The UK is building the world’s largest optical and infrared telescope—a 42-metre giant that will see more than one hundred times deeper into space than today’s biggest telescopes. This matters because current telescopes cannot resolve the faintest, most distant objects in the universe. The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) will change that. Its enormous mirror, combined with adaptive optics that correct for atmospheric blurring, will allow astronomers to study planets orbiting other stars, observe the first galaxies that formed after the Big Bang, and probe the nature of black holes, dark matter, and dark energy. The UK is leading the development of one of the telescope’s two “first light” instruments, giving British scientists guaranteed observing time and direct influence over the telescope’s scientific priorities. This is fundamental science with no immediate practical application. It will not change a manufacturing process or improve a supply chain tomorrow. But similar investments in large telescopes have historically transformed our understanding of the cosmos—and, indirectly, driven innovations in optics, detectors, and precision engineering that later found uses in medicine, communications, and navigation.
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We propose a programme to enable the UK to take a leading role in the construction of the first generation of instruments for the world's largest optical and infrared telescope - the European Extremely Large Telescope. Previously funded STFC programmes have been used to develop technology and instrument concepts to put the UK in a position to take the PI role in one of the two 'first light' instruments for the E-ELT and to take significant roles in three of the instruments expected to closely follow. Strong involvement in a programme of instruments will give the UK considerable science return through direct influence on the scientific priorities of these instruments and early science through guaranteed time return to the UK. There will also be important industrial return to the UK in terms of direct contracts and technology transfer. The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) project aims to provide European astronomers with the largest optical-infrared telescope in the world. With a diameter of 42m and being fully adaptive from the start by incorporating a large deformable mirror, the E-ELT will be more than one hundred times more sensitive than the present-day largest optical telescopes. The E-ELT will vastly advance astrophysical knowledge by enabling detailed studies of planets around other stars, the first galaxies in the Universe, black holes, and the nature of the Universe's dark matter and dark energy. The E-ELT has now completed its Phase B study, led by ESO with strong involvement of European Industry, and a fully-costed construction proposal is now undergoing international review before to be put to ESO Council in December 2010. A series of instruments has gone through detailed Phase A studies with strong UK involvement. Out of this process, ESO has developed an instrument plan which has two instruments selected for 'first light' and a pool of six other instruments in competition to form a sequence in the first generation. The ESO E-ELT Science Working Group (SWG) and the Scientific and Technical Committee (STC) have both recommended that the first light complement at the E-ELT should comprise a "HARMONI-like" spectrograph (ELT-IFU) and a "MICADO-like" imager (ELT-CAM). This first light complement is part of the instrumentation plan embedded in the E-ELT construction proposal. The outcome of the ESO selection process places the UK in the unique position of being one of only two European countries leading the development of an E-ELT first light instrument. Given the enormous discovery potential of the E-ELT, this provides UK astrophysicists with an unprecedented opportunity to exploit the power of the world's largest ground based optical/near-IR telescope.
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