The proposed US Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) Program would secure national open access to at least 25% of the observing time on the Thirty Meter Telescope in the north and the Giant Magellan Telescope in the south. ELTs would advance solar system science via exceptional angular resolution, sensitivity, and advanced instrumentation. ELT contributions would include the study of interstellar objects, giant planet systems and ocean worlds, the formation of the solar system traced through small objects in the asteroid and Kuiper belts, and the active support of planetary missions. We recommend that (1) the US ELT Program be listed as critical infrastructure for solar system science, that (2) some support from NASA be provided to ensure mission support capabilities, and that (3) the US ELT Program expand solar-system community participation in development, planning, and operations.
The next generation ground-based extremely large telescopes (ELTs) present incredible opportunities to discover and characterize diverse planetary systems, even potentially habitable worlds. Adaptive-optics assisted thermal-IR (3-14 micron) imaging is a powerful tool to study exoplanets with extant 6-12 meter telescopes. ELTs have the spatial resolution and sensitivity that offer an unparalleled expansion of the available discovery space. AO-assisted thermal-IR instruments on ELTs will be superior to JWST for high contrast imaging in the thermal-IR, and complementary to high contrast observati…
The study of extrasolar planets has rapidly expanded to encompass the search for new planets, measurements of sizes and masses, models of planetary interiors, planetary demographics and occurrence frequencies, the characterization of planetary orbits and dynamics, and studies of these worlds' complex atmospheres. Our insights into exoplanets dramatically advance whenever improved tools and techniques become available, and surely the largest tools now being planned are the optical/infrared Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). Two themes summarize the advantages of atmospheric studies with the ELT…
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía CSIC（安达卢西亚天体物理研究所）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利天体物理研究所）；Grantecan（格兰特坎）；Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES)（阿耶波多观测科学研究所）；Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México（墨西哥国立自治大学天文研究所）
The Planetary Camera and Spectrograph (PCS) for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will be dedicated to detecting and characterising nearby exoplanets with sizes from sub-Neptune to Earth-size in the neighbourhood of the Sun. This goal is achieved by a combination of eXtreme Adaptive Optics (XAO), coronagraphy and spectroscopy. PCS will allow us not only to take images, but also to look for biosignatures such as molecular oxygen in the exoplanets' atmospheres. This article describes the PCS primary science goals, the instrument concept and the research and development activities that will be …
Building on the experience of the high-resolution community with the suite of VLT high-resolution spectrographs, which has been tremendously successful, we outline here the (science) case for a high-fidelity, high-resolution spectrograph with wide wavelength coverage at the E-ELT. Flagship science drivers include: the study of exo-planetary atmospheres with the prospect of the detection of signatures of life on rocky planets; the chemical composition of planetary debris on the surface of white dwarfs; the spectroscopic study of protoplanetary and proto-stellar disks; the extension of Galactic …
High strehl and high contrast for the ELT instrument METIS -- Final design, implementation, and predicted performance of the single-conjugate adaptive optics system
A new generation of telescopes with mirror diameters of 20 m or more, called extremely large telescopes (ELTs) has the potential to provide unprecedented imaging and spectroscopy of exo-planetary systems, if the difficulties in achieving the extremely high dynamic range required to differentiate the planetary signal from the star can be overcome to a sufficient degree. Fully utilizing the potential of ELTs for exoplanet imaging will likely require simultaneous and self-consistent determination of both the planetary image and the unknown aberrations in multiple planes of the optical system, usi…
SHARP -- A spectrograph proposal to fully exploit ELT capabilities and look beyond JWST
INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera（意大利国家天体物理研究所布拉拉天文台）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova（意大利国家天体物理研究所帕多瓦天文台）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo（意大利国家天体物理研究所阿布鲁佐天文台）；Politecnico di Milano（米兰理工大学）；Universita’ degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata（罗马第二大学）；INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri（意大利国家天体物理研究所阿切尔菲天文台）；INAF - IASF（意大利国家天体物理研究所星际介质与天体物理研究所）；INAF - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio（意大利国家天体物理研究所天体物理学与空间科学观测站）；INAF - Istituto di Radioastronomia（意大利国家天体物理研究所射电天文研究所）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte（意大利国家天体物理研究所卡波迪蒙特天文台）
As an end-member of terrestrial planet formation, Mercury holds unique clues about the original distribution of elements in the earliest stages of solar system development and how planets and exoplanets form and evolve in close proximity to their host stars. This Mercury Lander mission concept enables in situ surface measurements that address several fundamental science questions raised by MESSENGER's pioneering exploration of Mercury. Such measurements are needed to understand Mercury's unique mineralogy and geochemistry; to characterize the proportionally massive core's structure; to measure…
Microlensing is the only method that can detect and measure mass of wide orbit, low mass, solar system analog exoplanets. Mass measurements of such planets would yield massive science on planet formation, exoplanet demographics, free floating planets, planet frequencies towards the galaxy. High res follow-up observations of past microlens targets provide a mass measurement of microlens planets and hosts at an uncertainty of <20%. This will be primary method for mass measurement with WFIRST. We advocate for the fact that high resolution observations with AO, HST and JWST(in future) remain neces…
High Time Resolution Astrophysics (HTRA) concerns itself with observations on short scales normally defined as being lower than the conventional read-out time of a CCD. As such it is concerned with condensed objects such as neutron stars, black holes and white dwarfs, surfaces with extreme magnetic reconnection phenomena, as well as with planetary scale objects through transits and occultations. HTRA is the only way to make a major step forward in our understanding of several important astrophysical and physical processes; these include the extreme gravity conditions around neutron stars and s…
This paper presents an overview of SPIRou, the new-generation near-infrared spectropolarimeter / precision velocimeter recently installed on the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Starting from the two main science goals, namely the quest for planetary systems around nearby M dwarfs and the study of magnetized star / planet formation, we outline the instrument concept that was designed to efficiently address these forefront topics, and detail the in-lab and on-sky instrument performances measured throughout the intensive testing phase that SPIRou was submitted to before passing the f…
