Giant 30-40 meter ground telescopes will begin direct imaging many more exoplanets around 2024

Giant 30 and 40 meter diameter ground telescopes will have 13 times more light collection than the best optical telescopes today and with 16 times the sharpness of hubble. This will enable a massive increase in the direct imaging of exoplanets.

Extremely Large Telescope 39 meter scope first light 2024

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is an astronomical observatory and the world’s largest optical/near-infrared extremely large telescope now under construction. Part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) agency, it is located on top of Cerro Armazones in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The design consists of a reflecting telescope with a 39.3 metres (130 feet) diameter segmented primary mirror and a 4.2 meter (14 ft) diameter secondary mirror, and will be supported by adaptive optics, eight laser guide star units and multiple large science instruments. The observatory aims to gather 100 million times more light than the human eye, 13 times more light than the largest optical telescopes existing in 2014, and be able to correct for atmospheric distortion. It has around 256 times the light gathering area of the Hubble Space Telescope and, according to the ELT’s specifications, would provide images 16 times sharper than those from Hubble. The first stone of the telescope was ceremonially laid on 26 May 2017 and started construction of the dome’s main structure and telescope. First light was planned for 2024.

Giant Magellan Telescope 24.5 meter equivalent scope first light 2023

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is a ground-based extremely large telescope under construction, planned for completion in 2025. It will consist of seven 8.4 meter (27.6 ft) diameter primary segments, that will observe optical and near infrared (320–25000 nm) light, with the resolving power of a 24.5 meter (80.4 ft) primary mirror and collecting area equivalent to a 22.0 m (72.2 ft) one, which is about 368 square meters. A total of seven primary mirrors are planned, but it will begin operation with four. The $1 billion project is US-led in partnership with Australia, Brazil, and South Korea, with Chile as the host country. First light is targeted for 2023.

Direct imaging with 30 meter class ground telescopes

Arxiv – Direct Imaging in Reflected Light: Characterization of Older, Temperate Exoplanets With 30-m Telescopes

Over the past three decades instruments on the ground and in space have discovered thousands of planets orbiting nearby stars. These observations have given rise to an astonishingly detailed picture of the demographics of short-period planets (less than 10 days), but are incomplete at longer periods where both the sensitivity of transit surveys and radial velocity signals plummet. Even more glaring is that the spectra of planets discovered with these indirect methods are often inaccessible (most RV and all microlensing detections) or only available for a small subclass of transiting planets. Direct detection, also known as direct imaging, is a method for discovering and characterizing the atmospheres of planets at intermediate and wide separations. It is the only means of obtaining spectra of non-transiting exoplanets. Today, only a handful of exoplanets have been directly imaged, and these represent a rare class of young, self-luminous super-Jupiters orbiting tens to hundreds of AU from their host stars. Characterizing the atmospheres of planets in the less than 5 AU regime, where RV surveys have revealed an abundance of other worlds, requires a 30-m-class aperture in combination with an advanced adaptive optics system, coronagraph, and suite of spectrometers and imagers – this concept underlies planned instruments for both TMT (the Planetary Systems Imager, or PSI) and the GMT (GMagAO-X). These instruments could provide astrometry, photometry, and spectroscopy of an unprecedented sample of rocky planets, ice giants, and gas giants. For the first time habitable zone exoplanets will become accessible to direct imaging, and these instruments have the potential to detect and characterize the innermost regions of nearby M-dwarf planetary systems in reflected light. High-resolution spectroscopy will not only illuminate the physics and chemistry of exo-atmospheres, but may also probe rocky, temperate worlds for signs of life in the form of atmospheric biomarkers (combinations of water, oxygen and other molecular species). By completing the census of non-transiting worlds at a range of separations from their host stars, these instruments will provide the final pieces to the puzzle of planetary demographics. This whitepaper explores the science goals of direct imaging on 30-m telescopes and the technology development needed to achieve them.

27 thoughts on “Giant 30-40 meter ground telescopes will begin direct imaging many more exoplanets around 2024”

  1. The next two decades will be an interesting time for astronomy. I think with the BFR rocket we should loft a lot of large telescopes to fully monitor the universe. There is a lot of things going on that we are missing because we can’t cover the sky in enough detail.

  2. The next two decades will be an interesting time for astronomy. I think with the BFR rocket we should loft a lot of large telescopes to fully monitor the universe. There is a lot of things going on that we are missing because we can’t cover the sky in enough detail.

  3. Interesting that there was the multidecade gap after the Hale telescope in 1948, with one Russian one in 1975 and then building started again in the 1990s. Wonder why?

  4. There’s no telling what these instruments could reveal closer to home. I wonder what that retrograde Jovian moon looks like up close, and personal. Next time we have a high speed interstellar visitor, like the suspiciously elongated “asteroid” that recently dropped by, maybe we’ll get a real surprise. I wonder what humanity’s reaction to a huge, presumably abandoned artifact passing through would be? For the life of me, I can’t imagine what natural process created such an elongated body, other than perhaps crystallization. https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/faq/interstellar

  5. Interesting that there was the multidecade gap after the Hale telescope in 1948 with one Russian one in 1975 and then building started again in the 1990s.Wonder why?

  6. There’s no telling what these instruments could reveal closer to home. I wonder what that retrograde Jovian moon looks like up close and personal. Next time we have a high speed interstellar visitor like the suspiciously elongated asteroid”” that recently dropped by”” maybe we’ll get a real surprise. I wonder what humanity’s reaction to a huge presumably abandoned artifact passing through would be? For the life of me I can’t imagine what natural process created such an elongated body”” other than perhaps crystallization.https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/faq/interstellar“””

  7. Grinding the Hale telescope mirror took *ten years*. You have to do it slowly and gently to not crack the mirror. Then the University of Arizona Mirror Lab figured out rotating furnaces. A spinning liquid will naturally adopt a parabolic shape, which is what you typically want for a telescope. This drastically cuts the grinding time. Other improvements over the years included: * Computer-controlled alt-azimuth mounts & shorter focal lengths allowed bigger telescopes for a given dome size. * Electronic sensors increased the light sensitivity by a factor of 100 relative to the Hale’s glass plates. * Adaptive optics and artificial guide stars allowed overcoming the fuzziness of the atmosphere, which had set a resolution limit until then. All of these improvements made the scientific benefit to telescope cost ratio much better, so the new instruments started getting built.

  8. Maybe: eccentric orbit -> heating/cooling and tidal stress cycles -> cracking -> collision releases the fragments. Depending on composition, cracking can occur preferentially in one direction.

  9. Grinding the Hale telescope mirror took *ten years*. You have to do it slowly and gently to not crack the mirror. Then the University of Arizona Mirror Lab figured out rotating furnaces. A spinning liquid will naturally adopt a parabolic shape which is what you typically want for a telescope. This drastically cuts the grinding time. Other improvements over the years included:* Computer-controlled alt-azimuth mounts & shorter focal lengths allowed bigger telescopes for a given dome size.* Electronic sensors increased the light sensitivity by a factor of 100 relative to the Hale’s glass plates.* Adaptive optics and artificial guide stars allowed overcoming the fuzziness of the atmosphere which had set a resolution limit until then.All of these improvements made the scientific benefit to telescope cost ratio much better so the new instruments started getting built.

  10. Maybe: eccentric orbit -> heating/cooling and tidal stress cycles -> cracking -> collision releases the fragments.Depending on composition cracking can occur preferentially in one direction.

  11. Personally I would like to see somebody just start building cost effective scopes with monolithic mirrors for the new launchers. With 9 meters in diameter on the rocket a simple single mirror design akin to Hubble can be launched on the BFR. Now granted the primary may not be more than 7.5 to 8 meters in diameter, but just imagine how quick we could ram through the exoplanet candidate lists with a few of these flying around for a decent price. After all there are just 13 scopes of the last generation of super scopes at 8-10 meters diameter out there.

  12. Personally I would like to see somebody just start building cost effective scopes with monolithic mirrors for the new launchers. With 9 meters in diameter on the rocket a simple single mirror design akin to Hubble can be launched on the BFR. Now granted the primary may not be more than 7.5 to 8 meters in diameter but just imagine how quick we could ram through the exoplanet candidate lists with a few of these flying around for a decent price. After all there are just 13 scopes of the last generation of super scopes at 8-10 meters diameter out there.

  13. Personally I would like to see somebody just start building cost effective scopes with monolithic mirrors for the new launchers. With 9 meters in diameter on the rocket a simple single mirror design akin to Hubble can be launched on the BFR. Now granted the primary may not be more than 7.5 to 8 meters in diameter, but just imagine how quick we could ram through the exoplanet candidate lists with a few of these flying around for a decent price. After all there are just 13 scopes of the last generation of super scopes at 8-10 meters diameter out there.

  14. I think we were stuck at that 200 inch point for a long time. Some said this was as far as telescopes could go. But then along came multi-mirrors, adaptive optics etc.. I recall when people said we would never image a planet around another star – that was back in the 200 inch days.

  15. I think we were stuck at that 200 inch point for a long time.Some said this was as far as telescopes could go. But then alongcame multi-mirrors adaptive optics etc..I recall when people said we would never image a planet aroundanother star – that was back in the 200 inch days.

  16. I didn’t read any of the primary sources, but I thought that the extreme elongation was inferred from the significant regular change in light reflection as it rotated. Which leaves other possibilities: 1. It was much more regular in shape, but with a significant albedo difference from side to side. 2. The surface photophores were cycling through a mating pattern.

  17. I didn’t read any of the primary sources but I thought that the extreme elongation was inferred from the significant regular change in light reflection as it rotated.Which leaves other possibilities:1. It was much more regular in shape but with a significant albedo difference from side to side.2. The surface photophores were cycling through a mating pattern.

  18. I think we were stuck at that 200 inch point for a long time.
    Some said this was as far as telescopes could go. But then along
    came multi-mirrors, adaptive optics etc..
    I recall when people said we would never image a planet around
    another star – that was back in the 200 inch days.

  19. I didn’t read any of the primary sources, but I thought that the extreme elongation was inferred from the significant regular change in light reflection as it rotated.
    Which leaves other possibilities:
    1. It was much more regular in shape, but with a significant albedo difference from side to side.
    2. The surface photophores were cycling through a mating pattern.

  20. Grinding the Hale telescope mirror took *ten years*. You have to do it slowly and gently to not crack the mirror. Then the University of Arizona Mirror Lab figured out rotating furnaces. A spinning liquid will naturally adopt a parabolic shape, which is what you typically want for a telescope. This drastically cuts the grinding time. Other improvements over the years included:

    * Computer-controlled alt-azimuth mounts & shorter focal lengths allowed bigger telescopes for a given dome size.

    * Electronic sensors increased the light sensitivity by a factor of 100 relative to the Hale’s glass plates.

    * Adaptive optics and artificial guide stars allowed overcoming the fuzziness of the atmosphere, which had set a resolution limit until then.

    All of these improvements made the scientific benefit to telescope cost ratio much better, so the new instruments started getting built.

  21. Maybe: eccentric orbit -> heating/cooling and tidal stress cycles -> cracking -> collision releases the fragments.

    Depending on composition, cracking can occur preferentially in one direction.

  22. Interesting that there was the multidecade gap after the Hale telescope in 1948, with one Russian one in 1975 and then building started again in the 1990s.
    Wonder why?

  23. There’s no telling what these instruments could reveal closer to home. I wonder what that retrograde Jovian moon looks like up close, and personal. Next time we have a high speed interstellar visitor, like the suspiciously elongated “asteroid” that recently dropped by, maybe we’ll get a real surprise.
    I wonder what humanity’s reaction to a huge, presumably abandoned artifact passing through would be? For the life of me, I can’t imagine what natural process created such an elongated body, other than perhaps crystallization.

    https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/faq/interstellar

  24. The next two decades will be an interesting time for astronomy. I think with the BFR rocket we should loft a lot of large telescopes to fully monitor the universe. There is a lot of things going on that we are missing because we can’t cover the sky in enough detail.

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