The Thirty Meter Telescope
Our Window to the Universe
Jacqui Hoover and Larry Lieberman

Towering past the clouds in the tropical night sky, more than two miles above sea level, the peak of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawai‘i is home to some of the world's most advanced telescopes and observatories. It is from this vantage point, at the top of the most massive mountain on the planet, surrounded by the darkness of the Pacific Ocean stretching for thousands of miles in every direction, that the world’s leading astronomers study our solar system, our galaxy, and the Universe beyond.  It is also at this very special location that one of mankind’s most ambitious and spectacular efforts in scientific achievement is underway:  The construction and operation of the Thirty Meter Telescope, or TMT.   

Most experts agree that there is no better place on the planet from which to study the heavens than the top of Mauna Kea.  The site is unique among astronomy locations around the globe. Mauna Kea offers one of the best viewing points on earth, relative ease of access, availability of nearby support resources, a politically stable host nation, and a local community with an economic infrastructure able to incorporate the wide variety of activities involved in undertaking such a massive science project. 

When completed, TMT will be the largest and most powerful telescope ever constructed.  The project represents a crowning achievement in humanity’s long search for answers about our universe, living up to the most far-reaching star-gazing dreams of astronomy pioneers like Copernicus, Galileo, and the early Polynesian trans-Pacific navigators who were among the most advanced astronomical observers of their time.



The project is also a crowning achievement for Hawai‘i, not just for the enormous worldwide scientific importance it will bring to this state in years to come, but also for the tremendous positive impact it will have on the state’s economy.  By the time it is completed, the TMT project will create hundreds of direct and indirect construction, operation, and support jobs that will inject millions of dollars into the local economy, while simultaneously positioning Hawai‘i as the astronomy center of the world.  To bring a project of this scope to fruition requires the coordination of a large group of partners and participants, from every corner of the globe.


FIRST LIGHT IN 2018

An international team of scientists, engineers, and technicians is now working diligently to bring the much-anticipated TMT project to “first light,” or initial operation of the telescope’s full 30-meter primary mirror, in 2018. In addition to the primary mirror, there are many advanced sensors and other highly specialized instruments that will be incorporated into TMT operation over time, allowing unprecedented levels of data acquisition and analysis.  This is a monumental task involving the combined skills of talented people from many countries, each providing innovative state-of-the-art techniques for analyzing the origins and composition of celestial bodies. 


Once completed, TMT will enable scientists to study the Universe with unprecedented clarity, helping answer many of the most complex and compelling questions in astronomy and physics, such as the nature of the early Universe, the formation of distant galaxies, the components of the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies, the formation of stars and planets, the presence of “exoplanets,” or other planetary systems outside our own, and detailed exploration of the solar system we call home. TMT will also conduct pioneering research into the nature of Dark Energy and Dark Matter, which underlie the fabric of space and may hold clues to the deepest mysteries of science.    

One concept that gives TMT so much promise is that it will integrate the most successful technologies from other modern-day telescopes, while also harnessing new, frontier instrumentation and design. This approach allows TMT to “stand on the shoulders of giants,” leveraging the tools and best practices of the world’s most successful astronomy projects.  TMT’s location atop Mauna Kea will also allow collaboration with other observatories nearby, resulting in levels of international cooperation never before possible.

One of these leveraged technologies, a key component of TMT that has been previously proven by the successful Keck Telescopes, is called a “segmented primary mirror.” This innovation enables engineers to create a giant primary mirror by shaping individual smaller segments and holding them in place with very high precision. Comprised of 492 individual segments, this core technology of TMT will yield a primary mirror that measures 30 meters in diameter, dwarfing all existing telescope mirrors. This massive yet exquisitely precise mirror will enable TMT to achieve the best resolution and light-gathering power of any observatory to date. In fact, TMT will have nine times the collecting area of today's largest optical telescopes and produce images that are three times sharper.

Though the primary mirror will be much larger than the mirrors of existing telescopes on Mauna Kea, the dome that houses the telescope will not be that much larger. A significant amount of engineering expertise and time has gone into ensuring that the telescope and its support building will be as compact as possible.


The TMT also will be the first telescope to integrate an adaptive optics system into its original design. This sophisticated optical-mechanical system will measure the blurring effects of the atmosphere and make minute adjustments hundreds of times per second to counteract these effects. Incorporation of adaptive optics will allow the land-based TMT to capture images far clearer and more powerfully magnified than existing space-based telescopes like the Hubble. 

The result will be a telescope that looks right through Earth’s atmosphere and directly into deep space, reaching further and seeing more clearly than any previous telescope by a factor of 10 to 100, depending on the type of observation.


SCIENTIFIC CAPABILITIES


It’s an incredible technical achievement and a significant economic gain for the state of Hawai‘i, but what does all this new technology mean for the scientists who will use TMT?  The answer is simple.  TMT will be by far the most powerful tool astronomers have ever had to explore humanity's most intriguing “big picture” questions of the formation and makeup of the distant and ancient Universe, as well as reveal new and intriguing details of objects in our own galactic neighborhood and allow exploration into previously unknowable arenas of physics dealing with the fundamental nature of existence.


With an estimated decades-long lifespan, TMT will provide new observational opportunities in essentially every field of astronomy and astrophysics. TMT will be an incomparable tool for investigating a very wide range of topics, including:

* Exploration of galaxies and large-scale structure in the young Universe, including the era in which most of the stars and heavy elements were formed and the galaxies in today’s Universe were assembled.



* Investigations of massive black holes and their correlation to the formation of galaxies in the very early Universe.



* Exploration of planet-formation processes and even the direct observation of extra-solar planets.



And, as has been the case for every previous increase in capability of this magnitude, TMT will be on the forefront of new discoveries, uncovering new questions and new phenomena.  

In keeping with the spirit of the greatest explorers throughout history, TMT takes mankind’s quest for discovery to new levels.  This is a project to celebrate and take pride in, not only for the people of the Big Island and across the state of Hawai‘i, but for our nation and the many partner nations who will participate, and ultimately for humanity as a whole.  With TMT, we truly and finally will have a window to the Universe.


For more information and updates on TMT, visit www.tmt.org. 

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A native of Hawai‘i Island, Jacqui L. Hoover is Executive Director of the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board and President of the Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference.  She also serves on the Hawai‘i County Energy Advisory Commission and University of Hawai‘i at Hilo Keaholoa Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) Advisory Board.

Larry Lieberman is the CEO of Natural Power Concepts, a Hawai‘i-based alternative energy technology incubator. Mr. Lieberman is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Hawai‘i Science & Technology Institute and an active advocate for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education initiatives statewide.