The largest astronomical project on the planet shut down due to coronavirus

[Judi Lynn]

By Georgina Torbet
April 5, 2020 7:25AM PST

Facilities hosting telescopes in the Chilean desert, including the world’s largest ground-based astronomical project, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), have been shut down due to the outbreak of coronavirus, officially called COVID-19.

The facilities located in the Atacama Desert include the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory, where ALMA is located, as well as the Paranal Observatory which includes the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and the La Silla Observatory and the Cerro Armazones Observatory.

The area is ideal for astronomical observation as it is at a very high altitude with nearly no cloud cover and extremely low precipitation, so it offers almost unobstructed views of the night sky all year round. When there is too much water in the atmosphere, it interferes with the collection of weak signals from deep space, so many telescopes are built in deserts or on high mountains which are very dry.

The observatories have now closed down due to the risk of spreading the coronavirus infection. This shutdown could have a significant impact on the field of astronomy as a whole. These facilities represent a significant chunk of international astronomy funding and produce a large amount of the data used across the field, so shutting them down will impact a large number of research projects. Some time-sensitive projects require observations during particular windows of time, which will now be missed.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/alma-vlt-coronavirus-shut-down/



Llano de Chajnantor Observatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llano_de_Chajnantor_Observatory

More helpful images of the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory:
https://tinyurl.com/r3tpzpv

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360 degree panorama view, Paranal Observatory:
https://www.360cities.net/image/eso-paranal-observatory-chile

No one image can do justice to the Paranal Observatory, here's the page of google images:
https://tinyurl.com/wedl69v

Paranal Observatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranal_Observatory

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More La Silla Observatory images:
https://tinyurl.com/v4jhwwn

La Silla Observatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Silla_Observatory

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- click for image below -
https://cdn-3.expansion.mx/dims4/default/d2a9f5e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/659x462+0+0/resize/1200x841!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn-3.expansion.mx%2F79%2F7911d6410184b26cc0434dfc19dae911%2Fllega-el-e-elt20160525141325.jpg


ESO Signs Largest Ever Ground-based Astronomy Contract for ELT Dome and Telescope Structure
25 May 2016




The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), with a main mirror 39 metres in diameter, will be the largest optical/near-infrared telescope in the world: truly the world’s biggest eye on the sky. It will be constructed in northern Chile, on a site that has already been prepared.

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The contract covers the design, manufacture, transport, construction, on-site assembly and verification of the dome and telescope structure. With an approximate value of 400 million euros, it is the largest contract ever awarded by ESO and the largest contract ever in ground-based astronomy.

The ELT dome and telescope structure will take telescope engineering into new territory. The contract includes not only the enormous 85-metre-diameter rotating dome, with a total mass of around 5000 tonnes, but also the telescope mounting and tube structure, with a total moving mass of more than 3000 tonnes. Both of these structures are by far the largest ever built for an optical/infrared telescope and dwarf all existing ones. The dome is almost 80 metres high and its footprint is comparable in area to a football pitch.

The ELT is being built on Cerro Armazones, a 3000-metre peak about 20 kilometres from ESO’s Paranal Observatory. The access road and leveling of the summit have already been completed and work on the dome is expected to start on site in 2017.

More:
https://www.eso.org/public/unitedkingdom/news/eso1617/?lang

More images of Cerro Armazones Observatory.

https://tinyurl.com/vvgqlwy