PE O TELESC ETER M Y RT I TH www.tmt.org

USA

Pasadena, California 91107 California Pasadena, among the exciting possibilities. exciting the among

2632 East Washington Boulevard Washington East 2632 planets that could support life. life. support could that planets and understanding star formation in this extreme environment are are environment extreme this in formation star understanding and in the one kilometer diameter range will be observable in 15 minutes. minutes. 15 in observable be will range diameter kilometer one the in

TMT Observatory Corporation Observatory TMT planets. Though not direct biomarkers, these molecules are indicative of of indicative are molecules these biomarkers, direct not Though planets. near a supermassive black hole, placing constraints on dark matter, matter, dark on constraints placing hole, black supermassive a near objects Many Objects. Belt Kuiper faint moderately of thousands potentially of

giant planets. planets. giant stars and gas we see? see? we gas and stars signatures of water, carbon dioxide, and ozone in transiting Earth-like Earth-like transiting in ozone and dioxide, carbon water, of signatures orbits in the Galactic center. Determining general relativistic effects effects relativistic general Determining center. Galactic the in orbits analysis spectroscopic provide will capabilities infrared its and TMT

able probe the gaps in protoplanetary disks, revealing the formation of of formation the revealing disks, protoplanetary in gaps the probe able of cosmic time. cosmic of How does the distribution of dark matter relate to the luminous luminous the to relate matter dark of distribution the does How simulations also suggest that TMT would be able to detect the spectral spectral the detect to able be would TMT that suggest also simulations TMT will enable currently unachievable measurements of stellar stellar of measurements unachievable currently enable will TMT ) where most important ices have strong absorption features. features. absorption strong have ices important most where ) (1-2.5 µm

since these are the regions where most planets may form. TMT will be be will TMT form. may planets most where regions the are these since redshifts and measuring the dark energy density as a function function a as density energy dark the measuring and redshifts medium? How do energetic processes influence galaxy formation? formation? galaxy influence processes energetic do How medium? and perhaps even detect the nearest “super-Earth” planets. Current Current planets. “super-Earth” nearest the detect even perhaps and central black hole. The greater sensitivity and spatial resolution of resolution spatial and sensitivity greater The hole. black central

these bodies is best determined through observations in the near-infrared near-infrared the in observations through determined best is bodies these

The inner regions of protoplanetary disks are particularly interesting interesting particularly are disks protoplanetary of regions inner The energy by pushing supernovae observations to the highest possible possible highest the to observations supernovae pushing by energy massive star clusters and verifying the presence of a supermassive a of presence the verifying and clusters star massive intergalactic the and galaxies between there is exchange much

orbiting nearby stars, image protoplanets forming around young stars, stars, young around forming protoplanets image stars, nearby orbiting and the materials out of which the planets formed. The composition of of composition The formed. planets the which of out materials the and

TMT also will make important contributions to the study of dark dark of study the to contributions important make will also TMT exciting details of the Galactic center, including detecting young, young, detecting including center, Galactic the of details exciting how and gas, their acquire galaxies do How locally? to compared will produce images and spectra of Uranus- and Saturn-like planets planets Saturn-like and Uranus- of spectra and images produce will small icy bodies that preserve details of the formation of the Solar System System Solar the of formation the of details preserve that bodies icy small

equivalent resolution will be ~4.5 AU. AU. ~4.5 be will resolution equivalent adaptive optics systems on 8- and 10-meter telescopes have revealed revealed have telescopes 10-meter and 8- on systems optics adaptive Universe distant the in different inherently formation star Is systems. With its large aperture and advanced adaptive optics, TMT TMT optics, adaptive advanced and aperture large its With systems. in Kuiper Belt research. These outer reaches contain a vast swarm of of swarm vast a contain reaches outer These research. Belt Kuiper in

galaxy formation and evolution. There are many outstanding questions: outstanding many are There evolution. and formation galaxy images of nearby cores and jets at a resolution of 1.5 AU. At Orion, the the Orion, At AU. 1.5 of resolution a at jets and cores nearby of images intergalactic medium will be observable by the TMT. the by observable be will medium intergalactic In the last decade, near-infrared observations with first-generation first-generation with observations near-infrared decade, last the In TMT also will expand the new frontier of directly imaging entire planetary planetary entire imaging directly of frontier new the expand will also TMT Through its unprecedented light-collecting area, TMT will enable new horizons horizons new enable will TMT area, light-collecting unprecedented its Through

a near-ideal facility to delve deep into the processes that govern govern that processes the into deep delve to facility near-ideal a , TMT will be able to provide provide to able be will TMT , 10 At disk. inner the from launched appearance of quasars and the processes of reionization of the the of reionization of processes the and quasars of appearance µm

0.4 and SMBHs throughout the Universe. TMT is is TMT Universe. the throughout SMBHs and 0.4 to holes black morphologies of protostellar cores as well as highly collimated jets jets collimated highly as well as cores protostellar of morphologies first assembly of matter and stars into proto-galaxies, the first first the proto-galaxies, into stars and matter of assembly first redshift. high at evolution and formation galaxy of studies the dating studies from 1-3 hours to as little as 1.5 minutes. 1.5 as little as to hours 1-3 from studies tectonic activity. activity. tectonic z~

observations will also extend dynamical measurements of massive massive of measurements dynamical extend also will observations magnetic field. TMT will also have the spatial resolution to probe the the probe to resolution spatial the have also will TMT field. magnetic the young Universe are within reach of the TMT. The epoch of of epoch The TMT. the of reach within are Universe young the - vali and complementing beyond, and Group Local the in galaxies of generation telescopes will reduce the necessary observing time for these these for time observing necessary the reduce will telescopes generation and their moons, and monitor these objects for weather, volcanism, and and volcanism, weather, for objects these monitor and moons, their and

III sources and studies of the resulting chemical enrichment of enrichment chemical resulting the of studies and sources III TMT environment. of function a as demography their study and birthline’ in very young clusters and enable studies of the interstellar interstellar the of studies enable and clusters young very in birthline’ of resolved stellar populations will be carried out on a larger number number larger a on out carried be will populations stellar resolved of by a factor of 30. TMT’s hundred-fold increase in sensitivity over current current over sensitivity in increase hundred-fold TMT’s 30. of factor a by spectra to study the atmospheric and surface chemistry of the outer planets outer the of chemistry surface and atmospheric the study to spectra

mation. The signatures of the chemically unevolved Population Population unevolved chemically the of signatures The mation. nearby galaxies. With TMT, photometric and spectroscopic studies spectroscopic and photometric TMT, With galaxies. nearby sequence Hubble entire the across (SMBH) holes black massive the densest molecular clouds. This will provide details of the ‘stellar ‘stellar the of details provide will This clouds. molecular densest the expand the number of host stars accessible to Doppler spectroscopy spectroscopy Doppler to accessible stars host of number the expand

at the distance of Jupiter. TMT also will be able to obtain spatially resolved resolved spatially obtain to able be will also TMT Jupiter. of distance the at

- for galaxy of epoch the into and reionization and stars first the been used to study the stellar content of the Milky Way and other other and Way Milky the of content stellar the study to used been - super study to TMT use to able be will Researchers uncovered. regions, mid-IR observations will unveil heavily obscured stars within within stars obscured heavily unveil will observations mid-IR regions, star due to the gravitational perturbation of orbiting planets. TMT will will TMT planets. orbiting of perturbation gravitational the to due star , which corresponds to 25 kilometers 25 to corresponds which , 1 of wavelength a at milliarcseconds

µm

from the end of the cosmic dark ages through the formation of of formation the through ages dark cosmic the of end the from through observations of the stellar “fossil record.” This method has has method This record.” “fossil stellar the of observations through been has holes black central of growth and formation the and to be resolved even in very crowded fields. In the nearest star-forming star-forming nearest the In fields. crowded very in even resolved be to of these have been detected through the periodic motion of the host host the of motion periodic the through detected been have these of adaptive optics system, TMT will achieve a resolution of approximately 8 8 approximately of resolution a achieve will TMT system, optics adaptive

TMT will allow astronomers to directly explore the early Universe, Universe, early the explore directly to astronomers allow will TMT TMT studies will reveal much about galaxy formation and evolution evolution and formation galaxy about much reveal will studies TMT evolution galaxy between interplay important the years, recent In The spatial resolution and sensitivity of TMT will allow individual stars stars individual allow will TMT of sensitivity and resolution spatial The Approximately 300 planetary systems have been identified. The vast majority majority vast The identified. been have systems planetary 300 Approximately TMT will transform our knowledge of the Solar System. With its integrated integrated its With System. Solar the of knowledge our transform will TMT

13–13.7 billion light-years billion 13–13.7 10,000–500 million light-years million 10,000–500 light-years billion million–12.5 500 500 –10,000 light-years –10,000 500 4–500 light-years 4–500 1 light-year 1

The Early Universe Early The Near-field Cosmology Near-field Clusters and Galaxies Distant Star and Planet Forming Regions Forming Planet and Star Exoplanets Exoplanets Solar System Solar

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Ultra Deep Field: Photo courtesy of HubbleSite HubbleSite of courtesy Photo Field: Deep Ultra Cluster of Diverse Galaxies: Photo courtesy of HubbleSite HubbleSite of courtesy Photo Galaxies: Diverse of Cluster Infant Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud: Photo courtesy of HubbleSite HubbleSite of courtesy Photo Cloud: Magellanic Small the in Stars Infant Star-Forming Region in the Carina Nebula: Photo courtesy of HubbleSite of courtesy Photo Nebula: Carina the in Region Star-Forming HR 8799 Discovered with Gemini and Keck telescopes: Photo courtesy of Keck Observatory Keck of courtesy Photo telescopes: Keck and Gemini with Discovered 8799 HR Uranus in Near-infrared: Photo courtesy of Keck Observatory Keck of courtesy Photo Near-infrared: in Uranus Adaptive Optics (AO) TMT Partner Institutions Adaptive Optics systems sense atmospheric turbulence in real-time, Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will be the Full suite of correct the optical beam of the telescope to remove its effect, California Institute of Technology i nstru m ents and enable diffraction-limited imaging from the ground. For many University of California world’s most advanced and capable ground-based astronomical observations, this is equivalent to observing above TH IRTY the Earth’s atmosphere. To enhance the number of targets available Collaborating Institution optical, near-infrared, and mid-infrared obser- for study through AO, the telescope will rely on a laser-assisted National Astronomical Observatory of Japan vatory. It will integrate the latest innovations in guide star system. precision control, segmented mirror design, and Observer National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy adaptive optics to correct for the blurring effects M ETER of Sciences of Earth’s atmosphere. Acknowledgements TMT gratefully acknowledges support for design and development The core technology of the TMT will be its 492-segment, 30-meter diameter TELESCOPE from the following: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Canada primary mirror. This remarkable engineering achievement will give the TMT Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Ministry of Research and nine times the collecting area of today’s largest optical telescopes. It also F ull y i ntegrated Innovation, National Research Council of Canada, Natural Sciences will enable the TMT to observe objects nine-times fainter than existing 10-meter Laser Guide Star and Engineering Research Council of Canada, British Columbia telescopes in an equal amount of time. Keck AO-image of Galactic Center (right) contrasted with simulated non-AO image (left). Knowledge Development Fund, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, and the National Science Foundation (USA). When construction is completed in 2018, the TMT will begin driving new Adaptive discoveries with other next-generation observatories such as the Atacama TMT Key Science Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and the James Webb Space Telescope. Opt ics • Nature and composition of the Universe • Formation of the first stars and galaxies • Evolution of galaxies QUICK FACTS F I R S T L I G H T • Relationship between black holes and their galaxies PLANNED FOR • Formation of stars and planets • Nature of extra-solar planets • 30 meter, filled aperture, f1 primary mirror composed of 492, 1.4 meter m A U N A K ea • Presence of life elsewhere in the Universe hexagonal segments 2018 • Wavelength range from the ultraviolet at ~320 nanometers to the mid-infrared H awaii Comprehensive Suite of Adaptive Optics Systems and at ~30 microns selected as Instruments • Mauna Kea in Hawaii selected as preferred site preferred s i T E • Near infrared diffraction-limited Laser Guidestar AO imaging • Instruments on large Nasmyth platform, addressed by articulated tertiary mirror and integral-field spectroscopy • Rapid acquisition of targets and rapid switching between instruments • Near infrared AO-fed multi-slit and high resolution spectroscopy • First light instruments include wide-field multi-object spectroscopy from • Seeing limited, high-resolution spectroscopy and multi-object 320 nm to 1 micron, and Adaptive Optics (AO) diffraction-limited imager, moderate resolution spectroscopy (0.3-1 μm) integral-field and multi-slit spectroscopy in near-infrared • Extremely high-contrast (108 at 1.65 μm) planet imaging and • Fully integrated Laser Guide Star AO system available at first light spectroscopy • AO-enabled diffraction-limited angular resolution 3 times better than existing • Multiple near infrared integral-field units over a 5 arcminute 10-meter telescopes field of view, with individual AO correction • Factor of 81 improvement over current generation telescopes in point-source detection with AO Credits Design and typography by Sandbox Studio, Chicago; Cover photo-illustration by Todd Mason; • AO system will have extensive sky coverage, even at the galactic poles Inside photo-illustration by Matthew J. Mew