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Thirty Meter Telescope Background and Status

Thirty Meter Telescope Background and Status. TMT: Fast Facts. 30 meter, filled aperture, 492-segment primary mirror Three-mirror telescope f/1 primary Field of view 20 arcminute Wavelength 0.31 – 28 µm Seeing-limited mode Fully integrated adaptive optics Partners: ACURA, Caltech, UC

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Thirty Meter Telescope Background and Status

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  1. Thirty Meter TelescopeBackground and Status TMT.PMO.PRE.08.012.REL01

  2. TMT: Fast Facts • 30 meter, filled aperture, 492-segment primary mirror • Three-mirror telescope • f/1 primary • Field of view 20 arcminute • Wavelength 0.31 – 28 µm • Seeing-limited mode • Fully integrated adaptive optics • Partners: ACURA, Caltech, UC • Participating: NAOJ

  3. TMT: Key Science • Nature and composition of the Universe • Formation of the first stars and galaxies • Evolution of galaxies • Relationship between black holes and their galaxies • Formation of stars and planets • Nature of extra-solar planets • Presence of life elsewhere in the Universe

  4. TMT-Keck Heritage Keck 10-m, 36 segment mirror TMT 30-m, 492 segment mirror

  5. NGC 1569 SSC B Hubble NIC2 F160W 15 pc (Field of view: 6” x 6”)

  6. NGC 1569 SSC B Keck AO IHK’ 15 pc (Field of view: 6” x 6”)

  7. TMT Status Today • Completing $80 million Design Development Phase (4/2004  3/2009) • Japan is now a participant in TMT! • playing an active role in observatory science/governance • plans for technical/financial contributions well advanced • Japan brings to TMT a vibrant community with considerable experience in forefront astronomical instrumentation • 5 candidate sites narrowed to Armazones and Mauna Kea • Final site decision planned for July 2009 • First construction funds have been raised • First full-scale primary mirror polishing now underway • Independent review strongly endorsed construction proposal • Construction activities commence 4/2009 • On site construction planned as early as 2010

  8. TMT Construction Cost • Complete observatory with facility AO and three “early light” instruments (IRIS, WFOS, IRMS) • $754 million (FY2006 $) (includes 26% contingency) – Base year cost estimate • $1.0 billion (then year $) for technically paced construction (2009 – 2016) with inflation derived from an appropriate TMT commodity mix • TMT “First Light” scheduled for 2018

  9. Strong Funding Start

  10. Acknowledgments The TMT Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the TMT partner institutions. They are the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), the California Institute of Technology and the University of California. This work was supported as well by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, the National Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and the U.S. National Science Foundation. TMT also acknowledges the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan as a Collaborating Institution.

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