Thirty Meter Telescope Science Forum

May 24, 2016 - May 26, 2016

International Partnership for Global Astronomy

Kyoto International Community House

Kyoto, Japan

The annual TMT Science 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 the status of the observatory, its instrumentation and adaptive optics systems, and to join in shaping TMT's future.

This year's TMT Forum is the first held in Asia, and its central theme is International collaboration.  TMT will be built and operated internationally, and the Forum is a venue for members of the international TMT community to map out cooperative strategies for developing the observatory and its instrumentation, running the facility, and carrying out science with global reach.  Sessions and talks will emphasize:

  • International TMT Key Project science
  • Cross-partnership collaboration and the International Science Development Teams (ISDTs)
  • Second-generation TMT instrumentation and AO development
  • Effective strategies for observatory operations
  • Coordinating science planning with other observatories and facilities within the TMT partnership

There will be invited science talks, as well as topical parallel sessions organized by TMT's International Science Development Teams (ISDTs), with opportunities for contributed talks and posters.

The 2016 TMT Forum will be held in beautiful Kyoto, Japan, at the Kyoto International Community House.  Registration is now open, and details about the science program, hotels, and other local information will be available here soon. 

To participants from Japanese institutions:

The TMT-Japan project office plans to support some part of expenses of participants from institutes in Japan. Please contact the TMT-J office (tmtadmin@jelt.mtk.nao.ac.jp) when registration is made.  E-mail written in Japanese is acceptable.

To participants from US insititutions:

The National Science Foundation provides travel support for US astronomers to attend the TMT Science Forum. To be considered for support, please write to the US TMT Science Working Group at tmt@noao.edu.  Funding is limited, and it is important to plan travel to Japan promptly, so early requests will be given strong consideration.  Scientists at TMT partner institutions (Caltech and University of California) are not eligible for this NSF travel support.

Pre-Forum MICHI Workshop on Monday 23 May:

On Monday afternoon, 23 May, there will be an open meeting for those interested in MICHI, a thermal-IR instrument concept for TMT.  The aim of the meeting is to concentrate on the science cases and foster collaboration between science team members, as well as provide updates to the team on the instrument progress. The meeting location is still to be confirmed, and will be announced here.  If you would like to attend this meeting, or would like more information, please write to Chris Packham (chris.packham@utsa.edu).
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