Abstract

The wide-field spectroscopic telescope (WST) will be an innovative 12-m class telescope with simultaneous operation of a large field-of-view (3 sq. degree) and high multiplex (30,000) multi-object spectrograph facility with both medium and high resolution modes (MOS), and a giant panoramic (3×3 sq. arcmin) integral field spectrograph (IFS). WST will achieve transformative results in most areas of astrophysics: e.g. the nature and expansion of the dark Universe, the formation of first stars and galaxies and their role in the cosmic reionisation, the study of the dark and baryonic material in the cosmic web, the baryon cycle in galaxies, the formation history of the Milky Way and dwarf galaxies in the Local Group, characterization of exoplanet hosts, and the characterization of transient phenomena, including electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events.

This presentation will discuss current science, status and plans.