Related papers: The Future of Multi-Object Spectroscopy: a ESO Wor…
High-multiplex and deep spectroscopic follow-up of upcoming panoramic deep-imaging surveys like LSST, Euclid, and WFIRST is a widely recognized and increasingly urgent necessity. No current or planned facility at a U.S. observatory meets…
The EAGLE and EVE Phase A studies for instruments for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) originated from related top-level scientific questions, but employed different (yet complementary) methods to deliver the required…
We have started a systematic search of strong lens candidates in the ESO public survey KiDS based on the visual inspection of massive galaxies in the redshift range $0.1<z<0.5$. As a pilot program we have inspected 100 sq. deg., which…
UKIDSS is the next generation near-infrared sky survey. The survey will commence in early 2004, and over 7 years will collect 100 times as many photons as 2MASS. UKIDSS will use the UKIRT Wide Field Camera to survey 7500 square degrees of…
Since its emergence two decades ago, astrophotonics has found broad application in scientific instruments at many institutions worldwide. The case for astrophotonics becomes more compelling as telescopes push for AO-assisted,…
We describe the scientific motivations, the mission concept and the instrumentation of SPACE, a class-M mission proposed for concept study at the first call of the ESA Cosmic-Vision 2015-2025 planning cycle. SPACE aims to produce the…
This white paper describes the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC), whose goal is the study of dark energy and related topics in fundamental physics with data from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). It provides an…
I first review the status of Digital Sky Surveys. The focus will be on extragalactic surveys with an area of more than 100 sq.deg. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is the archetype of such imaging surveys and it is its great success that has…
Euclid will observe 15 000 deg$^2$ of the darkest sky, in regions free of contamination by light from our Galaxy and our Solar System. Three "Euclid Deep Fields" surveys covering around 40 deg$^2$ in total will extend the scientific scope…
Due to its simultaneous deep imaging and integral field spectroscopic capability, an Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrograph (IFTS) is ideally suited to the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) mission, and offers opportunities for…
A way to fully exploit the large collecting area of modern 8-10m class telescopes is high resolution spectroscopy. Many astrophysical problems from planetary science to cosmology benefit from spectroscopic observations at the highest…
Around $10^5$ strongly lensed galaxies are expected to be discovered with Euclid and the LSST. Utilising these large samples to study the inner structure of lens galaxies requires source redshifts, to turn lens models into mass…
The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) will gather unprecedented spectro-photometric data on galaxies out to the highest redshifts. It is therefore crucial to identify the spectro-photometric diagnostics within reach of NGST, which will…
The instrumentation plan for the European-Extremely Large Telescope foresees a Multi-Object Spectrograph (E-ELT MOS). The MOSAIC project is proposed by a European-Brazilian consortium, to provide a unique MOS facility for astrophysics,…
Using new cosmological models for galaxy evolution, predictions for the next generation of deep mid-IR surveys are presented for both the ASTRO-F space telescope (due for launch 2003) and the proposed HII/L2 mission (2010). Although ASTRO-F…
Liquid mirror telescopes are of interest to Astronomy because of their very low capital and operating costs. Low cost has a potentially revolutionary impact since it allows one to dedicate a large telescope to a narrowly focused project…
The Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) will provide the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) with a unique window to the thermal- and mid-infrared (3 - 13 microns). Its single-conjugate adaptive optics (SCAO) system will enable…
I describe the capabilities of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, scheduled for May 2009 installation on the Hubble Space Telescope. With a factor-of-ten increase in far-UV throughput for moderate resolution spectroscopy, COS will enable a…
Euclid is an ESA mission designed to constrain the properties of dark energy and gravity via weak gravitational lensing and galaxy clustering. It will carry out a wide area imaging and spectroscopy survey (EWS) in visible and near-infrared,…
A major scientific goal of JWST is to probe the epoch of re-ionization of the Universe at z above 6, and up to 20 and beyond. At these redshifts, galaxies are just beginning to form and the observable objects are early black holes,…