Thirty Meter Telescope
About
- Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a 30-meter diameter primary mirror optical and infrared telescope being established at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA.
- TMT is a new class of extremely large telescopes that will allow us to see deeper into space and observe cosmic objects with unprecedented sensitivity.
- At the heart of the telescope is the segmented mirror, made up of 492 individual segments. Precisely aligned, these segments will work as a single reflective surface of 30m diameter.
- This will provide unparalleled resolution with TMT images more than 12 times sharper than those from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (launched in 1990 into a low-Earth orbit).
- Once it is built, the TMT will become the world’s largest ground-based telescope operating at optical and infrared wavelengths, allowing astronomers to study the outer reaches of the universe and study distant stars and exoplanets in much greater detail than is currently possible.
- An exoplanet, or extrasolar planet, is a planet outside of our solar system that usually orbits another star in our galaxy.
Who is building TMT?
- The Thirty Meter Telescope is being designed and developed by the TMT International Observatory LLC (TIO).
- The TIO is an international collaboration of research institutions and national governments including the USA, Japan, China, India and Canada.
- India is a Founder-Member Partner in this project which aims to open new windows to the universe through optical and infrared astronomy.
Benefits of TMT
- It will allow astronomers to explore the mysterious period in the life of the universe when the first stars and galaxies were formed.
- One of its key uses will be the study of exoplanets, many of which have been detected in the last few years, and whether their atmospheres contain water vapour or methane — the signatures of possible life.
- TMT will also observe the formation and development of the large-scale structures by looking at faint distant galaxies and the intergalactic medium.
- It has the capability to detect and investigate black holes that reside in the center of many distant galaxies, as well as study in detail the black hole in the center of our own Milky Way.
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