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arXiv · 2606.20822

WST -- Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope: The Next Leap in Wide-field Spectroscopy

Roland Bacon·Olga Bellido·Philippe Dierickx·Paolo Franzetti·Roelof S. de Jong·David Lee·Vincenzo Mainieri·Sofia Randich·Richard I. Anderson·Francesco Belfiore·Henri Boffin·Julia Bryant·Kjetil Dohlen·Richard Ellis·Gaston Gausachs·Alexandre Jeanneau·Laura Magrini·Simon O'Toole·Michele Moresco·Arlette Pécontal·Anna Puglisi·Paula Sánchez Sáez·Rodolfo Smiljanic·Stefano Zibetti·Bodo Ziegler·Matthew Colless·Matt Lehnert·Pietro Schipani·Laurence Tresse·Joe Barrow·Nicolas Bouché·Dimitri Buffat·Vincenzo De Caprio·Letizia P. Cassarà·Younes Chahid·Corentin Cudennec·Bianca De Caro·Simone D'Auria·Laurane Fréour·Marco Fumana·Maria Cristina Fortuna·Adriana Gargiulo·Pascale Hibon·Alessandro Meoli·Matteo Munari·Aaron Omadutt·Dinko Milaković·Peder Norberg·Marco Palla·Sébastien Pernecker·Marco Scodeggio·Maxime Rombach·Will Saunders·Elmo Tempel·Nicholas A. Walton
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Abstract

The Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope (WST) is a concept for a dedicated 12-m spectroscopic survey facility designed to address some of the most important questions in astrophysics in the 2040s. The WST will provide unprecedented spectroscopic survey capabilities by operating simultaneously over a 2-degree diameter field of view with 54 low-resolution spectrographs fed by 30,000 fibres, 8-16 high-resolution spectrographs fed by 2,000 fibres, and a large panoramic low-resolution integral-field spectrograph. Supported by Horizon Europe, the concept study has refined the science cases, facility architecture, operations model, sustainability strategy, and technology roadmap. The resulting reference design demonstrates that the WST is both scientifically transformative and technically feasible, while identifying the developments required to mitigate the remaining risks. The WST is designed as an ESO flagship facility for the post-ELT construction era and a key spectroscopic complement to the major imaging, time-domain, and multi-messenger facilities of the coming decades.

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Roland Bacon, Olga Bellido, Philippe Dierickx, Paolo Franzetti, Roelof S. de Jong, David Lee, Vincenzo Mainieri, Sofia Randich, Richard I. Anderson, Francesco Belfiore, Henri Boffin, Julia Bryant, Kjetil Dohlen, Richard Ellis, Gaston Gausachs, Alexandre Jeanneau, Laura Magrini, Simon O'Toole, Michele Moresco, Arlette Pécontal, Anna Puglisi, Paula Sánchez Sáez, Rodolfo Smiljanic, Stefano Zibetti, Bodo Ziegler, Matthew Colless, Matt Lehnert, Pietro Schipani, Laurence Tresse, Joe Barrow, Nicolas Bouché, Dimitri Buffat, Vincenzo De Caprio, Letizia P. Cassarà, Younes Chahid, Corentin Cudennec, Bianca De Caro, Simone D'Auria, Laurane Fréour, Marco Fumana, Maria Cristina Fortuna, Adriana Gargiulo, Pascale Hibon, Alessandro Meoli, Matteo Munari, Aaron Omadutt, Dinko Milaković, Peder Norberg, Marco Palla, Sébastien Pernecker, Marco Scodeggio, Maxime Rombach, Will Saunders, Elmo Tempel, Nicholas A. Walton. 2026-06-18. WST -- Wide-field Spectroscopic Telescope: The Next Leap in Wide-field Spectroscopy. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.20822

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