Speaker
Prof.
Vincent Michau
(ONERA)
Description
The large existing astronomical telescopes - Very Large Telescope, Gemini, Subaru, Large Binary Telescope or Keck telescope - include primary mirrors of about 10 meters in diameter. More, they deliver images close to the diffraction limit thanks to new technologies such active and adaptive optics.
A new generation of telescopes, called Extremely Large Telescope or ELT, was proposed a few years ago. They will vastly advance astrophysical knowledge by allowing detailed studies of subjects including exoplanets, the first objects in the Universe, super-massive black holes, and the nature and distribution of the dark matter and dark energy which dominate the Universe. The telescope light collecting capability and its spatial resolution have to increase dramatically to reach these objectives. These telescopes will have primary mirrors with surfaces 10 times greater than those of previous telescopes. Consequently, new technologies developed for the present telescopes have to be scaled. In the same time, their maturity has to be improved to get a full operational system.
Different projects are presently under development around the world, such as the Thirty Meter Telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope or the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Among them, the E-ELT is certainly the most ambitious one. After a brief description of the telescope, the technological challenges of active and adaptive optics for the E-ELT will be presented. The commonalities with the issues encountered in the ICAN project will then be emphasized.
Author
Vincent Michau
(ONERA)
