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‘Indian astronomers collaborated with Nobel laureate on Thirty Meter Telescope project’

Published: 13th Nov, 2020

Indian astronomers had worked closely with Nobel Laureate Andrea Ghez on the design of back-end instruments and possible

Context

  • Indian astronomers had worked closely with Nobel Laureate Andrea Ghez on the design of back-end instruments and possible science prospects of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project being installed at Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

About

What is TMT?

  • The saga of the TMT began in 2003, when a nonprofit partnership formed between two universities in California and counterparts in Japan, China, India and Canada.
  • The Thirty Meter Telescope is a new class of extremely large telescopes that will allow to see deeper into space and observe cosmic objects with unprecedented sensitivity.
  • With its 30 m prime mirror diameter, TMT will be three times as wide, with nine times more area, than the largest currently existing visible-light telescope in the world.
  • This will provide unparalleled resolution with TMT images more than 12 times sharper than those from the Hubble Space Telescope.
  • When operational, TMT will provide new observational opportunities in essentially every field of astronomy and astrophysics.  
  • Observing in wavelengths ranging from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared, this unique instrument will allow astronomers to address fundamental questions in astronomy ranging from understanding star and planet formation to unraveling the history of galaxies and the development of large-scale structure in the universe.

Who is building TMT?

  • The Thirty Meter Telescope is being designed and developed by the TMT International Observatory LLC (TIO).
  • The TIO is a non-profit international partnership between:
    • the California Institute of Technology
    • the University of California
    • the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan
    • the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • the Department of Science and Technology of India
    • the National Research Council (Canada)
  • The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is a TIO Associate and major funding for TMT has been provided by the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation.
  • The TIO will also run the TMT operations once the telescope is completed.
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