Largest telescopes on Earth | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Telescopes on Earth | Automatic translation | Updated June 01, 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In astronomy we never see this but the past. We see the Moon, a second later, the Sun, eight minutes after the most nearest star, four years later, the most distant galaxy 10 billion years after. | The technological limit of about 8 meters in diameter for a large monolithic mirror still prevails but the segmentation allows for giant telescopes, beyond 10 meters. The first light is expected in 2018 with the EELT, European Extremely Large Telescope. The new generation of giant telescopes on the horizon is. Image: Co-financed by the EU, the European E-ELT telescope "European Extremely Large Telescope" should have a budget of around 1 billion euros for the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to build this telescope revolutionary with a mirror 39.3 meters in diameter, which will enter service in 2024-2026. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
List of the largest optical reflecting telescopes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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LBT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
United States: the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is an American telescope contains two mirrors of 8.4 meters in diameter, weighing 18 tons placed on the same mount. Opened in October 2004, the telescope has been operational since late 2006. To date, the most advanced optical telescope in terms of resolution. It is ten times more powerful and more accurate than the Hubble Space Telescope. It is located 3267 meters above sea level on Mount Graham, Arizona. | The large binocular telescope provided LBT October 12, 2005 its first shots, that concerned the spiral galaxy NGC891, located 24 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. * image of the LBT Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SALT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
South Africa: the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is a telescope installed on the observation site of the South African Astronomical Observatory, South Africa in the Kalahari Desert in the Cape Province of North, north of Cape Town. | The cost of the SALT telescope was 30 million. Its construction is funded by several universities and international organizations gathered around the National Research Foundation of South Africa. Image: image of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GTC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spain: Great Canary Telescope, or Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) to turn its huge lens at the sky in July 2007. | The cost of the total, amounted to $ 180 million. It was funded mainly by the Spanish government, with additional funds from Mexico and the University of Florida. Image: image of the GTC, Gran Telescopio Canarias on the hill of La Palma in the Canary Islands. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ALMA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chile: five thousand meters, the Chajnantor plateau in the Atacama Desert has the largest network of radio telescopes in the world. One billion euros have been invested to achieve the Alma (Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array) in cooperation with Chile. 66 antennas observe the Universe in the millimeter-wave and submillimeter. This instrument analyzes the emissions from the coldest regions of the Universe: clouds of gas and dust where stars are born in distant galaxies, through the study of comets and small bodies of the solar system. The Alma that each of its antenna weighs 115 tons is located 5000 meters above sea level to dispose of the air as dry as possible. | Human intervention is limited to the top and the data collected by the antennas are transmitted through glass fibers to a supercomputer connected to a base camp, the OSF (Operations Support Facility) located at 2900 meters. A fine example of scientific cooperation (Japan, Europe, North America and Asia), whose observations begin operating in 2011. Image: image of Alma's network will consist of 66 antennas spread over 18 km, combined to provide the largest radio telescope in the world. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Names of the four VLT telescopes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Originally (1998) the four VLT telescopes Unitarians were the technical names and little suggestive of UT1, UT2, UT3, UT4. In March 1999, at the opening of the Paranal Observatory, four more poetic names were chosen. The four large telescopes were called Antu Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun. These names evoke objects in the sky, in Mapudungun or Mapuche language, which is the Native Ameriindian language spoken by the Mapuche community in Chile and Argentina. This indigenous population lives mainly in the southern region of Bio-Bio River, some 500 km south of Santiago. This is a young schoolgirl of 17, the Chilean region of Antofagasta, Jorssy Albanez Castilla of Chuquicamata near the city of Calama, which proposed four names from the rich cultural heritage of Chile. The four Unit Telescopes are now known as Antu (the Sun) Kueyen (Moon) Melipal (Southern Cross) and Yepun (Venus, the evening star). | NB: The Cerro Paranal is a mountain located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, 110 km south of Antofagasta and 80 km north of Tal-Tal. While the largest ground-based telescopes are located at altitude it is because our atmosphere is a real embarrassment for the observation of the sky. Cerro Paranal is an exceptional site for the purity of its sky. Image: The Very Large Telescope Array (VLT) is an installation of ESO observing in the visible. The VLT consists of four Unit Telescopes equipped with primary mirror 8.2 meters in diameter and four Auxiliary Telescopes, mobile, 1.8 meters. All these telescopes can work together to form a giant interferometer VLTI. The VLTI allows astronomers to see details with accuracy up to 25 times greater than with the telescopes used separately. |