The European Extremely Large Telescope December 13, 2006

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This week saw the green light being given to the construction of one of the world’s largest ground-based telescopes, the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). As you can see from the mock-up above, this baby is not going to fit on a tripod.

The ESO or - European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere – has agreed to fund a three year, £38m study into the feasibility and construction of the revolutionary, £538m telescope. More than 100 astronomers from all European countries have been involved throughout 2006, evaluating all aspects of its creation.

It will boast a massive, 42m wide primary mirror composed of 906 hexagonal segments, each 1.45m in size, while the secondary mirror is as large as 6m in diameter. Unique adaptive mirrors will be used to counter fuzzy stellar images from atmospheric turbulence.

It will not be ready for use until 2017 though so let’s hope the alien invasion holds off a little while longer. When it is up and running, it will allow for detailed studies of planets around other stars, the first objects in the Universe, super-massive black holes and the nature and distribution of dark matter and dark energy which dominate the Universe. -Martin Lynch

[ESO]

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