Download CELT Review: 1,2 May 2002 Session 1

The Science Case
Hubble Space
Telescope
HDF
CELT+AO
CELT Science Opportunities
• New discovery space.
– Lesson from Keck is that it is difficult to anticipate the most exciting
science areas a decade in advance. Major advances in capability
have always resulted in unexpected new discoveries.
• Anticipated Science Areas:
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The development and evolution of structure in the universe
The emergence of the first galaxies
The physics of star formation
The formation and evolution of planetary systems
Physical processes in the Solar System
The star formation and chemical evolution history of galaxies in the
local universe.
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CELT Science Opportunities
• 9x the light gathering capability of a Keck
Telescope
• 12.5x the spatial resolution of the Hubble Space
Telescope with AO
• Sensitivity scales between D2 and D4 (factor of 80
improvement!) for different regimes of use (seeinglimited vs diffraction-limited) and source
morphology
• CELT will be the first facility designed to take
advantage of AO and the D4 gain.
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Baryonic Structure at High Redshift
The 3-D Structure of the diffuse IGM can be probed using
“tomography” via multiple sightlines through the survey volume
•With CELT, the surface
density of background sources
will be 2 orders of magnitude
higher.
•Trace the development of
structure and the chemical
enrichment history of the
Universe in the early epochs
•Mapping kinematics of gas
translates directly in to tracing
mass
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The Birth and Evolution of Galaxies
•With 8-10m telescopes we are
glimpsing the tip of the iceberg
with the first galaxies identified
beyond z=1
•Understanding the details of the
formation and assembly epoch
for galaxies will be a major area
in astronomy and astrophysics
for the next few decades. The
light grasp and spatial resolution
of a 30m telescope is essential
Spatially dissecting galaxies allows access to physical
parameters: mass, chemistry, kinematics (near-IR
accesses rest-frame optical for much of the “epoch of
galaxy formation”)
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Diffraction-limited Observations
• The diffraction limit of
a 30m telescope opens
up tremendous
possibilities
• 1 AU at 150 parsecs
(the nearest star
forming regions)
• 50 parsecs at z = 2-8
means that distant
galaxies are resolved in
great detail.
near-IR mid-IR
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Resolved Stellar Populations to Virgo
• With CELT, studies of
the star-formation and
chemical evolution of
nearby galaxies will be
possible throughout the
Local Universe.
• Currently limited to the
Milky Way Galaxy and
its dwarf galaxy
complement.
CELT
NGST
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