Stargazing What makes the Thirty Meter Telescope a game-changer for astronomy?

[Chronos]

This paper; https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.02481, The Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory facilitating transformative astrophysical science, provides an update on plans for the thirty meter telescope. This monstrosity is to be built next door to the Keck in Hawaii and is slated for first light in 2027. As discussed in the paper, the instrument will be capable of phenomenal sensitivity and provide insight into some very interesting issues confronting astronomy and cosmology. Construction has been delayed due to legal hurdles dating back to 2011 that have only been recently cleared. It is expected to have about 10x the resolving power of the Hubble.

 

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Then its delays means the smaller Giant Magellan Telescope (24.5 m) will beat it by 4 years and the larger Extremely Large Telescope (39 m) will beat it by 3 years - unless something else delays these projects, of course.

Astronomy in 10 years won't be what it is today with these three monsters.

 

[Chronos]

Major collaborative achievements are expected from all 3 big scopes - plue the JWST and LSST, as duscussed here: https://gizmodo.com/the-5-massive-new-telescopes-that-will-change-astronomy-1610529758