An international team including UCL researchers have received €3 million from the European Union to complete a conceptual study of a telescope that could become operational in Chile after 2040.
The consortium aims to propose the Wide Field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) as a candidate project to become the next major observatory infrastructure of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) after the completion of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), currently under construction in the Chilean Andes.
The WST project aims to build a telescope entirely dedicated to wide-field spectroscopic surveys in the optical band, covering all types of celestial objects - from distant galaxies to asteroids and comets within our Solar System.
Professor Richard Ellis (UCL Physics & Astronomy) chaired a working group of international astronomers that first proposed the concept of the telescope in 2017.
He said: "The Wide Field Spectroscopic Telescope will produce cutting-edge, transformative science and will allow researchers to tackle key scientific questions in areas such as cosmology; the formation, evolution, and chemical enrichment of galaxies (including the Milky Way); the origin of stars and planets; astrophysics of transient or time-variable events; and multi-messenger astrophysics."
Professor Ellis will co-lead a large team of scientists defining the extragalactic component of the telescope's scientific programme. Meanwhile, Professor Peter Doel (also UCL Physics & Astronomy) will investigate the technical aspects of designing the telescope.
Professor Doel said: "We are very excited to be involved in such an important project that will have such a major impact on future astronomical discoveries.
"The technical design of the Wide Field Spectroscopic telescope will involve the implementation of recent advancements in cutting-edge technologies that promise to produce a facility with revolutionary capabilities."
