Posted on 08/07/2006 4:13:16 AM PDT by Republicain
European astronomers are planning to build an optical telescope that is four times bigger than any in existence.
With a main mirror around 42m-wide, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will allow remote objects to be studied in greater detail than ever before.
The powerful observatory will allow astronomers to see some of the first galaxies to form in the Universe.
It could also look for signatures of life, such as vegetation, on distant planets circling other stars.
The European Southern Observatory (Eso) operates the 8.2m Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal in Chile, which has been described as a "discovery machine".
An average of 1.5 scientific papers published each day is based on observations carried out at the VLT.
Thinking big
Eso is now scoping out a new facility that it hopes will instigate a new era in astronomy.
"We have a working area which is 42m, which is the average area between 30m and 60m," said Dr Andreas Kaufer.
"We want to present a full concept by the end of the year. It may be a bit ambitious, but we believe it is feasible."
Dr Kaufer admitted plans for the ELT had been partly driven by competition with the US, which is planning its own 30m telescope.
"We want to do something a bit bigger," he said.
Eso had previously looked at the feasibility of building a telescope 100m in size - around the size of all the telescope mirrors in the world put together.
The review board set up to evaluate the idea agreed it was feasible, but expressed concern over the cost of the project, which was projected to reach around 1.5bn euros (£1bn).
Instead, the project was scaled down to a 30-60m telescope.
Back to the beginning
The telescope would allow astronomers to see further into the Universe than has ever been possible before. This will allow them to see distant - and therefore very old - galaxies.
These would include some of the first ever galaxies to form in the Universe and also where the first stars formed.
"We want to see how the first galaxies developed. In astronomy, looking faint, looking far, also means looking far back in time," said Dr Kaufer.
"That is one of the big questions in astronomy - how did the Universe develop."
With a 100m telescope, astronomers may have been able to produce images of planets about the same size as Earth circling other stars. But this may be beyond the capabilities of a 42m telescope.
However, it could allow scientists to study the atmospheres of so-called extrasolar planets, looking for the spectral signatures of life such as methane gas and chlorophyll, the pigment used for photosynthesis by plants and cyanobacteria.
Eso officials say construction could begin as early as 2010-11.
But there is still no agreement over where to site the project. Large observatories like the VLT need to be located in remote, dry places with cloud-free skies for best observing conditions.
Sites under discussion include South Africa, Tibet, Morocco, Greenland and Antarctica.
No, really ... report it as true .. you know how to use words.
What?
Oh, I don't know .. say .... 2 or three years.
Just report this as news, ok?
Nope ... mockroscope.
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