Prof. Roland Bacon
Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon
November 30th, 2023 – 3:00 pm–5:00 pm – ARRC Auditorium, 26 Dick Perry Ave, Kensington, 6151, WA
If you will be travelling from UWA, please let us know how you plan to travel across the river so that we can organise transport efficiently.
WST: The Wide Field Spectroscopic Telescope
The Wide Field Spectroscopic Telescope
The WST project aims to study and build an innovative 10-m class wide-field spectroscopic survey telescope (WST) in the southern hemisphere with simultaneous operation of a large field-of-view (5 sq. degree) and high multiplex (20,000) multi-object spectrograph facility with both medium and high-resolution modes (MOS), and a giant panoramic integral field spectrograph (IFS). The ambitious WST top-level requirements place it far ahead of existing and planned facilities. In just its first 5 years of operation, the MOS will target 250 million galaxies and 25 million stars at medium resolution + 2 million stars at high resolution, and 4 billion spectra with the IFS. WST will achieve transformative results in most areas of astrophysics. The combination of MOS and IFS spectroscopic surveys is one of the key aspects of the project. It is very attractive because of the high complementarity between the two approaches. I will detail this innovative point using the example of the MOS and MUSE surveys performed in the CDFS region. The project aims to be the next major post-ELT project. It is supported by a large consortium of very experienced institutes plus ESO, representing 9 European countries and Australia.
Speaker Biography:
Professor Roland Bacon is an extra-galactic astronomer at the Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, of which he was the director from 1995-2005. His research focuses on instrumentation for large optical telescopes and he is well-renowned for the development of the first full-field spectrograph (TIGER) and further integral field spectrograph instruments (SAURON and MUSE).