Wednesday, 16 November at 3.00pm @ Gemini

ABSTRACT: The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project is a public-private partnership that fulfills the goals of a concept called the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (GSMT), which was identified in the National Academy of Sciences report Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium as the highest-priority new ground-based facility for the first decade of the 21st century.

Such a telescope also needs adaptive optics systems that compensate for natural distortions of the incoming light by Earth's atmosphere, and huge science instruments containing dozens of mirrors, detectors and complex filters. The TMT will gather light in visible and infrared wavelengths to help astronomers answer the most challenging questions in astronomy and astrophysics, from "How do planets form" to "What is the ultimate fate of our galaxy?"

This talk introduces the project and addresses such issues as project organisation, funding, science, technical challenges, site selection and schedule. First light is expected in mid-2014.