architecture Document
  • Operations Concept Document