The Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory

I will give an overview of TMT, a 30m-aperture, segmented mirror telescope operating with high efficiency over the entire ground-based UV/optical/near-IR window (0.3-28 microns).  I will summarize its planned instrumentation suite, its current technical status, and its role as the northern hemisphere arm of the proposed US-ELT Program. Emphasis will be on TMT's scientific capabilities at first light and beyond, in the context of the future astrophysical landscape, working alongside complementary observational facilities on the ground and in space.

Speaker: Chuck Steidel (Caltech)