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Achievements of 20th Century Science

Achievements of 20th Century Science. Nature of matter Nature & evolution of the stars Nature of life [Structure of the Universe]. 21st Century Astronomy?. Star formation Planet formation & evolution Extraterrestrial biospheres Galaxy formation & evolution

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Achievements of 20th Century Science

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  1. Achievements of 20th Century Science • Nature of matter • Nature & evolution of the stars • Nature of life • [Structure of the Universe] RWO

  2. 21st Century Astronomy? • Star formation • Planet formation & evolution • Extraterrestrial biospheres • Galaxy formation & evolution • “Dark” constituents of the Universe • History of the Universe RWO

  3. What are the critical observational capabilities needed to address these problems? • Recall Mike Skrutskie talk on kinds of capabilities •  What made the Hubble Space Telescope the most successful scientific instrument of its generation? RWO

  4. What are the critical observational capabilities needed to address these problems? • Recall Mike Skrutskie talk on kinds of capabilities • What made the Hubble Space Telescope the most successful scientific instrument of its generation? • High spatial resolution RWO

  5. Key Capability: Spatial Resolution • Ideal telescope, accurate figure, no atmosphere: “diffraction limited” • “Airy Disk” diameter is where D is mirror diameter and lambda is wavelength. At 5500 A: RWO

  6. Airy Function RWO

  7. Earth-based resolution seriously degraded by atmospheric turbulence: Time lapse movie of Betelgeuse in large telescope  Best Earth-based resolution only 0.5-2” RWO

  8. Ways to achieve high resolution • High quality mirrors in space • Large ground-based telescopes with good correction for atmospheric wavefront distortion (“Adaptive Optics”) • Separated mirrors with in-phase combination of light beams (“Interferometers”) RWO

  9. HST: a 2.4-m space telescope • Resolution: • 0.1” at 5500 A • 0.07” at 3500 A • Implies 100’s of areal resolution elements per ground-based element • “Wide” field: up to 200” HST crossed a critical, if ill-defined, threshold for resolution. RWO

  10. Crab Nebula RWO

  11. Crab Nebula RWO

  12. Cat’s Eye Nebula (Planetary) RWO

  13. Eagle Nebula (Protostars?) RWO

  14. Tidally Interacting Galaxies RWO

  15. Andromeda (M31), Ground-based RWO

  16. RWO

  17. Ultra-deep HST color-magnitude diagram of 223,000 M31 halo stars RWO

  18. Hubble Ultra-Deep Field RWO

  19. Gravitational Lensing by Distant Cluster RWO

  20. Keck 10-m Telescopes (Mauna Kea) RWO

  21. AO System Schematic RWO

  22. Keck AO Optical Bench RWO

  23. RWO

  24. RWO

  25. RWO

  26. Artificial laser “guide star”(Lick Observatory) RWO

  27. Large Binocular Telescope:General Specs • Twin 8.4-m primaries, 14.4-m separation • 11.8-m equivalent combined aperture • 22.8-m max IF baseline • Prime focus, Gregorian, Bent-Gregorian, combined beam instrument stations • Secondary mirrors provide AO control (672 actuators) • Unique: combined beam IF, with 3 reflections • Hi-res FOV ~ 25” • UVa Allocation: 7 nights + 6.33 equiv on SO • http://www.astro.virginia.edu/class/oconnell/LBT RWO

  28. Bent Gregorian/Combined Stations RWO

  29. LBT Science Performance Regimes I. Natural Seeing (dual) FWHM ~ [0.4-0.5”] x (Lam/0.55)-0.2 FOV determined by optics/detectors (4-27’) II. AO-compensation by active secondaries (dual) FOV ~ 30” Available to any non-PF instrument (properly designed) Mainly NIR (Lam > 1 micron), but improved I,V images(?) Spec: ~60-70% Strehl @ 2 microns III. Combined beam, phased array imaging Ideal EED_70: 0.02” (V) 0.05” (H) Exclusively (?) NIR (Lam > 1 mic) FOV ~ 20-30” Probably best ground-based IR imaging RWO

  30. Single vs Combined PSF RWO

  31. Ideal Combined PSF RWO

  32. ALMA mm-Wave Array (NRAO) RWO

  33. [END] RWO

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