Astronomy Lecture: Building the TMT by Michael Bolte

San Francisco Amateur Astronomers hosts Michael Bolte, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and member of the TMT International Observatory Board, for a presentation on Building the TMT: The Worlds Most Advanced Ground-Based Telescope. The Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) is a next-generation giant telescope. As the name suggests, it will have a primary mirror that is 30 meters in diameter and composed of 492 hexagonal shaped segments. There is a suite of very sophisticated instruments being designed and built along with the telescope. Dr. Bolte will discuss the development of the telescope and project, the capabilities of the telescope, and the highlights of the science case for the TMT. The science case includes everything from high-resolution studies of solar system objects, to the discovery of planets orbiting other stars, and from the co-development of supermassive blackholes and galaxies, to the first stars formed in the Universe some 12.5 billion years ago.