Latest Extremely large telescope Stories

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online A plan to build the world’s largest telescope moved one step closer to becoming a reality on Friday, as the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved a plan to build the record-breaking instrument at the summit of Mauna Kea volcano. According to Audrey McAvoy of the Associated Press (AP), the ruling allows the US and Canadian universities behind the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project to begin negotiating a...

ESO Representatives of Denmark have confirmed that their country will participate in the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) programme. Twelve ESO Member States have now joined the E-ELT programme. Denmark joined the organization in 1967, as the first new Member State three years after ESO’s foundation. The newly announced investment amounts to 8.5 million euros over the ten-year construction period. “This decision marks another important push forward for the E-ELT...

ESO The Crown Prince Couple of Denmark visited ESO’s Paranal Observatory during their official visit to Chile. The Observatory is located 130 kilometers south of Antofagasta, in the heart of Chile’s Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world. At a height of 2635 meters above sea level, Paranal is the site of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the world’s most advanced optical instrument dedicated to astronomical research. On arrival, The Crown Prince Frederik and The Crown...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com [ Watch the video ] The European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) has been given the go-ahead by the organization overseeing the project to move on with it. The $1.3 billion telescope will look for planets outside the solar system and those orbiting other stars in "habitable zones." The telescope will use a 127-feet mirror, helping it gather more than 12 times the light that the largest optical telescopes being used today gather. "Its unique...

China and India are moving forward to join as partners to help build the world's largest telescope in Hawaii. The two countries plan to share the cost of the construction for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) at the summit of Mauna Kea volcano. "This will represent a quantum leap for the Chinese community," Shude Mao, professor of astrophysics at National Astronomical Observatories of China, told The Associated Press (AP). The telescope's mirror will be nearly 100 feet long, giving...

[ Video 1 ] | [ Video 2 ] The governing body of the European Southern Observatory, the ESO Council, has approved ESO’s budget for 2012. This includes preparatory work on the road to the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) site at Cerro Armazones and the start of development of some very challenging optical components for the telescope. With several ESO Member States now having committed their part of the required additional funding, the final approval for the whole E-ELT program...

[ Watch Video 1 ] | [ Watch Video 2 ] On Saturday 15 October, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) opened the doors of its headquarters in Garching bei München, Bavaria, Germany, to the public. Throughout the day, thousands of visitors had the chance to help build a full-size mock-up mirror of the largest planned telescope in the world — the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) — and to experience many other aspects of ESO’s work. Around 3100 people came to ESO’s...

[ Watch the Video ] At a ceremony Thursday in Santiago, Chile the Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfredo Moreno and ESO’s Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, signed an agreement regarding the European Extremely Large Telescope. This agreement between ESO and the Chilean government includes the donation of land for the telescope, as well as a long-term concession to establish a protected area around it, and support from the Chilean government for the establishment of the E-ELT. The...

The Science Technology and Facilities Council (STFC) confirmed that it will provide nearly $5.5 million (US) to UK scientists to develop key instruments for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), which is slated to be the biggest optical and infrared telescope in the world. With funding in place, British astronomers will now be able to take a leading role in building the critical scientific instruments needed for the E-ELT, which will be constructed in Chile and should be complete...

Raymond Wilson, whose pioneering optics research at ESO made today's giant telescopes possible thanks to "active optics" technology, has been awarded the 2010 Kavli Prize in astrophysics. The founder and original leader of the Optics and Telescopes Group at ESO, Wilson shares the million-dollar prize with two American scientists, Jerry Nelson and Roger Angel.The biennial prize, presented by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Kavli Foundation, and the Norwegian Ministry of...