Thirty Meter Telescope
The Thirty Meter Telescope ( TMT ) is a reflector telescope with a mirror diameter of 30 meters that is being built by Caltech in cooperation with Canadian universities. The main mirror is to be made from 492 segments with a diameter of 1.4 meters each. The telescope is designed for observations in the visible to mid-infrared wavelength range (0.31 to 28 micrometers). It will be equipped with adaptive optics and at wavelengths of more than 0.8 µm will achieve a resolution ten times higher than that of the Hubble Space Telescope . The Mauna Kea in Hawaii is intended as the installation site . Construction started in October 2014, and scientific operations should begin in 2022. However, the construction permit was revoked by the Hawaiian Constitutional Court at the end of 2015 due to formal errors and re-issued in a new procedure in September 2017; The first sky observations with the telescope are now planned for the year 2027.
The start of construction, scheduled for mid-July 2019 after the legal clarification, was prevented by protests. Some representatives of the Polynesian natives reject the construction because the Mauna Kea is sacred in their mythology.
Scientific goals
The TMT is intended to cover a wide range of astrophysical investigations, including:
- Dark energy , dark matter
- Characterization of the first stars and galaxies in the universe
- Investigation of the reionization epoch
- Evolution of galaxies over the past 13 billion years
- Connections between supermassive black holes and galaxies
- Investigations of single stars in galaxies up to distances of 10 megaparsecs
- Physics of planets and star formation
- Discovery and study of exoplanets
- Studies on objects in the Kuiper belt
- Look for signs of life outside the solar system
Comparison with other large telescopes
| Surname |
Aperture diameter (m) |
Mirror surface (m²) |
First light |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) | 39.3 | 978 | 2025 |
| Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) | 30th | 655 | 2027 |
| Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) | 24.5 | 368 | 2029 |
| Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) | 11.1 x 9.8 | 79 | 2005 |
| Keck Observatory | 10.0 | 76 | 1990 , 1996 |
| Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) | 10.4 | 74 | 2007 |
| Very Large Telescope (VLT) | 8.2 | 4 × 50 | 1998 - 2000 |
Web links
- Official website (s)
Individual evidence
- ^ On-Site Construction Begins on the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii; Watch Worldwide by Webcast. (No longer available online.) October 2, 2014, archived from the original on January 3, 2015 ; Retrieved January 3, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b TMT International Observatory: Timeline
- ↑ Thirty Meter Telescope: Protests prevent new construction of the giant telescope. In: www.heise.de. July 16, 2019, accessed July 16, 2019 .
- ↑ ESO: ESO's Extremely Large Telescope
- ↑ Giant Magellan Telescope: Quick Facts
