Construction to begin in Hawaii on world's most advanced telescope


University of California - Los Angeles


He is the principal investigator for the Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), one of three scientific instruments that will be ready for use with the TMT when the telescope begins operation. Keck telescopes — currently the world’s largest optical and infrared telescopes — UCLA set up its infrared astrophysics lab to develop state-of-the-science instruments for them. The concept of a telescope three times larger and with nine times more light-gathering power than the Keck telescopes was first envisaged nearly 15 years ago, and UCLA has played a major role in defining the type of instruments needed for such a telescope. The TMT, Ghez said, will identify and map the orbits of fainter stars close to our black hole, extending our knowledge of physics with a fundamental test of Einstein’s theory. In the distant universe, IRIS’s ability to image and study the internal workings of early galaxies will represent a major breakthrough in the study of galaxy formation during the known peak period of star formation.


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