Denys Wilkinson Building, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH
Professor Matthias Tecza, University of Oxford
Professor Niranjan Thatte, University of Oxford
The Extremely Large Telescope’s (ELT) near-infrared integral field spectrograph HARMONI
With its unique combination of enormous light gathering power and unprecedented angular resolution (thanks to state-of-the-art adaptive optics), the ELT is set to revolutionise observational astrophysics. HARMONI – the ELT’s integral field spectrograph – will provide spatially resolved spectroscopy of a wide variety of astronomical sources, ranging from solar system objects to the most distant galaxies ever observed. By using line strengths and ratios, together with Doppler shifts, HARMONI observations can deduce the morphology, as well as the kinematics, chemical composition, and physical characteristics (density, temperature, etc.) at high angular resolution. In this talk, we will showcase some of the salient observations where HARMONI@ELT can have a huge impact (Niranjan). Matthias will present the instrument design and operating concept, highlighting recent changes to the top level specifications, the adaptive optics system, and the integral field spectrographs.