A $1 billion telescope that will take pictures 10 times sharper than Hubble's is now officially unde
A $1 billion telescope that will take pictures 10 times sharper than Hubble's is now officially under construction
Dave Mosher
23h
A rendering of the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile. GMTO Corporation
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In astronomy, cutting-edge technology often begins with a bunch of bulldozers, busted rocks, and dump trucks.
So it goes with the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), which will the world's largest and most powerful when it sees "first light" in 2024. Astronomers hope to use the huge observatory to study the ancient universe and look for signs of alien life.
Construction crews atop a Chilean mountain range broke ground for the $1 billion project on Tuesday. The final device will weigh more than 2 million lbs, so workers are now punching a 23-feet-deep hole in bedrock that they'll eventually fill with concrete to support GMT's enormous weight.
"It will be supported by a 1,000 ton steel telescope structure that will be housed inside a rotating enclosure that will measure 22 stories tall and 56 meters wide," a representative for GMT told Business Insider in an email.
More:
https://www.businessinsider.com/giant-magellan-telescope-gmt-construction-2024-completion-2018-8?r=UK&IR=T
Science:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/122858966
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The location of the GMT also offers a key advantage in terms of seeing through the atmosphere. Located in one of the highest and driest locations on earth, Chile’s Atacama Desert, the GMT will have spectacular conditions for more than 300 nights a year. Las Campanas Peak (“Cerro Las Campanas”), where the GMT will be located, has an altitude of over 2,550 meters or approximately 8,500 feet. The site is almost completely barren of vegetation due to lack of rainfall. The combination of seeing, number of clear nights, altitude, weather and vegetation make Las Campanas Peak an ideal location for the GMT.
https://www.gmto.org/overview/
More images of the site for this enormous telescope:
https://tinyurl.com/ycmavkko
