The US Extremely Large Telescope Program at AAS 240

By Mark Dickinson

The US Extremely Large Telescope Program (US-ELTP) will be at AAS Meeting #240 in Pasadena, home of the project offices for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). Project team members from both observatories and from NOIRLab look forward to talking with AAS attendees about the US-ELTP, endorsed by the Astro2020 report Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics in the 2020s as its top priority for large, ground-based frontier projects for the coming decade.

Please join us at the US ELT Program Open House on Tuesday, 14 June 2022, 5:30–7:00 p.m. in Ballroom D, for an overview of the project, its scientific opportunities, the technical capabilities of the observatories, and NOIRLab’s plans for user support. Presenters will include Pat McCarthy and Dara Norman (NSF’s NOIRLab), Rebecca Bernstein (Giant Magellan Telescope), and Bob Kirshner (Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory). There will be ample time for questions and discussion, and refreshments will be served, compliments of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Another session, A Bold Future for Astrophysics (Wednesday, 15 June, 9:00–10:30 a.m. in the Piazza Ballroom of the Sheraton Pasadena Hotel) will explore a new generation of revolutionary ground-based facilities that will extend the United States’ role as a world leader in astrophysics, including the US-ELTP, ngVLA, CMB-S4, and Cosmic Explorer.

You can also visit with team members from TMT, GMT, and NOIRLab to learn more at the US ELT Program Booth #401, part of the “NOIRLab Island” in the Exhibit Hall.

The US-ELTP will provide the entire US astronomical community with access to a bi-hemispheric ELT system consisting of the Giant Magellan Telescope in the southern hemisphere and the Thirty Meter Telescope in the northern hemisphere. The high angular resolution and sensitivity of these next-generation telescopes will enable scientists to carry out transformational research in nearly all areas of astrophysics from extrasolar planets to cosmology. Through proposed investment in construction and operations from the National Science Foundation, the US-ELTP would make at least 25% of the observing time on each telescope available to all US astronomers through an open peer-review process facilitated by NOIRLab, which will also archive all data from both observatories and provide an extensive suite of user support and data analysis services.