Category: Ten Meter Telescope

A generation ago, the ten-meter telescope was the top-drawer, acme, pinnacle, and hot tamale of optical telescope design. The ones of about that size built over the last 20 years remain the standards of excellence. On Monday evening, after years of design work, the European Southern Observatory's backers, 14 of the semi-continent's nations with Brazil lined up to join, agreed to pull together about £800,000,000 or  roughly a billion dollars to assure construction of the first, next big thing in the star-gazing biz. Full cost to completion will be a bit more, maybe a billion euros.  The E-ELT, for European Extremely Large Telescope, is to have a segmented mirror 40 meters across and reside in...