The Science Potential of a 10-30m UV/Optical Space Telescope 26 - 27 February, 2004 Space Telescope Science Institute 3700 San Martin Drive Baltimore, Maryland 21218 Phone:  410-338-4700

The Space Telescope Science Institute hosted a two-day workshop on the topic of "The Science Potential of a 10-30m UV/Optical Space Telescope" on 26-27 February 2004.  The workshop focused on the scientific goals that make the development of such a mission compelling.  Sessions were organized in a manner that explored the potential trade space, with topics such as UV vs. optical vs. near-IR sensitivity, imaging vs. spectroscopy, aperture vs. stability and high Strehl ratio, and wide field vs. ultra high resolution imaging.

Recent meetings in Boulder, Chicago, and Baltimore have explored a possible successor to Hubble from scientific and technical vantage points. This workshop was intended to follow those meetings with an eye toward the science that can be done with more ambitious missions than those discussed previously. With a possible time-frame 20 years in the future, the time is right to define the scientific goals that will determine the basic structure of such a mission.

The workshop was held at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. Talks were followed by discussion sessions that explored the trade-offs for a possible mission. Speakers included Gary Bernstein, Pieter van Dokkum, Holland Ford, Abraham Loeb, Jill Bechtold, Kurt Adelberger, Todd Tripp, Roger Angel, Chris Martin, Mike Rich, Douglas Richstone, David Spergel, Alycia Weinberger, and Harley Thronson. There was also a wide range of contributed talks and poster presentations.

Please reference the "VLST Workshop" in all correspondence (VLST = Very Large Space Telescope).