THE EUROPEAN EXTREMELY LARGE TELESCOPE. STELLARARCHEOLOGY

Ms. Ing. Jairo E. Márquez D.

The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is motivated by a wide range ofscientific Challenges Encountered by modern astronomy. [1]. This project belongsto European astronomers who are planning to build an optical telescope that is fourtimes larger than any other in today. [2]

Artist's impression of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The E-ELT will be theoptical / infrared telescope larger world - the biggest eye on the sky. Credit ESO.

The E-ELT is a revolutionary new concept comprises a telescope primary mirror 39meters operating in the optical and near-infrared range, so it has come to be called"the biggest eye on the sky".

The E-ELT project is a proposed large-scale research in astronomy, astrophysicsand cosmology among other areas. In which it is pursued expand on planetaryfeatures of our solar system and extrasolar planets. The project also seeks to studyglobular clusters and galaxies both near and far, in order to further understand thedynamics presents the observable and non-observable universe (Dark Matter).

This implies the following lines of research have developed other groups ofastronomy, astrophysics and cosmology worldwide, in terms of pursuing thediscovery of new extrasolar planets and protoplanets, with sizes close to or aboveJupiter, which brings us closer to discover earth-like worlds in terms of geophysics,climatology and planetary dynamics among others, which could potentially harborlife, stepping closer to speculate what would exobiology in these worlds. That iswhy the E-ELT project includes within its objectives not only detects planets withmasses similar to Earth, but also the direct imaging of these, including thecharacterization of their atmospheres.

Similarly, the E-ELT will be "greatly expand knowledge in astrophysics, makingway for detailed studies of how planetary dynamics around other stars, the firstobjects born in the universe, supermassive black holes and the nature anddistribution of dark matter and dark energy which dominate the Universe. "[3] Insummary, large-scale incursion into the "stellar archeology" to peer into the past ofthe universe.

The telescope incorporates the latest technology focus instrumentation, post focalmass detection and gas, which are listed below:

• CODEX: Very High Resolution Spectrograph in visible light. [4]

• EAGLE: Wide Field Spectrograph with multiple integral field units in the nearinfrared (NIR) adaptive optics (AO) to multi-objects. [5]

• EPICS: An optical / NIR camera to take images of planets and a spectrographwith extreme OA [6]

• HARMONI: Spectrograph broadband from a single field. [7]

• METIS: Spectrograph mid-infrared images. [8]

• MICADO: House near infrared diffraction limited. [9]

• OPTIMAL: Multi-Object Spectrograph large visual field. [10]

• SIMPLE: high spectral resolution spectrograph NIR [11]

Two post-focal OA modules are currently under study [12]

• ATLAS: a laser module tomography OA

• MAORY: a module for multi-conjugated OA

Undoubtedly the technologies planned for this big telescope, a number of researchpossibilities is opened, so that the overall objectives of the telescope E-ELT will

focus on some scientific areas such as galaxies at high redshift, formations star,exoplanets and protoplanetary systems.

The information produced by the E-ELT will allow a new path planning ofunmanned missions to these hidden worlds discovered, maybe not now, but he iswriting history and stellar geography for new generations of men who explored theuniverse.

Similarly another added value of this project is that it ventures into newtechnologies, whose implementation will allow to gain the experience andknowledge to the development of other more accurate and optimal instrumentation,soon to be implemented in other projects either for use on Earth or in space. As weknow, scientific progress is based precisely on this type of approach toreengineering already created, and creates new things based on emerging needs;it's a never ending cycle.

References

[1] Science with the European extremely large telescope. Retrieved 25 October2014, http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/eelt/science/

[2] Rincón Paul, Record mirror for Euro telescope. Science reporter, BBC News,Cerro Paranal, Chile, Monday, 7 August 2006, 10:29 GMT 11:29 UK,http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5252228.stm

[3] E-ELT. El mayor Ojo del Mundo para observar el Cielo. Retrieved October 252014, http://www.eso.org/public/spain/teles-instr/e-elt/

[4] Pasquini, Luca; et al. (2008). CODEX: the high-resolution visual spectrographfor the E-ELT. http://www.eso.org/sci/libraries/SPIE2008/7014-52.pdf

[5] Astronet, 2008, The astronet Infrastructure Roadmap: A Strategic Plan forEuropean Astronomy, pp. 43. http://www.astronet-eu.org/IMG/pdf/Astronet-Book.pdf

[6] E-ELT Instrumentation. Retrieved 25 October 2014http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/eelt/instrumentation/index.html

[7] Thatte, Niranjan. "HARMONI". Oxford University. Retrieved 30 November 2012.http://astroweb1.physics.ox.ac.uk/instr/HARMONI/

[8] Brandl, Bernhard. "METIS – The Mid-infrared E-ELT Imager andSpectrograph". METIS consortium. Retrieved 30 November 2012.http://metis.strw.leidenuniv.nl/

[9] MICADO – Multi-AO Imaging Camera for Deep Observations. MICADO team.Retrieved 30 November 2012. http://www.mpe.mpg.de/ir/micado

[10] E-ELT Optical Multi Object Spectrograph. OPTIMOS Consortium. Retrieved 30November 2012. http://www.optimos-eve.eu/Home.php

[11] SIMPLE - A high resolution near-IR spectrograph for the E-ELT". SIMPLEConsortium. Retrieved 30 November 2012. http://simple.bo.astro.it/

[12] European Extremely Large Telescope. Retrieved 25 October 2014.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Extremely_Large_Telescope#cite_note-37