Chile Will Build the Biggest Telescope on Earth

In Fotones Valley at Cerro Armazones in the Atacama desert, Chile, the construction for what will become the largest optical telescope in the world, with a diameter of 39 meters, are underway.

In 2010, the European Southern Observatory Board chose that location in the Chilean desert for the future E-ELT.2. It will be the most southern European telescope (known by its acronym E-ELT):

LIVE: Explosions at Cerro Armazones to set up the biggest telescope of the world.

Cerro Armazones houses an observatory with three telescopes, with diameters 1.5 meters, 84 centimeters and 41 centimeters, the results of a joint project between several Chilean and foreign institutions and the European Southern Observatory. Representative Fernando Comerón noted that “with E-ELT we are building a telescope for the 22nd century”. According to estimations, the works will go on for 10 years and the telescope will be fully functional two years later.

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