Overall science goals and top level AO requirements for the E-ELT

Abstract

The E-ELT is the most ambitious of the ELTs that are planed. Its main characteristic is to be an adaptive telescope, i.e. AO is included in the telescope design. The science case for the E-ELT is largely driven by ad iffraction limited image quality of the telescope. The science goals span from direct imaging and charac- terisation of exo-planets to studying the most distant objects in the universe. The science cases imply a long term deployment at the telescope of many AO flavours (ground-layer AO, single conjugated AO, laser tomography AO, multi-conjugated AO, multi-object AO, extreme AO). While some of these are covered by the telescope, others will require post-focal AO modules feeding the instruments. The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) project aims to provide European astronomers with the largest optical-infrared telescope in the World. With a diameter of 42 m and being fully adaptive from the start, the E-ELT will be more than one hundred times more sensitive than the present-day largest optical telescopes. The E-ELT will vastly advance astrophysical knowledge by enabling detailed studies of planets around other stars, the first galaxies in the Universe, super-massive black holes, and the nature of the Universe's dark sector. The E-ELT is being built by the European Southern Observatory on behalf on its 14 member countries. The project is currently in its detailed design phase, supplemented by a FP7 preparatory program under a grant from the European Commission. Decision to build is expected by late 2010, with a start of operation in 2018.