Chapter 51 - New Generation Ground-Based Optical/Infrared Telescopes

Abstract

The telescope is a crucial tool for astronomers. This chapter gives an overview of the recent advances in ground-based telescope construction and instrumentation for visible and infrared wavelengths, which have spurred extraordinary advances in our understanding of the solar system. Although space-based observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope have also immensely enriched our understanding of the solar system we live in, the results from space observatories are discussed elsewhere in this encyclopedia. Astronomers strive to build ever-larger telescopes to collect as much light as possible. While cosmologists need the large collecting area of telescopes to study the distant universe, solar system astronomers need the large collecting area to study both nearby small objects and faint objects at the limits of our solar system, and to exploit the high angular resolution they provide. We discuss current and future telescope projects that promise to make further discoveries possible and enable the study of solar systems other than our own. Advances in instrumentation have in equal measure revolutionized the way astronomy is pursued. We discuss three major advances in this chapter: the construction of ever-larger telescopes, the use of the large-format solid-state detector for visible and infrared wavelengths, and the development of adaptive optics (AO). The construction of large telescopes is in a period of great innovation and advance, leading to collecting areas undreamed of a few decades ago. The development of large-format arrays has led to ambitious digital sky surveys and networks of telescopes. The sky surveys allow searches for objects that may collide with Earth as well as objects at the edge of the solar system. The development of AO is reaching maturity and is allowing routine observations to be made at the diffraction limit at the largest telescopes in the world. The limitation on image sharpness imposed by the atmosphere since the invention of the telescope is now removed with AO.