Extremely Large Telescope:
Lurking in the barren Atacama Desert, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), a colossal machine nears completion
- It will be the world’s largest optical telescope, with a primary mirror.
- It is being built by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile at a cost of 1.3 billion euros (around $1.4 billion).
- It will be capable of detecting—and possibly even imaging—terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of other stars.
- The ELT is under construction atop Cerro Armazones, which is a mountaintop in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
- The giant ELT dome will house the telescope and its interior structure, providing protection from the extreme environment of the Atacama Desert.
- The main structure of the telescope will hold its five mirrors and optics, including the enormous 39-metre primary mirror.
- The primary mirror, rather than being a single slab of glass, is made up of 798 hexagonal segments, each of which is 5 feet (1.5 m) across and 2 inches (5 cm) thick.
- European Southern Observatory (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy.
- It is supported by 16 European countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland,
- Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
- Chile has been its host and partner country for many decades.
- It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction, and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy to enable important scientific discoveries.
- ESO operates three unique, world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor.
- Headquarters: Garching, Germany
