Interior main structure – completed 2002
Tests have begun on one of the world’s largest optical telescopes, installed on a mountain in the Canary Islands.
Situated on a 2,400m-high (7,900ft) peak on the island of La Palma, the huge telescope consists of a mirror measuring 10.4m (34.1ft) in diameter.
The Spanish-led Great Canary Telescope (GTC) is extremely powerful and will be able to spot some of the faintest, most distant objects in the Universe.
Based at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, the optical telescope is made up from 36 separate hexagonal mirror segments which together form the 10.4m primary mirror.
Another one of those careers I never got round to. Read the article. Interesting stuff going on – beyond the ken or care of our decision-makers and nation-builders.
Love all thoughts of space exploration, and this has my full support, but the huge “deep orbital telescope” that would have dwarfed the capabilities of this was cut from NASA’s budget. The money was instead used to buffer a vastly more expensive missile defense system that doesn’t nor will ever work, and is triggering a second arms race with Russia. Were would we be if only we could develop the willpower to explore and learn. Petty politics and religious extremism set us back decades.
Right on! Nerd sex on the research table.
Only on the blog can an achievement like this be turned into a political rant. I always laughed at the stupidity of the Muslim pilgrims flogging themselves until their back bleeds. That is essentially what most of the posters do here. Rant and rave about how terrible we are. There are a lot of positive things that happen everyday but they apparently are not “fashionable” .to discuss.
I worked on some of the theory and instrument design for large aperture optical interferometers twenty years ago. The technology then didn’t permit the incredibly small tolerances (sub-angstrom) for the combination of optical light paths for a meaningful signal. With today’s inexpensive computing power and adaptive optics at this scale, we’ll be able to build monsters that can literally explore to the beginning of time.
ESO’s VLTI home:
http://www.eso.org/projects/vlti/
The Amber instrument photos:
http://amber.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr/article.php3?id_article=55
#3 is pretty funny – and ignorant as well – living as I do in part of the US where Christians get an extra bit of ‘traditional” respect if they belong to one of the sects practicing self-flagellation.
That cloud-cuckooland he lives in must be pretty narrow. Hope he doesn’t fall off the edge.
moss
You missed my point. I’m not knocking Muslims. I’m knocking those who practice “self-flagellation on this site by constantly harping on the negative. If Christians practice this as well, then I laugh at them also.
—BillM—
Remember the part in the the Monty Python skit (Life of Brian I think) where they have all been crucified and are just whistling and singing away? The point was that looking for the positive when reality is truly awful is pretty absurd. But to take your point…..We are in a pointless war that distracts from the real war on terrorism, division of wealth is widening further than it has in fifty years, costly bullshit programs are funded by cutting NASA and Science grant budgets,and principle job growth is in minimum wage dead end jobs. Look for the positive in that……well you got closer to preventing gay marriage…….yep, I suppose being mean to gays is the closest thing to a positive to happen in the eyes of the Moral majority. My children can grow up under employed and dodging car bombs, but safe from roaming gangs of newlywed homosexuals.
Wow……
The post about this great telescope has gone from an anti war rant to jumping on someone who may be opposed to gay rights (which I don’t think I am). You make my case.
Flog, flog, flog……
I got a tour of what was finished 2 years ago when I took holiday in the Canary’s. It’s awesome, this thing will spot a flea taking a leak on Pluto at midnight. 🙂
#4, Bubba,
This must make your heart go pitter patter real fast. I’m excited and I’m not even into astronomy.
#3, 6 & 8,
Take a look in the mirror. A long hard look. Now who is doing the “Rant and rave about how terrible we are ”.
If you disagree with a post, then argue that point and that poster. You only look like an imbecile making these all encompassing smears.
If my alarm goes off in the morning all is good. But when it doesn’t and I’m late for work, that is something that gets my attention. It is also negative and screws up my day. When a soldier gets killed in Iraq in a senseless war that too is negative and really screws up someone else’s day.
#10, Mr. Fusion, I’d give a lot for just one night’s photography on that monster. With luck, they’ll share, but so far their web site’s not anywhere near as good as most US observatory’s sites.
#12….bubbaRay…thanks for the links. Really cool stuff. 🙂
I think I will take this in a different direction and say:
2.
w0000t!!!! xD
If you pointed it straight at the Sun, how many anthills could you burn?
More seriously – cool stuff!
It’s hard for me to imagine such a place. It must be amazing to be above the clouds.