By Dean Murray
The world’s largest optical telescope is seen taking shape in an amazing image.
The European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is being constructed on the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
Construction on the ELT began in 2014 and has progressed to the point where the telescope’s vast dome and supporting structures dominate the 3,046âmeter summit.
The ELT is built around a segmented primary mirror 128 feet (39 meters) across, nearly five times wider than those in today’s leading groundâbased optical observatories. Its adaptive optics will yield images 15 times sharper than Hubble’s.
Once operational, the ELT will directly image small, rocky exoplanets and probe their atmospheres for conditions that might be compatible with life beyond the solar system.
It will also examine the earliest galaxies and measure the expansion rate of the universe, shedding light on dark energy, dark matter, and the formation and evolution of stars and black holes.
The ELT is scheduled for technical first light in early 2029, with full scientific operations commencing by December 2030.
