E-ELT/METIS

¹ Leiden University, Leiden Observatory, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
² ETH Zürich, Institute for Astronomy, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
³ Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
⁴ UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
⁵ Universität Wien, Institut fr Astrophysik, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Wien Austria
⁶ CEA Saclay, Institut de Recherche sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers, Bât. 141, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
⁷ KU Leuven, Institute of Astronomy, Celestijnenlaan 200D BUS 2401, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
⁸ Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
⁹ University of Liège, Department of Astrophysics, Geophysics and Oceanography, Allée du 6 Août 17, 4000 Liège, Belgium
¹⁰ University of Graz, Institute for Physics, Universitätsplatz 5/II, 8010 Graz, Austria

Abstract

The Mid-infrared E-ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) will be one of the first three scientific instruments on the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). It will be the only instrument to cover the thermal/mid-infrared wavelength range from 3–19 μm. METIS offers a number of scientifically important observing modes, including diffraction-limited imaging, low resolution slit spectroscopy, coronagraphy, and high resolution (R ∼ 100,000) integral field spectroscopy at very high sensitivity. This paper gives a brief summary of METIS and focuses on its unique discovery space in the area of protoplanetary disks, where METIS is quite complementary to ALMA and JWST.