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R.I. Thomson (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona)
The Galaxy Evolution Probe, GEP, is a response to NASA's call for studies of possible Origins Probes. GEP is a 3 meter, radiatively cooled telescope that utilizes dichroics to observe 6 photometric bands simultanesously. Switchable filters and dichroics give 12 total bands between 0.3 and 5.0 microns. The field of view is 11.6 sq arc minutes. GEP will take deep images continuously over a five year lifetime. Each image will be deeper than the current UDF images and cover sufficient area to reduce the uncertainty due to large scale structure to less than 4 percent. The anticipated areal coverage will be 1000 times the area of the UDF.
Although GEP will study the evolution of baryonic matter from primordial gas to present day galaxies, its images will be available for a diverse number of studies. All images will be immediately released to the community. If the Virtual Observatory is in place during the GEP mission, all images will be placed in the VO archives.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.