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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 December 2007
The potential advantages of the new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes arebriefly summarized. When used in combination with advanced adaptive opticsmodules which can substantially remove the effect of atmospheric turbulence atinfrared wavelengths, these telescopes will provide unique capabilities both interms of photon collecting power (→2-4 magnitude advantage) andangular resolution (4-5 times higher than with current 8-10m telescopes). Theinstruments under study for the TMT and E-ELT projects are presented andcompared. I discuss the impact of the ELTs on three major science topics:stellar populations in galaxies to the Virgo distance, chemical abundances ofthe brighter stars in nearby galaxies and high redshift SN and GRBs.