The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer Book 2018.

(Abridged) This is the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer 2018 book. It isintended as a concise reference guide to all aspects of the scientific andtechnical design of MSE, for the international astronomy and engineeringcommunities, and related agencies. The current version is a status report ofMSEu0027s science goals and their practical implementation, following the SystemConceptual Design Review, held in January 2018. MSE is a planned 10-m class,wide-field, optical and near-infrared facility, designed to enabletransformative science, while filling a critical missing gap in the emerginginternational network of large-scale astronomical facilities. MSE is completelydedicated to multi-object spectroscopy of samples of between thousands andmillions of astrophysical objects. It will lead the world in this arena, due toits unique design capabilities: it will boast a large (11.25 m) aperture andwide (1.52 sq. degree) field of view; it will have the capabilities to observeat a wide range of spectral resolutions, from R2500 to R40,000, with massivemultiplexing (4332 spectra per exposure, with all spectral resolutionsavailable at all times), and an on-target observing efficiency of more than80%. MSE will unveil the composition and dynamics of the faint Universe and isdesigned to excel at precision studies of faint astrophysical phenomena. Itwill also provide critical follow-up for multi-wavelength imaging surveys, suchas those of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Gaia, Euclid, the Wide FieldInfrared Survey Telescope, the Square Kilometre Array, and the Next GenerationVery Large Array.