This meeting is over, this page is for information only. For up to date information return to the ELT page.

The Science Case For Extremely Large Telescopes.

Location: The Lorenz Centre at the University of Leiden,.

Dates: 14-25 May 2001.

Overview.

The purpose of the meeting is to bring together the key aspects of the science case for the next generation of extremely large telescopes, with apertures of 30-100metres. This will involve the development of specific reference science cases in all branches of astronomy, with experts from Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia participating. The resulting case will drive the optical and mechanical designs, and form the basis of future proposals for funding.

Format of the Workshop

The workshop will be held over a 2 week period between May 14 and May 25th, 2001. It is intended to be a true workshop, with only limited numbers of formal presentations and with most of the activities occuring in small working groups. There will be three main topic groups. Each topic group will have a chairperson whose role will include maximising the amount of suitable expertise at the meeting, soliciting contributions and assist in editing these into the final document.

The meeting schedule is

  • Monday 14th -----------

    0830-0900 Coffee for early arrivals
    0900-0930 Allocation of offices and computer accounts
    0930-0945 Welcome to the Lorenz Centre (Martje Kruk)
    0945-1000 Plans for the meeting (Tim Hawarden)
    1000-1045 Demonstration of the ELT simulator (Roberto Gilmozzi)
    1045-1115 Coffee
    1115-1230 Science cases for OWL and status of the project. (Roberto Gilmozzi)

    1230-1330 Lunch

    1330-1700 Parallel Sessions: Working groups review task and assign areas for development of detailed science cases. Devolve to start work.

    1700 Wine and Cheese party hosted by the Lorenz Centre

    Tuesday 15th ------------

    0900-0945 A comparison between post-VLT/VLTI concepts (Luc Arnold)
    0945-1030 Updates from Working groups if needed or devolve into working groups
    1045-1115 Coffee

    1115-1230 Working groups continue

    1230-1330 Lunch

    1330-1415 MCAO (Francois Riguat)
    1415-1530 Darwin+TPF compared with OWL (Huub Rottgering)
    1415-end Working groups continue

    1515-1545 Tea

    Wednesday 16th ---------------

    0900-0945 NGST and ELT's (Massimo Stiavelli)
    0945-1025 The Science Case for a GSMT as developed by NIO/AURA (Knut Olsen)
    1025-1045 The AURA GMST programme (Matt Mountain)

    1045 Coffee then working groups (all day)

    Thursday 17th ---------------

    0900-1000 Updates from Working groups as needed
    Working groups all day

    1900 Conference Dinner

    Friday 18th ------------ 0900-lunch Working groups (coffee mid morning)

    Friday pm. Report from each working group to the meeting as a whole and open discussions on their conclusions.

    1330 Planets and Stars (Penny Sackett)
    1430 Nearby galaxies & stellar populations (Konrad Kuijken)
    1530 Tea

    1600 Galaxies and large scale structures (Bruno Liebundgut)
    1700-1730 Wrap-up and plans for the writing up (Gilmore/Hawarden)

    May 21-25 Input from the working groups will be combined into the final document by session chairs, the science case editors and others willing to stay and participate.

    The working groups are as follows

  • galaxies and large scale structures (Bruno Liebundgut) bleibund@eso.org

  • nearby galaxies & stellar populations (Konrad Kuijken) k.h.kuijken@astro.rug.nl

  • planets & stars (Penny Sackett) psackett@astro.rug.nl

    The output of the workshop will be disseminated to all contributers and made available via the WWW. The draft which forms our starting point can be found on the OPTICON ELT page or you can go there directly from here. This draft science case has a link to two simulators which can be used to help think about what is and is not possible with various telescopes.

    Registration information will be provided soon. In the meantime please send expressions of interest to j.davies@jach.hawaii.edu

    This meeting is sponsored in part by the European OPTICON network.

    John Keith Davies
    Astronomy Technology Centre, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ.
    jkd@roe.ac.uk
    tel: 0131 668 8348/ fax: 0131 668 8407

    Return to OPTICON home page.

     
     

    Last update, 1 February 2002