Why the Northern Hemisphere Needs a 30-40m Telescope and the Science at Stake: from Interstellar Visitors to Planetary Defence

TL;DR

A Northern 30-40m telescope is crucial for comprehensive small Solar System Object studies, enabling full-sky coverage and advanced follow-up observations essential for planetary defense and understanding interstellar visitors.

Contribution

This paper advocates for a Northern 30-40m telescope to complement existing facilities, emphasizing its importance for small body science and planetary defense in the upcoming decades.

Findings

Northern telescope coverage enhances sky observation capabilities.

High sensitivity and resolution enable detailed follow-up of small objects.

Full-sky access is vital for interstellar and potentially hazardous objects.

Abstract

Small Solar system Objects (SSOs) preserve the physical, chemical, and dynamical signatures of the Sun's protoplanetary disk. Upcoming surveys will discover vast numbers of new objects, yet their scientific value will depend on follow-up observations requiring far greater sensitivity and resolution than those currently available. A 30-m class telescope like the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will be transformative, but its Southern location will leave significant regions of the sky poorly covered or even non accessible. A Northern 30-40m telescope is therefore essential to achieve full-sky coverage and fully exploit the small body discoveries of the 2030-2050 era, in particular for targets of opportunity or unexpected discoveries, like those of interstellar objects and potentially hazardous asteroids, as well as for distant trans-Neptunian objects and space mission targets.