Summary
The MICADO instrument, that UTINAM/OSU THETA has recently joined, is the first light imager of the European ELT. It will work in the near-infrared (0.8-2.4 μm), over a large field (up to 50") and high sensitivity (similar to JWST).
To work at the telescope diffraction-limit, MICADO will benefit from two modes of adaptive optics correction: a MCAO correction, uniform on the field of MICADO and developed by the MAORY consortium, and a classic correction of the SCAO type, with high performance in the direction of the star guide and developed under the responsibility of the MICADO consortium.
Offering four observing modes (imaging mode, astrometry, long-slit spectroscopy with R∼20000 and high contrast imaging), MICADO aims to scan a wide range of scientific objectives: small bodies and planets of the solar system, exoplanets and exo-disks, stellar populations in distant galaxies, black holes and the center of our galaxy, evolution and dynamics of galaxies.
During this talk, I will present in more details the project, the instrument capabilities as well as its main scientific drivers.
