This short document is intended as a companion and introduction to the Detailed Science Case (DSC) for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer. It provides a concise summary of the essential characteristics of MSE from the perspective of the international astronomical community. MSE is a wide field telescope (1.5 square degree field of view) with an aperture of 11.25m. It is dedicated to multi-object spectroscopy at several different spectral resolutions in the range R ~ 2500 - 40000 over a broad wavelength range (0.36 - 1.8{\mu}m). MSE will enable transformational science in areas as diverse as exoplanetary host characterization; stellar monitoring campaigns; tomographic mapping of the interstellar and intergalactic media; the in-situ chemical tagging of the distant Galaxy; connecting galaxies to the large scale structure of the Universe; measuring the mass functions of cold dark matter sub-halos in galaxy and cluster-scale hosts; reverberation mapping of supermassive black holes in quasars. MSE is the largest ground based optical and near infrared telescope in its class, and it will occupy a unique and critical role in the emerging network of astronomical facilities active in the 2020s. MSE is an essential follow-up facility to current and next generations of multi-wavelength imaging surveys, including LSST, Gaia, Euclid, eROSITA, SKA, and WFIRST, and is an ideal feeder facility for E-ELT, TMT and GMT.
@article{arxiv.1606.00060,
title = {A concise overview of the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer},
author = {Alan W. McConnachie and Carine Babusiaux and Michael Balogh and Elisabetta Caffau and Pat Côté and Simon Driver and Aaron Robotham and Else Starkenburg and Kim Venn and Matthew Walker and Steven E. Bauman and Nicolas Flagey and Kevin Ho and Sidik Isani and Mary Beth Laychak and Shan Mignot and Rick Murowinski and Derrick Salmon and Doug Simons and Kei Szeto and Tom Vermeulen and Kanoa Withington},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1606.00060},
year = {2016}
}