Roadmap for PCS, the Planetary Camera and Spectrograph for the E-ELT

Abstract

Presently, dedicated instruments at large telescopes (SPHERE for the VLT, GPI for Gemini) are about to discover and explore self-luminous giant planets by direct imaging and spectroscopy. The next generation of 30m-40m ground-based telescopes, the Extremely Large Telescopes, have the potential to dramatically enlarge the discovery space towards older giant planets seen in reflected light and ultimately even a small number of rocky planets. The E-ELT Planetary Camera and Spectrograph (PCS) serves this purpose. Building on the heritage of the EPICS phase-A study, this paper presents revised requirements, a possible concept, and the R&D necessary to realize the instrument.

Files

Additional details