New Opportunities for Astronomy in Hawaii

Physics – Optics

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

As one of the premier astronomy sites in the world, Hawai'i is well positioned to assume a leadership role in the development of the next generation of the world's most powerful ground-based telescopes: the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), and Pan-STARRS, all slated for the Hawaiian islands. The development of these new facilities represents great scientific potential for the astronomy research community.
Pan-STARRS, an innovative wide-field imaging facility developed at IfA, has been operational via its first telescope, PS1, since 2010. With the largest digital camera ever built - 1.4 Gigapixels - and an unprecedented field of 7 deg2, PS1 generates a time-lapse movie of the Northern sky in 5 pass-bands. PS1 has already discovered a number of potentially hazardous asteroids, comets, and a new class of very luminous supernova explosions. The second telescope, PS-2, is under construction on Haleakala, with an ultimate aim a four-telescope system in one enclosure on Mauna Kea.
Haleakala--the House of the Sun--is the best place on Earth for solar astronomy and has therefore been chosen by NSF as the site of the world's largest solar telescope, the ATST. ATST will employ a 4m primary mirror with a unique off-axis design optimized for high-contrast solar imaging and spectropolarimetry. Construction, which is already funded, is expected to start soon with two of the first-light instruments being developed in Hawaii.
The TMT, ready for construction on Mauna Kea, will be among the world's most advanced ground-based observatories, operating in wavelengths ranging from the ultraviolet to mid-infrared, integrating the most modern innovations in precision control, segmented mirror design, and adaptive optics. It will address bold scientific questions like the search for habitable extrasolar planets, the First Light in the Universe, the earliest Black Holes and the nature of space itself.

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