Rationale

This workshop will explore some of the first science that will emerge from the European Extremely Large Telescope (E‐ELT) in the next decade. With a 39m diameter primary mirror, E‐ELT will be the largest visible and infrared telescope in the world, and its science will be transformational. The primary spectroscopic capability of E-ELT at first light will be provided by the HARMONI instrument, a visible and near-infrared integral field spectrograph that will be capable of working close to the diffraction limit of the telescope (when fed by adaptive optics) or in natural seeing mode.

The meeting will bring together experts spanning a wide range of observational programmes, from exo‐planets to cosmology, with the goals of:

  • Exploring the E‐ELT's first‐light capabilities, in particular those of spectroscopy with HARMONI
  • Encouraging development of E-ELT science cases including preparatory projects on existing telescopes
  • Providing hands‐on experience using the HARMONI data simulator
  • Encouraging collaboration and transfer of expertise between the HARMONI team and the wider community

The meeting will set the stage for the community to plan E-ELT science programmes and pre-cursor observations, making use of quantitative estimates of what the E-ELT and HARMONI can achieve.

Early E-ELT Science: Spectroscopy with HARMONI is an international workshop made possible through financial support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council via the UK E-ELT grant, the European Southern Observatory, the Department of Physics and the Sub-department of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and the Royal Astronomical Society.