Roland Bacon (Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon)

de Laeter Colloquium: Prof. Roland Bacon; WST - The Wide Field Spectroscopic Telescope

Kensington/Teams

Abstract

The WST project aim to study and built an innovative 10-m class wide-field spectroscopic survey telescope (WST) in the southern hemisphere with simultaneous operation of a large field-of-view (5 sq. degree) and high multiplex (20,000) multi-object spectrograph facility with both medium and high resolution modes (MOS), and a giant panoramic integral field spectrograph (IFS). The ambitious WST top-level requirements place it far ahead of existing and planned facilities. In just its first 5 years of operation, the MOS will target 250 million galaxies and 25 million stars at medium resolution + 2 million stars at high resolution, and 4 billion spectra with the IFS. WST will achieve transformative results in most areas of astrophysics. The combination of MOS and IFS spectroscopic surveys is one of the key aspects of the project. It is very attractive because of the high complementarity between the two approaches. I will detail this innovative point using the example of the MOS and MUSE surveys performed in the CDFS region. The project aims to be the next major post-ELT project. It is supported by a large consortium of very experienced institutes plus ESO, representing 9 European countries and Australia.