The confluence of advances in telescope and spectrograph design computing power, pathfinding imaging capabilities on the ground and in space, and the maturity of many astrophysical fields, allow us to look beyond the study of a few unique objects and towards the systematic study of large samples in order to completely characterize their properties, formation history, and cosmological significance. These studies require spectroscopic observations to probe the kinematics, chemical composition, dynamics, ages, masses and evolutionary histories of astronomical objects. Examples of three fundamental science goals are described that demand a wide-field system on a large telescope.

Date Published: 29 June 2000
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 4005, Discoveries and Research Prospects from 8- to 10-Meter-Class Telescopes, (29 June 2000); doi: 10.1117/12.390152

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4005:
Discoveries and Research Prospects from 8- to 10-Meter-Class Telescopes
Jacqueline Bergeron, Editor(s)