spacetoday.net: ESO approves plans for world's largest telescope

Posted: Tue, Jun 12, 2012, 6:46 AM ET (1046 GMT)

European Extremely Large Telesope 2012 version (ESO)

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) gave the green light Monday to plans to build a telescope nearly 40 meters across in Chile. The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) will be located in northern Chile, close to ESO's existing Paranal Observatory, and feature a primary mirror 39.3 meters in diameter. That would give the telescope over 15 times the light-gathering power of each of the twin 10-meter Keck Observatory telescopes. Formal work on the E-ELT will not begin, though, until four ESO member states that voted for the telescope confirm their approvals with national authorities, and until ESO raises at least 90 percent of the estimated €1.1 billion (US$1.4 billion) needed to build the observatory.