The instrument development and selection process for the Giant Magellan Telescope

George H. Jacoby*, A. Bouchez, M. Colless, D. DePoy, D. Fabricant, P. Hinz, D. Jaffe, M. Johns, P. McCarthy, P. McGregor, S. Shectman, A. Szentgyorgyi

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is a 25.4-m optical/infrared telescope constructed from seven 8.4-m primary mirror segments. The collecting area is equivalent to a 21.6-m filled aperture. The instrument development program was formalized about two years ago with the initiation of 14-month conceptual design studies for six candidate instruments. These studies were completed at the end of 2011 with a design review for each. In addition, a feasibility study was performed for a fiber-feed facility that will direct the light from targets distributed across GMT's full 20 arcmin field of view simultaneously to three spectrographs. We briefly describe the features and science goals for these instruments, and the process used to select those instruments that will be funded for fabrication first. Detailed reports for most of these instruments are presented separately at this meeting.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationGround-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012
    EventGround-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV - Amsterdam, Netherlands
    Duration: 1 Jul 20126 Jul 2012

    Publication series

    NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
    Volume8446
    ISSN (Print)0277-786X

    Conference

    ConferenceGround-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV
    Country/TerritoryNetherlands
    CityAmsterdam
    Period1/07/126/07/12

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The instrument development and selection process for the Giant Magellan Telescope'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this