NGST Conjunction

A mini-workshop on future Opt/IR telescopes in space and on the ground

ESO Rm 231/232, Wednesday, 7 July 1999, 10am

To take advantage of the simultaneous visits to ST-ECF/ESO of Pierre Bely (NGST Telescope Scientist) and Pete Stockman (NGST Study Scientist), we are organising an informal mini-workshop to address some aspects of the NGST development and, in particular, the relationship to future large groundbased optical/NIR telescopes. The date has been chosen to coincide with a visit of Roberto Gilmozzi from Paranal to Garching.

Access the final programme

Other topics we should like to weave into the discussion include:

• Latest results on IR detector noise - crucial for the ground/space spectroscopy trade off.
• The potential of the ground in the 1 to 2.5 µm range: OH line suppression and also role of balloons and Antarctica.
• The potential of the ground (OWL) for observations at longer wavelengths (~ 10 µm)
• The properties of the sky at faint magnitudes: eg, the areal coverage on deep NICMOS images.
• Prospects for adaptive optics in the 0.4 to 1 µm range compared to what can be done with NGST - especially for faint objects and large fields.
• The spectrograph options.

Objectives

The motivation for the meeting is principally to provide information to the local community about what is happening in these areas at the moment. It should begin to lay the foundation for the debate about the most cost-effective way to do large-telescope astronomy in the future. We should be able to sketch a line in wavelength/spectral-resolution space which divides the space from the groundbased capabilities: from broadband long wavelength imaging - which is clearly best from space - to optical high-resolution spectroscopy - which may remain cheaper from the ground. The discussion should generate an awareness of the scientific, technical and programmatic opportunities for Europe.

Some (incomplete) notes from the meeting.