A tale of two telescopes: the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Extremely Large Telescope

The next decade promises a transformation in our insights and understanding of the Universe thanks to a suite of innovative facilities. Among this suite are the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).

These distinct facilities will observe the universe on the widest and smallest scales, addressing multiple science questions in complementary ways. The Rubin Observatory’s ambitious Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), with an unprecedented combination of areal coverage and sensitivity, will make the first ever 10-year movie of all the sky visible to it. In contrast, the ELT will provide some of the sharpest vistas into our Universe near and far, exceeding the spatial resolution of the James Webb Telescope by a factor of ~6. Among their science goals, they will further our understanding of the dark universe, galaxies that formed soon after Big Bang to those in the present day and the history of the Milky Way and Solar System. Uniquely, LSST will open a new window into the transient Universe and the ELT presents the tantalising opportunity to directly image rocky planets in solar systems beyond our own.

In this talk, I will describe these forthcoming ground-breaking facilities along with highlights of the amazing science we can expect from them.