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CHAPTER 39

New Generation

Ground-Based Optical/

Infrared Telescopes

Alan T. Tokunaga

Robert Jedicke

Institute for Astronomy

University of Hawaii

Honolulu, Hawaii

1. Introduction 4. Advances in Adaptive Optics


2. Advances in the Construction of Large 5. Sky Survey Telescopes
   Telescopes and in Image Quality 6. Concluding Remarks


3. Advances with Detector Arrays Bibliography

T

he telescope is a crucial tool for astronomers. This
chapter gives an overview of the recent advances in
ground-based telescope construction and instrumentation
for visible and infrared wavelengths, which have spurred
extraordinary advances in our understanding of the solar
system. Although space-based observatories such as the
Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope
have also immensely enriched our understanding of the so-
lar system we live in, the results from space observatories
are discussed elsewhere in this encyclopedia. Astronomers
strive to build ever-larger telescopes in order to collect as
much light as possible. While cosmologists need the large
collecting area of telescopes to study the distant universe,
solar system astronomers need the large collecting area to
study both nearby small objects and faint objects at the lim-
its of our solar system, and to exploit the high angular res-
olution they provide. We discuss future telescope projects
that promise to make further discoveries possible in the next
few decades and offer the prospect of studying solar systems
other than our own. Advances in instrumentation have in
equal measure revolutionized the way astronomy is done.
We discuss two major advances in this chapter: the ad-
vent of the large-format solid-state detector for visible and
infrared wavelengths and the development of adaptive op-
tics. The development of large-format arrays has led to am-
bitious digital sky surveys. These surveys allow searches for

objects that may collide with Earth and are leading to a

fundamental understanding of the early history of our solar

system. The development of adaptive optics is reaching ma-

turity and is allowing routine observations to be made at the

diffraction-limit at the largest telescopes in the world. Thus

the limitation on image sharpness imposed by the atmo-

sphere since the invention of the telescope is now removed

with adaptive optics.

1. Introduction

The telescope has played a critical role in planetary sci-

ence from the moment of its use by Galileo in 1608. The

observations that he made of the craters on our Moon and

the moons of Jupiter were the first astronomical discoveries

made with a telescope. The development of larger refract-

ing and reflecting telescopes led to the seminal discoveries

of the rings of Saturn, asteroids, the outer planets Uranus

and Neptune, new satellites of Mars and the outer planets,

and Pluto by 1930.

Although spacecraft missions have revolutionized our

understanding of the solar system (of which there are many

examples in this encyclopedia), ground-based telescopes

continue to play a very important role in making new dis-

coveries, and this is the focus of this chapter. The discovery

Encyclopedia of the Solar System 2e©C2007 by Academic Press. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 71 9