Science with the LBT
The first scientific instruments for the LBT is currently being planned
on the basis of the scientific interests of the astronomers in the
partner institutes. It is becoming clear however that the first instruments
will try to take full advantage of the special characteristics of the LBT.
These can be summarized as follows together with a few scientific
examples as well.
 High angular resolution
(5 milli-arcsec) over a large field (approx. one square-arcmin,
corresponding to the size of the region where the coherent wavefront can be
reconstructed). This allows very fine spatial details to be distinguished in
distant objects and it allows faint point sources to be detected
as well as spectroscopy using very narrow slits which reduces the noise
from the sky background and allow very high resolutions to be obtained.
This is crucial in the search for planetary systems around other stars,
the study of the central engines in galaxies and quasars just to mention
a few of the topics.
- Very low emissivity in the
infra-red due to the use of an adaptive
secondary mirror. This minimizes the number of warm surfaces the photons
have to pass before being detected by the instrument and thus improves
the sensitivity of the instrument significantly over conventional designs.
This allows the study of young galaxies in very early epochs of the
universe. Another example is the search for brown dwarfs which currently
are at the edge of our knowledge of the star formation process and our
knowledge of the amount of dark matter in the universe.
- A very large collecting area
allows very faint sources to be detected.
It also allows the observer to obtain very short exposures, both
in photometry and in spectroscopy, which is crucial for the study of
rapidly variable objects. This is important for the study of accretion
disks around neutron stars and black holes as well as for the study of
pulsation in stellar atmospheres.
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Ringberg Proceedings
"Science with the LBT" meeting July 2000.
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