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Instruments for a European Extremely Large Telescope: the challenges of designing instruments for 30- to 100-m telescopes

Russell, Adrian P. ; Monnet, Guy ; Quirrenbach, Andreas ; Bacon, Roland ; Redfern, Michael ; Andersen, Torben LU ; Ardeberg, Arne LU ; Atad-Ettedgui, Eli and Hawarden, Timothy G. (2004) 5492. p.1796-1809
Abstract
Designs for Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) are quite well advanced,but the requirements of instruments have had limited impact. Sinceprovision of a suitable environment for instruments is a critical aspectof all telescopes, we outline some well-known and some less-appreciatedchallenges of designing instruments for ELTs. A wide-field spectrometer(WFSPEC) with ~10 arcmin field-of-view, probably with AO correction ofground-layer seeing, illustrates the well-known difficulty of matchingmodern detector pixels to large (~0."3) images. The challenges ofexploiting wide-field (1'-2' FOV) high-performance AO systems on ELTsare illustrated by a Multi-Object Multi-field Spectrometer and Imager(MOMSI), which provides imaging and integral-field... (More)
Designs for Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) are quite well advanced,but the requirements of instruments have had limited impact. Sinceprovision of a suitable environment for instruments is a critical aspectof all telescopes, we outline some well-known and some less-appreciatedchallenges of designing instruments for ELTs. A wide-field spectrometer(WFSPEC) with ~10 arcmin field-of-view, probably with AO correction ofground-layer seeing, illustrates the well-known difficulty of matchingmodern detector pixels to large (~0."3) images. The challenges ofexploiting wide-field (1'-2' FOV) high-performance AO systems on ELTsare illustrated by a Multi-Object Multi-field Spectrometer and Imager(MOMSI), which provides imaging and integral-field spectroscopy, atnear-diffraction-limited pixel scales, of targets in approximately 300subfields each. This instrument, roughly equivalent to all theastronomical spectrometers yet built, extracts ~200 times less of theavailable information from the ELT's FOV than near-future instruments on8-m class telescopes will do for their hosts. We emphasise the greatsize of such instruments (40-100 tonnes, 100-200 m3) and the need toaccommodate this size in telescope plans. A third area of challenge isthe exploitation of the potential capabilities of ELTs in the mid-IR,where they would offer powerful complements to JWST and ALMA;low-emissivity telescope designs and, possibly, cryogenic AO, may beneeded. Finally, we outline the potential challenges of correctingatmospheric dispersion effects. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Ground-based instrumentation for astronomy (Proceedings of the SPIE)
editor
Moorwood, Alan F. M. and Iye, Masanori
volume
5492
pages
1796 - 1809
publisher
SPIE
external identifiers
  • scopus:10444282095
ISBN
0-8194-5424-9
DOI
10.1117/12.551473
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f904cee4-902e-4d8c-b162-d56f2fb1b2a9 (old id 528468)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:38:19
date last changed
2022-12-13 18:42:03
@inproceedings{f904cee4-902e-4d8c-b162-d56f2fb1b2a9,
  abstract     = {{Designs for Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) are quite well advanced,but the requirements of instruments have had limited impact. Sinceprovision of a suitable environment for instruments is a critical aspectof all telescopes, we outline some well-known and some less-appreciatedchallenges of designing instruments for ELTs. A wide-field spectrometer(WFSPEC) with ~10 arcmin field-of-view, probably with AO correction ofground-layer seeing, illustrates the well-known difficulty of matchingmodern detector pixels to large (~0."3) images. The challenges ofexploiting wide-field (1'-2' FOV) high-performance AO systems on ELTsare illustrated by a Multi-Object Multi-field Spectrometer and Imager(MOMSI), which provides imaging and integral-field spectroscopy, atnear-diffraction-limited pixel scales, of targets in approximately 300subfields each. This instrument, roughly equivalent to all theastronomical spectrometers yet built, extracts ~200 times less of theavailable information from the ELT's FOV than near-future instruments on8-m class telescopes will do for their hosts. We emphasise the greatsize of such instruments (40-100 tonnes, 100-200 m3) and the need toaccommodate this size in telescope plans. A third area of challenge isthe exploitation of the potential capabilities of ELTs in the mid-IR,where they would offer powerful complements to JWST and ALMA;low-emissivity telescope designs and, possibly, cryogenic AO, may beneeded. Finally, we outline the potential challenges of correctingatmospheric dispersion effects.}},
  author       = {{Russell, Adrian P. and Monnet, Guy and Quirrenbach, Andreas and Bacon, Roland and Redfern, Michael and Andersen, Torben and Ardeberg, Arne and Atad-Ettedgui, Eli and Hawarden, Timothy G.}},
  booktitle    = {{Ground-based instrumentation for astronomy (Proceedings of the SPIE)}},
  editor       = {{Moorwood, Alan F. M. and Iye, Masanori}},
  isbn         = {{0-8194-5424-9}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1796--1809}},
  publisher    = {{SPIE}},
  title        = {{Instruments for a European Extremely Large Telescope: the challenges of designing instruments for 30- to 100-m telescopes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.551473}},
  doi          = {{10.1117/12.551473}},
  volume       = {{5492}},
  year         = {{2004}},
}