Overview of the Giant Magellan Telescope Project
P. McCarthy¹, and the GMT Science Working Group
¹ Carnegie Observatories
A group of US Universities and private research organiziations have begun the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope, a a 25m-class aperture. The GMT project is a partnership between the Carnegie Institution, Harvard University, MIT, the Smithsonian Institution, Texas A&M University, the University of Arizona, The University of Michigan, and the University of Texas at Austin. Australia hopes to join the partnership soon. The primary mirror is composed of six off-axis 8.4m diameter segments surrounding a central on-axis segment. The total collecting area of the seven segments is equal to a filled aperture 21.4m in diameter. The telescope has the resolving power of a 24.5m filled aperture. A segmented thin-shell adaptive secondary mirror will provide adaptive optics without additional background or losses.

I will review the scientific priorities for the telescope and our plans for the first generation of instruments and facility adaptive optics. A conceptual design review is planned for February 2006. More details regarding the GMT and its science priorities can be found on our website at: www.gmto.org.

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On 20 Oct 2005, 23:01.