UK ELT Programme PPRP 2022

欧洲南方天文台(ESO)正在智利北部的阿塔卡马沙漠建造超大型望远镜(ELT)。ELT的直径为39米，收集面积比目前所有大型望远镜的总和还要大，其灵敏度和空间分辨率将使现有设施在可见光和红外方面相形见绌。由于计划于2027年进行第一次观测，ELT的绝对灵敏度确实令人惊叹，其收集面积是欧洲南方天文台目前最大望远镜的18倍以上。该望远镜还将通过一种名为自适应光学的技术不断修正来自天文物体的光，为天文学家提供比今天更高分辨率的图像。ELT在收集区域和图像分辨率方面的巨大进步将对当代天文学的几乎方方面面都产生变革，从寻找可能与附近系外行星生命有关的分子，到探测可观测宇宙边缘最遥远的星系。它将让我们首次详细了解银河系以外数百万光年的星系中的单个恒星，并有助于解决一些基本物理常数是否在空间和时间上变化的争论。它将有能力直接探测类似于太阳系中邻近恒星周围的成熟行星，同时还可以探测宇宙年龄仅为当前年龄的10%时星系中难以捉摸的暗物质的分布。这只是我们期待从ELT取得的多样化和深刻的科学突破的一小部分，英国天文学家和工程师在相机和光谱仪的开发中发挥了主导作用，这些相机和光谱仪将在本世纪20年代末和以后进行有价值的观测。在超过15年的科学和技术发展的基础上，英国ELT计划协调了英国在ELT仪器中的角色。该计划的核心是领导哈莫尼仪器的设计和建造，这是该望远镜的两个第一光仪器之一，确保英国天文学家将做好充分准备，尽快从ELT观测及其一些首批发现中获得回报。该计划还包括在未来仪器中扮演较小的角色，以便英国天文学家能够尽可能地利用ELT巨大的新发现空间。英国正在为METIS建造高分辨率光谱仪，这是ELT的第三台仪器，目前正在建设中(由荷兰牵头)。在即将开始建设的下一批仪器中，英国集团也发挥了关键作用，安第斯(以前被聘用，由意大利牵头)和MOSAIC(由法国领导)，这两个仪器对于开发天文台的巨大科学机会至关重要。最后，该方案正在投资于新技术的研究和开发，这些新技术将影响未来ELT仪器的设计，特别是开发用于研究系外行星的PCS仪器。

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is now under construction in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). With a diameter of 39m and a greater collecting area than all current large telescopes combined, the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the ELT will dwarf those of existing facilities in the visible and infrared. With the first observations planned for 2027, the sheer sensitivity of the ELT is truly remarkable, with a collecting area over 18 times that of ESO's current largest telescopes. The telescope will also continuously correct the light from astronomical objects with a technique called adaptive optics, giving astronomers images with five times better resolution than possible today.This vast step forward in both collecting area and image resolution from the ELT will be transformative for nearly every aspect of contemporary astronomy, from searches for molecules potentially linked to life in nearby exoplanets, out to detection of the most distant galaxies at the edge of the observable Universe. It will give us our first detailed views of individual stars in galaxies which are millions of light-years beyond the Milky Way and help to settle arguments as to whether some of the fundamental constants of physics vary in space and time. It will have the capabilities to directly detect mature planets similar to those in our Solar System around nearby stars, while also probing the distribution of elusive dark matter in galaxies when the Universe was just 10% of its current age. This is just a small subset of the diverse and profound scientific breakthroughs we expect from the ELT, and UK astronomers and engineers are playing leading roles in the development of the cameras and spectrographs that will take the valuable observations in the late 2020s and beyond.Building on more than 15 years of scientific and technical development, the UK ELT Programme coordinates the UK roles in ELT instrumentation. At the core of the programme is leadership of the design and construction of the HARMONI instrument, one of the two first-light instruments for the telescope, ensuring UK astronomers will be well prepared to reap the rewards from ELT observations as soon as possible and some of its first discoveries.The programme also includes smaller roles in future instruments, so that UK astronomers can exploit as much as possible of the tremendous new discovery space of the ELT. The UK is building the high-resolution spectrograph for METIS, the third instrument for the ELT, now in construction (led by the Netherlands). UK groups also have key roles in soon-to-commence construction of the next instruments, ANDES (formerly HIRES, led by Italy) and MOSAIC (led by France), both of which will be essential to exploit the huge scientific opportunities of the observatory. Lastly, the programme is investing in research and development of new technologies that will influence the design of future ELT instruments, particularly the development of the PCS instrument for studies of exoplanets.