Mededeling

Shaping the Future of the E-ELT

ESO hosts conference on future E-ELT instrumentation

4 maart 2013

From 25 February until 1 March 2013, a major workshop on the future of instrumentation for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), entitled Shaping E-ELT Science and Instrumentation was organised by ESO in Garching, Germany. The E-ELT is a revolutionary ground-based telescope — it will have a 39-metre main mirror, and will be the largest optical/near-infrared telescope in the world upon its completion in the next decade.

There was great interest in the meeting — so much so that the original plan to hold the sessions at ESO itself had to be abandoned and a larger local venue used — and more than 180 astronomers from around Europe attended.

This conference aimed to gather insight and input from the science community on the future course of action for the E-ELT, and to consider which instruments should be chosen to follow the telescope’s two first-light instruments. In particular, the possible future instruments under discussion at this conference included a mid-infrared instrument, a multi-object spectrograph, and a high spectral resolution spectrograph.

The input gained at the conference will shape the instrument roadmap for the E-ELT, enabling it to tackle the biggest scientific challenges of our time — and also plan for the unexpected new and unforeseeable questions that will undoubtedly arise with the use of the world’s biggest eye on the sky.

Links

• E-ELT
• “Shaping E-ELT Science and Instrumentation” conference goals 

Contact

Richard Hook
ESO, La Silla, Paranal, E-ELT & Survey Telescopes Press Officer
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org