MOSAIC

The development of the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) with a 39m-size primary mirror is the major priority for the European ground-based astronomical infrastructure in the coming years. AIP is a partner in the development of a Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOSAIC) for this telescope.

MOSAIC combines both imaging and multi-object spectroscopy to enable the observation of a large number of extended objects. The science cases range from the most distant galaxies, galaxy evolution, to resolved stellar populations and planetary formation studies.

Given AIP's experience and interest, we participate in a work-package on the fibre-link between telescope focal plane to the spectrograph systems. A further area of engagement is regarding the data reduction software.

The MOSAIC concept is proposed by a European-wide consortium, led by the Observatoire de Paris (GEPI). The phase-A studies started in spring 2016. AIP's contributions are supported by a grant from the BMBF-Verbundforschung.

MOSAIC publication: Kelz et al. 2015

MOSAIC white paper: Evans et al. 2015

MOSAIC on ESO's ELT website: https://elt.eso.org/instrument/MOSAIC/