UK ELT Programme

欧洲南方天文台（ESO）正在智利北方的阿塔卡马沙漠建造超大望远镜（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的可见光和红外线设施相形见绌。计划于2024年进行首次观测，ELT的绝对灵敏度确实非常出色，其收集面积是ESO目前最大望远镜的18倍以上。该望远镜还将使用一种名为自适应光学的技术不断校正来自天文物体的光线，为天文学家提供比现在高五倍的分辨率的图像。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所有方面产生变革性影响，从寻找可能与附近系外行星生命有关的分子，在可观测宇宙的边缘探测最遥远的星系。它将为我们提供银河系之外数百万光年的星系中单个恒星的第一个详细视图，并有助于解决一些基本物理常数是否在空间和时间中变化的争论。它将有能力直接探测类似于我们太阳系中邻近恒星周围的成熟行星，同时还能探测宇宙只有当前年龄10%时星系中难以捉摸的暗物质的分布。这只是我们期望ELT取得的各种深刻科学突破的一小部分，英国天文学家和工程师正在相机和光谱仪的开发中发挥主导作用，这些相机和光谱仪将在2020年代中期及以后进行有价值的观测。英国ELT计划建立在十年的科学和技术发展基础上，协调英国在ELT仪器方面的作用。该计划的核心是领导HARMONI仪器的设计和建造，HARMONI仪器是望远镜的两个首批仪器之一，确保英国天文学家做好充分准备，尽快从ELT观测和一些首批发现中获得回报。该计划还包括未来仪器中的较小角色，这样英国天文学家就可以尽可能多地利用ELT巨大的新发现空间。英国正在为METIS建造高分辨率摄谱仪，这是ELT的第三台仪器，目前正在建造中（由荷兰领导）。英国团队在下一个仪器的设计研究中也发挥了关键作用，HIRES（由意大利领导）和MOSAIC（由法国领导），这两个仪器对于利用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，这些技术将影响未来ELT仪器的设计，特别是用于研究系外行星的PCS仪器的开发。

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 2024, 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 mid 2020s and beyond.Building on a decade 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 design studies of the next instruments, 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.