Event Details

TMT Science Forum 2017

Each year, the Forum gathers members of the international astronomical community to meet, collaborate, and plan for future TMT science programs.  It is the premier opportunity to learn about TMT, to discuss its science capabilities, and to become involved in shaping the observatory's future.

The theme for the 2017 Forum is "TMT: Beyond First Light”.  

The conference website is https://conference.ipac.caltech.edu/tmtsf2017/

While designs for TMT's first-generation instrumentation and adaptive optics systems are well mature, it is none too soon to start planning new capabilities beyond first light! As a result, the TMT International Observatory is taking the opportunity of the 2017 TMT Forum to launch feasibility studies for future-generation instruments.

Some conversations on future generation instruments began at last year 2016 TMT Forum in Kyoto, Japan (see Program & Presentations) and it is now time to kickoff instrument studies, deepening the participation of all interested members of the international TMT community.  The 2017 Forum will also be an excellent opportunity to learn from the experience of the first-light instruments teams, and consider any adjustments to instrumentation priorities, or operations plans, for TMT's early-light phase and beyond.

The agenda of the Forum is not yet fully settled but will contain: 

• A series of overviews of the project status provided by representatives of the TMT project office, the TIO Board of Directors and its Science Advisory Committee. 
• Presentations and discussions about the big science questions to be answered by TMT next-generation instruments, and the novel technologies permitting to address these questions
• Parallel sessions to present and discuss concepts for next generation instruments that will be organized by the TMT Instrument Science Development Teams (ISDTs)

A direct product of this meeting will be for the TMT Science and Advisory Committee to deliver a white paper on instrumentation development priorities for TMT's next generation instruments.