2025/12/22 by Borja Anguiano, Anguiano, Borja, D. Valls‐Gabaud +13
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.19444
openalex publication_date 2025/12/22 · openalex created_date 2025/12/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
GALATEA (the Galactic Archaeology and Local-group Astrophysics Telescope for Extended Areas) is a concept for a dedicated 15-m, wide-field, 10,000-fibre spectroscopic survey facility in the northern hemisphere, optimized for degree-scale, multi-object spectroscopy. With a ∼ 1~deg2 corrected field-of-view and both medium- (R ≃ 5,000--10,000) and high-resolution (R ≃ 20,000--25,000) modes, GALATEA would open a new regime in Galactic and Local Group astronomy: deep, chemically detailed spectroscopy of vast samples of individual stars in the outer disc, warp, flare, halo substructures, M31, M33 and their dwarf satellites, far beyond the reach of current surveys. By delivering precise radial velocities and detailed chemical abundances for stars with exquisite astrometry and photometry from Gaia and its proposed near-infrared successor GaiaNIR, GALATEA will complete and fully exploit the 6D phase-space and chemodynamical information for these populations. Compared to existing northern multi-object spectroscopic facilities (BOSS, APOGEE, DESI, LAMOST, WEAVE, PFS), GALATEA delivers an order-of-magnitude jump in survey power (∝ D2 × Nfibres) by combining a 15-m aperture, ∼ 1~deg2 field, and 10,000 fibres in a single dedicated facility. It is also strongly complementary to 30--40 m ELTs: GALATEA provides the wide-field, high-multiplex discovery and chemodynamical mapping, while ELTs deliver deep, high-resolution follow-up of the faintest or most complex targets.