F.C. Gillett and M. Mountain
Gemini 8m Telescopes Project, 950 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson AZ 85719
The potential 1-20µm imaging and spectroscopic sensitivity of a cooled 8m NGST in space is compared to that of a 8m ground-based telescope. For 2.5µm an 8m NGST may achieve a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) advantage in the range 100 to 1000 for both imaging observations and for spectroscopic observations up to R=1000. In the 1 to 2.5µm regime an 8m NGST may achieve a SNR advantage for imaging of ~10, while for spectroscopic observations the SNR advantage is expected to be substantially less and could approach unity for R
1000.
Appears in ASP volume 133, "Science with the Next Generation Space Telescope".
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