Status of the science instruments and their detector plans at the giant magellan telescope

Abstract

Abstract We present a description and status of the first‐generation science instruments for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), and the current plans for their scientific detectors. The first‐generation suite includes two visible (G‐CLEF and GMACS) and two infrared (GMTNIRS and GMTIFS) instruments, which will deliver data from wide‐band imaging to R 200,000 spectroscopy, with a combined spectral coverage from 300 nm to 5 m. All four instruments are designed for use with diffraction‐limited or ground‐layer adaptive optics modes. G‐CLEF is already in fabrication, while the other three are still in preliminary design. The first‐generation suite also includes a robotic fiber‐feed system called MANIFEST, which enables spectroscopy on objects anywhere in the 20 arcmin field of view of the telescope with custom fibers for G‐CLEF and GMACS. An additional facility instrument, GMagAO‐X, is being developed to provide high‐contrast imaging at visible and near‐infrared wavelengths. We also discuss the cameras that will be used for alignment, verification, and commissioning of the active and adaptive optics modes of the telescope and enable early science activities: ComCam and AOTC.