CFHT UM2013 - 1st Announcement

6-8 May 2013, Campbell River, Vancouver Island, Canada


21 November 2012

CFHT Faces an Evolving Future

The 2013 CFHT Users’ Meeting provides an opportunity to reflect upon recent observational successes including the completion of the final data release of the CFHT Legacy Survey and the completion of the 4 year observing segment of the first round of large programs. New large programs have commenced and PI led science remains innovative and exciting.

A number of major observatory related endeavours are developing to maturity. Work is well underway for conversion of CFHT to a vented dome in 2013. This is expected to bring a marked increase in the delivered image quality and will bring new opportunities to the current generation of CFHT imagers (MegaCam and WIRCam). The first of CFHT's new generation of instruments will arrive in 2013. SITELLE is a wide field (11x11 arcmin) imaging Fourier transform spectrograph which promises to open an exciting window of wide-field imaging-spectroscopy. GRACES is an innovative project which will see light collected by Gemini-North fibre-fed to the ESPaDOnS spectrograph at CFHT as part of a joint, high resolution spectroscopic facility. GRACES is an exciting pathfinder project for a potential future fibre feed for the planned CFHT SPIRou spectrograph in addition to providing an important model for future inter-observatory cooperation.

The long term development of CFHT is currently centered around the development of two major new instruments: SPIRou and IMAKA. SPIRou is a joint venture with partners in Taiwan, France, Canada, and Hawaii to develop a high-resolution near-infrared spectro-polarimeter. When completed SPIRou will offer a world leading planet hunting capability in addition to providing an important new window on magnetic activity in stars. IMAKA is a UH-led project with partners in Hawaii, Canada and France to build a wide-field ground layer adaptive optics (GLAO) imaging facility at CFHT. Covering a 1 square degree field with a giga-pixel imager and providing a median delivered image quality of 0.3 arcseconds FWHM, IMAKA offers a combination of wide field and high acuity imaging that will be unique to the world astronomical community.

Beyond these developments, the CFHT facility can look forward to a bold and exciting long term future. The next generation CFHT (ngCFHT) concept is an initiative to transform the current facility to a 10m class observatory with a world leading multi-object spectroscopic capability. CFHT is actively planning for the future and the 2013 Users’ Meeting offers an important opportunity for the community’s voice to be heard. In addition to a wide range of scientific and technical presentations, the Users’ Meeting will conduct an inclusive community discussion about the future development of CFHT in the context of the other facilities on Mauna Kea. Inter-observatory collaborative operations and development is an important consideration for the Mauna Kea Observatories, and crafting CFHT’s future in this evolving landscape of opportunity and discovery will be an important part of the 2013 CFHT Users’ Meeting.

Jon Willis, Chair
Scientific Organizing Committee
Doug Simons, Chair
Local Organizing Committee