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Topic: Thirty Meter Telescope

Context?

• 2020 Physics Nobel Laureate Prof. Andrea Ghez had worked closely with Indian astronomers on the design of backend instruments and possible science prospects of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project being installed at Maunakea in Hawaii, which can revolutionised the understanding of the universe and the enigmas in it.

Thirty Meter Telescope(TMT) Project

• The Thirty Meter Telescope is a new class of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT) that will allow us 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.

Who is building TMT?

• The Thirty-meter telescope (TMT) project is an international partnership between CalTech, Universities of California, Canada, Japan, China, and India; through the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
• The Thirty Meter Telescope, which seeks to advance scientific knowledge while fostering connection among the partner countries and their citizens, is expected to provide facilities with even greater capabilities to gather the observations needed to answer new and emerging questions in astronomy and physics in general.

What will TMT Explore?

• Its adaptive optics and spectroscopic capabilities will allow astronomers to explore the mysterious period in the life of the universe when the first stars and galaxies were formed, providing information about the nature of "first-light" objects and their effects on the universe's evolution.
• TMT will also observe the formation and development of the large-scale structures by looking at faint distant galaxies and the intergalactic medium, providing information on the physics of the early universe and the nature of dark matter that are inaccessible using any other techniques.
• TMT's high resolution will extend scientists' capability to detect and investigate black holes that reside in the center of many distant galaxies, as well as study in detail the black hole in the center of our own Milky Way.
• TMT will also play a very important role in advancing our knowledge of the physical processes that lead to star and planet formation.
• TMT will be able to characterize and study the properties of exoplanets leading us closer to finding out if life exists beyond the Earth.
• Finally, the advanced capabilities of the TMT will very likely lead to discoveries that we cannot anticipate and scientific impact far beyond what we envision today.