Indian researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru have developed a new online tool to create a comprehensive star catalogue for the Adaptive Optics System (AOS) of the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).
Key Features of Thirty Meter Telescope
- It is an ambitious international project coming up at Mauna Kea in Hawaii, involving India, the US, Canada, China, and Japan that aims to advance the understanding of the universe significantly.
- India is a key partner in the TMT project, with India TMT Center at IIA leading the national collaboration.
- The TMT is a next-generation astronomical observatory designed to provide unprecedented resolution and sensitivity with its massive 30-meter primary mirror, advanced adaptive optics system, and state-of-the-art instruments.
- The TMT, the Giant Magellan Telescope, and the European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope represent the future of ground-based astronomy.
Primary Goals
- Study the early universe and the formation and evolution of the first galaxies and stars after the Big Bang.
- Investigate the formation, structure, and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time.
- Study the relationship between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies.
- Investigate the formation of stars and planetary systems.
- Characterise exoplanets and study their atmospheres.
Adaptive Optics System (AOS) and New Online Tool
- The TMT’s AOS, known as the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS), uses deformable mirrors and laser guide stars (LGS) to correct atmospheric turbulence, enhancing image resolution.
- This facility will project up to nine lasers into the sky to create artificial guide stars. However, atmospheric turbulence affects these laser beams, so measuring atmospheric tip-tilt is uncertain.
- To correct these effects, the AO system requires feedback from three real stars, known as Natural Guide Stars (NGS).
- Researchers have developed an automated code that can be used as an online tool to create a catalogue of Near Infrared (NIR) stars.
- The automated code can compute the expected near-infrared magnitudes of stellar sources identified in various optical sky surveys using their optical magnitudes.