WST – The Wide Field Spectroscopic Telescope

Séminaire de Roland Bacon — PI VLT-MUSE et ancien directeur du CRAL —

The WST project aim to study and built an innovative 10-m class wide-field spectroscopic survey telescope (WST) in the southern hemisphere with simultaneous operation of a large field-of-view (5 sq. degree) and high multiplex (20,000) multi-object spectrograph facility with both medium and high resolution modes (MOS), and a giant panoramic integral field spectrograph (IFS). The ambitious WST top-level requirements place it far ahead of existing and planned facilities. In just its first 5 years of operation, the MOS will target 250 million galaxies and 25 million stars at medium resolution + 2 million stars at high resolution, and 4 billion spectra with the IFS. WST will achieve transformative results in most areas of astrophysics. The project is supported by a large consortium of very experienced institutes plus ESO, representing 9 European countries and Australia.