UK ELT Programme
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
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.
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.
Planned Impact
The UK ELT programme has two main (non-academic) routes to impact: industrial contract return from ESO, including the instrument projects, and public engagement (PE). Both of these are dealt with through dedicated work-packages in the proposal, with further details given in the Pathways to Impact document.
1) Industrial return: The total hardware budget for the telescope construction project at ESO is more than 800MEur and most of that will be procured from industry in the ESO member states. UK companies are eligible to bid for ESO contracts and a major part of the industry engagement programme is to find suitable UK companies to put forward to receive calls for tender. There is still over 100MEur worth of ELT contracts to be let and through past efforts of the programme, UK companies are well placed for a number of specialist supplies in imaging detectors and software. The end goal of the programme is to see contract return to the UK increase so that we maximise our share of the construction budget. Our activities in support of this goal include publicising tender opportunities through email campaigns from the STFC tender opportunities service, targeted meetings with groups of companies and contract-specific events.
2) PE: Astronomy is recognised as a hugely inspiring way to engage the public with the big questions of science, and events such as Stargazing Oxford and Doors Open at Royal Observatory Edinburgh regularly draw thousands of visitors. We will leverage the existing PE programmes of the consortium (including the ROE Visitor Centre, STFC Public Engagement & Communications and Oxford University) and exploit the news value of significant ELT milestones between now and first light. The first phase of the programme will aim to engage audiences with the technology involved in building the ELT and its systems and will concentrate on `awareness raising' with social media campaigns, coordinating with ESO on press releases and embedding the ELT into wider STFC PE activities (e.g. piggybacking on the JWST launch). Subsequent phases will begin to plan activities leading up to telescope first light, and secure additional funding for
resource development and building partnerships with teachers, science centres, and planetaria in preparation for leading a series of national events.
1) Industrial return: The total hardware budget for the telescope construction project at ESO is more than 800MEur and most of that will be procured from industry in the ESO member states. UK companies are eligible to bid for ESO contracts and a major part of the industry engagement programme is to find suitable UK companies to put forward to receive calls for tender. There is still over 100MEur worth of ELT contracts to be let and through past efforts of the programme, UK companies are well placed for a number of specialist supplies in imaging detectors and software. The end goal of the programme is to see contract return to the UK increase so that we maximise our share of the construction budget. Our activities in support of this goal include publicising tender opportunities through email campaigns from the STFC tender opportunities service, targeted meetings with groups of companies and contract-specific events.
2) PE: Astronomy is recognised as a hugely inspiring way to engage the public with the big questions of science, and events such as Stargazing Oxford and Doors Open at Royal Observatory Edinburgh regularly draw thousands of visitors. We will leverage the existing PE programmes of the consortium (including the ROE Visitor Centre, STFC Public Engagement & Communications and Oxford University) and exploit the news value of significant ELT milestones between now and first light. The first phase of the programme will aim to engage audiences with the technology involved in building the ELT and its systems and will concentrate on `awareness raising' with social media campaigns, coordinating with ESO on press releases and embedding the ELT into wider STFC PE activities (e.g. piggybacking on the JWST launch). Subsequent phases will begin to plan activities leading up to telescope first light, and secure additional funding for
resource development and building partnerships with teachers, science centres, and planetaria in preparation for leading a series of national events.
Organisations
- University of Oxford (Lead Research Organisation)
- Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (Collaboration)
- DURHAM UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Lyon Observatory (Collaboration)
- University of Michigan (Collaboration)
- Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (UCBL) (Collaboration)
- Astrobiology Center (CAB) (Collaboration)
- UK Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC) (Collaboration)
- Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseile (Collaboration)
Publications
Hogan L
(2021)
Integral field spectroscopy of luminous infrared main-sequence galaxies at cosmic noon
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hogan L
(2022)
Unveiling the main sequence to starburst transition region with a sample of intermediate redshift luminous infrared galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Holloway P
(2023)
On the detectability of strong lensing in near-infrared surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Holloway Philip
(2023)
A Bayesian Approach to Strong Lens Finding in the Era of Wide-area Surveys
in arXiv e-prints
Houll
(2019)
Exoplanet direct detection and characterization with the ELT/HARMONI integral field spectrograph
in AAS/Division for Extreme Solar Systems Abstracts
Jocou L
(2022)
HARMONI at ELT: development of the high-contrast module
Malag P
(2023)
Anti-Black racism workshop during the Vera C. Rubin Observatory virtual 2021 Project and Community Workshop
in arXiv e-prints
Padovani P.
(2022)
The ESO's Extremely Large Telescope Working Groups
in The Messenger
Pereira-Santaella M
(2019)
Optical integral field spectroscopy of intermediate redshift infrared bright galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pereira-Santaella M
(2024)
The CO-to-H 2 conversion factor of molecular outflows Rovibrational CO emission in NGC 3256-S resolved by JWST/NIRSpec
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Piqueras
(2020)
CAB contribution to ELT-HARMONI
in XIV.0 Scientific Meeting (virtual) of the Spanish Astronomical Society
Puech M.
(2023)
MOSAIC: the ELT optical and near-infrared Multi-Object Spectrograph
in SF2A-2023: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Richardson M
(2020)
Simulating gas kinematic studies of high-redshift galaxies with the HARMONI integral field spectrograph
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Richardson Mark L. A.
(2020)
ramses2hsim: RAMSES output to 3D data cube for HSIM
in Astrophysics Source Code Library
Rojas Karina
(2023)
The impact of human expert visual inspection on the discovery of strong gravitational lenses
in arXiv e-prints
Routledge L.
(2020)
Improving the ELT/HARMONI Science Simulation Pipeline, HSIM
in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXIX
Sale O
(2020)
Eclipse time variations in the post-common envelope binary V470 Cam
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sanchez-Janssen R
(2020)
MOSAIC: the high multiplex and multi-IFU spectrograph for the ELT
Schreiber C.
(2020)
A low [CII]/[NII] ratio in the center of a massive galaxy at z=3.7: witnessing the transition to quiescence at high-redshift?
in arXiv e-prints
Schwartz Noah
(2020)
Design of the HARMONI Pyramid WFS module
in arXiv e-prints
Serjeant Stephen
(2023)
UK Astronomy Science and Technology Roadmap: STFC Astronomy Advisory Panel Roadmap 2022
in arXiv e-prints
Sonnenfeld A
(2020)
Survey of Gravitationally-lensed Objects in HSC Imaging (SuGOHI) VI. Crowdsourced lens finding with Space Warps
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Thatte N.
(2021)
HARMONI: the ELT's First-Light Near-infrared and Visible Integral Field Spectrograph
in The Messenger
Thatte Niranjan
(2022)
SolSysELTs2022 Part I: HARMONI
in Solar System Science with the ELT - Europe
Trussler J
(2023)
Seeing sharper and deeper: JWST's first glimpse of the photometric and spectroscopic properties of galaxies in the epoch of reionization
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Trussler James A. A.
(2022)
Seeing sharper and deeper: JWST's first glimpse of the photometric and spectroscopic properties of galaxies in the epoch of reionisation
in arXiv e-prints
Urquhart S
(2022)
The bright extragalactic ALMA redshift survey (BEARS) I: redshifts of bright gravitationally lensed galaxies from the Herschel ATLAS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Vaughan S
(2024)
Behind the mask: can HARMONI@ELT detect biosignatures in the reflected light of Proxima b?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Vaughan Sophia R.
(2022)
Detecting Biosignatures of Nearby Rocky Exoplanets: Simulations of High Spectral Resolution Observations with the ELTs
in Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society
Verma A
(2020)
The rest-frame UV luminosity function at z ? 4: a significant contribution of AGNs to the bright end of the galaxy population
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wilkins S
(2023)
First light and reionization epoch simulations (FLARES) XI: [O iii ] emitting galaxies at 5 < z < 10
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ST/S001409/1 | 31/03/2019 | 31/03/2024 | |||
2374768 | Studentship | ST/S001409/1 | 02/10/2016 | 29/07/2020 | Laurence Routledge |
2374716 | Studentship | ST/S001409/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/03/2021 | Alvaro Menduina |
Description | ESO Hardware Grant for HARMONI Design and Build |
Amount | € 18,200,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Southern Observatory (ESO) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Germany |
Start | 09/2015 |
End | 11/2024 |
Description | HARMONI LTAO funding |
Amount | € 4,000,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Southern Observatory (ESO) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Germany |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 11/2025 |
Description | HARMONI Consortium (Agreement) |
Organisation | Astrobiology Center (CAB) |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Oxford are the leaders in this collaboration |
Collaborator Contribution | UKATC are responsible for the integration and testing of the cryostat (Integral field spectrograph). They are also responsible for the Focal Plane Relay System, the rotator and the cable wrap. IAC are responsible for the pre-optics and the control electronics. Lyon are responsible for the Image Slicer (IFU) and the data analysis pipeline. Madrid provide the calibration unit and the pick off arm for the NGS. Durham provide the real-time computing software and the low order wavefront sensors. Marseille are responsible for all the adaptive optics sensing, including the Laser Guide Star system and the Single Conjugate adaptive optics system. They will be in charge of the integration of the top end including the Cal Unit, LGS system, NGS system and the FPRS. Michigan are making a cash contribution towards the cost of the instrument. |
Impact | Contract with ESO for the Design and Build of the HARMONI spectrograph. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | HARMONI Consortium (Agreement) |
Organisation | Durham University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Oxford are the leaders in this collaboration |
Collaborator Contribution | UKATC are responsible for the integration and testing of the cryostat (Integral field spectrograph). They are also responsible for the Focal Plane Relay System, the rotator and the cable wrap. IAC are responsible for the pre-optics and the control electronics. Lyon are responsible for the Image Slicer (IFU) and the data analysis pipeline. Madrid provide the calibration unit and the pick off arm for the NGS. Durham provide the real-time computing software and the low order wavefront sensors. Marseille are responsible for all the adaptive optics sensing, including the Laser Guide Star system and the Single Conjugate adaptive optics system. They will be in charge of the integration of the top end including the Cal Unit, LGS system, NGS system and the FPRS. Michigan are making a cash contribution towards the cost of the instrument. |
Impact | Contract with ESO for the Design and Build of the HARMONI spectrograph. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | HARMONI Consortium (Agreement) |
Organisation | Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Oxford are the leaders in this collaboration |
Collaborator Contribution | UKATC are responsible for the integration and testing of the cryostat (Integral field spectrograph). They are also responsible for the Focal Plane Relay System, the rotator and the cable wrap. IAC are responsible for the pre-optics and the control electronics. Lyon are responsible for the Image Slicer (IFU) and the data analysis pipeline. Madrid provide the calibration unit and the pick off arm for the NGS. Durham provide the real-time computing software and the low order wavefront sensors. Marseille are responsible for all the adaptive optics sensing, including the Laser Guide Star system and the Single Conjugate adaptive optics system. They will be in charge of the integration of the top end including the Cal Unit, LGS system, NGS system and the FPRS. Michigan are making a cash contribution towards the cost of the instrument. |
Impact | Contract with ESO for the Design and Build of the HARMONI spectrograph. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | HARMONI Consortium (Agreement) |
Organisation | Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseile |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Oxford are the leaders in this collaboration |
Collaborator Contribution | UKATC are responsible for the integration and testing of the cryostat (Integral field spectrograph). They are also responsible for the Focal Plane Relay System, the rotator and the cable wrap. IAC are responsible for the pre-optics and the control electronics. Lyon are responsible for the Image Slicer (IFU) and the data analysis pipeline. Madrid provide the calibration unit and the pick off arm for the NGS. Durham provide the real-time computing software and the low order wavefront sensors. Marseille are responsible for all the adaptive optics sensing, including the Laser Guide Star system and the Single Conjugate adaptive optics system. They will be in charge of the integration of the top end including the Cal Unit, LGS system, NGS system and the FPRS. Michigan are making a cash contribution towards the cost of the instrument. |
Impact | Contract with ESO for the Design and Build of the HARMONI spectrograph. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | HARMONI Consortium (Agreement) |
Organisation | Lyon Observatory |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Oxford are the leaders in this collaboration |
Collaborator Contribution | UKATC are responsible for the integration and testing of the cryostat (Integral field spectrograph). They are also responsible for the Focal Plane Relay System, the rotator and the cable wrap. IAC are responsible for the pre-optics and the control electronics. Lyon are responsible for the Image Slicer (IFU) and the data analysis pipeline. Madrid provide the calibration unit and the pick off arm for the NGS. Durham provide the real-time computing software and the low order wavefront sensors. Marseille are responsible for all the adaptive optics sensing, including the Laser Guide Star system and the Single Conjugate adaptive optics system. They will be in charge of the integration of the top end including the Cal Unit, LGS system, NGS system and the FPRS. Michigan are making a cash contribution towards the cost of the instrument. |
Impact | Contract with ESO for the Design and Build of the HARMONI spectrograph. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | HARMONI Consortium (Agreement) |
Organisation | UK Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Oxford are the leaders in this collaboration |
Collaborator Contribution | UKATC are responsible for the integration and testing of the cryostat (Integral field spectrograph). They are also responsible for the Focal Plane Relay System, the rotator and the cable wrap. IAC are responsible for the pre-optics and the control electronics. Lyon are responsible for the Image Slicer (IFU) and the data analysis pipeline. Madrid provide the calibration unit and the pick off arm for the NGS. Durham provide the real-time computing software and the low order wavefront sensors. Marseille are responsible for all the adaptive optics sensing, including the Laser Guide Star system and the Single Conjugate adaptive optics system. They will be in charge of the integration of the top end including the Cal Unit, LGS system, NGS system and the FPRS. Michigan are making a cash contribution towards the cost of the instrument. |
Impact | Contract with ESO for the Design and Build of the HARMONI spectrograph. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | HARMONI Consortium (Agreement) |
Organisation | University of Michigan |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Oxford are the leaders in this collaboration |
Collaborator Contribution | UKATC are responsible for the integration and testing of the cryostat (Integral field spectrograph). They are also responsible for the Focal Plane Relay System, the rotator and the cable wrap. IAC are responsible for the pre-optics and the control electronics. Lyon are responsible for the Image Slicer (IFU) and the data analysis pipeline. Madrid provide the calibration unit and the pick off arm for the NGS. Durham provide the real-time computing software and the low order wavefront sensors. Marseille are responsible for all the adaptive optics sensing, including the Laser Guide Star system and the Single Conjugate adaptive optics system. They will be in charge of the integration of the top end including the Cal Unit, LGS system, NGS system and the FPRS. Michigan are making a cash contribution towards the cost of the instrument. |
Impact | Contract with ESO for the Design and Build of the HARMONI spectrograph. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | HARMONI Science Team (post Agreement) |
Organisation | Astrobiology Center (CAB) |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Scientist at Oxford coordinates the efforts of the HARMONI science team. We hold in person meetings once a year, and teleconferences 3 times a year |
Collaborator Contribution | The science team members carry out simulations of HARMONI science programmes, and the results are used to drive the instrument design and configuration, so as to maximise the science return. |
Impact | papers are currently being written, so no outputs yet. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | HARMONI Science Team (post Agreement) |
Organisation | Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (UCBL) |
Department | Astrophysics Research Centre of Lyon (CRAL) |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Scientist at Oxford coordinates the efforts of the HARMONI science team. We hold in person meetings once a year, and teleconferences 3 times a year |
Collaborator Contribution | The science team members carry out simulations of HARMONI science programmes, and the results are used to drive the instrument design and configuration, so as to maximise the science return. |
Impact | papers are currently being written, so no outputs yet. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | HARMONI Science Team (post Agreement) |
Organisation | Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseile |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Scientist at Oxford coordinates the efforts of the HARMONI science team. We hold in person meetings once a year, and teleconferences 3 times a year |
Collaborator Contribution | The science team members carry out simulations of HARMONI science programmes, and the results are used to drive the instrument design and configuration, so as to maximise the science return. |
Impact | papers are currently being written, so no outputs yet. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Title | HSIM3 - a revamped simulator for observations with the HARMONI instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope |
Description | HSIM3 is a major update for HSIM - the simulation software for the Extremely Large Telescope's first light integral field spectrograph HARMONI. HSIM3 is built around a "follow-the-photons" philosophy, so that the various "impacts" of the observation are applied to the input cube in the order in which they would occur in a real observation. For example, atmospheric transmission and atmospheric differential refraction would be applied before the telescope point spread function and both would be applied before the instrument's spectral line spread function. As a result, HSIM3 is more accurate in its simulations (and also more efficient). In addition, HSIM3 incorporates the ability to include detector systematic effects. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | The release of this software has enabled a number of researchers within the community to carry out "mock observations" with HARMONI at the ELT, resulting in scientific research papers where quantitative predictions of the scientific results that are obtainable with HARMONI can be made. |
URL | http://harmoni-web.physics.ox.ac.uk/Simulator/simulator.asp |