World’s largest telescope at a cost of a billion Euros will be built in Chilean Andes

Friday, March 15th 2013 - 06:45 UTC

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The Chilean Andes will be the location for the world’s largest telescope: the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), costing more than €1bn, which will capture the universe's earliest moments. Read full article

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Trunce
”the possibilities for existence of life on planets elsewhere in the universe”.

If discovered CFK will claim inter galactic support over Falklands.
Mar 15th, 2013 - 08:31 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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mastershakejb
A billion dollars.......that's a bigger foreign investment than any Argentina will be seeing anytime in the near future
Mar 15th, 2013 - 08:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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DennisA
Not much inspiration on names these days, it's an extremely large telescope from Europe, so we'll call it the European Extremely Large Telescope. How about The Atacama Telescope?

“The site selected for the telescope, Cerro Armazones, is a 3.000-metre mountain that lies in the central part of Chile's Atacama Desert......”

Correction, WAS a 3.000-metre mountain:
“Engineers are slicing the top off the peak in preparation for the building of the telescope.”

Mountain top removal by coal companies is heavily criticised.
Mar 15th, 2013 - 10:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Rufus
They'd never stick it in Argentina anyway, there'd be no point. The reason that Chile is telescope central is that it combines both very dry air and is very high (so you get less atmospheric, especially water vapour “noise” in the way).
You may as well stick it in North Wales as Argentina.

I think most variations of The Atacama Telescope have already been taken by all of the other telescopes in the Atacama. Although calling it the E-ELT really does show a lack of imagination, perhaps the Lippershey Atacama Telescope (named after Hans Lippershey the Dutch-German spectacle maker credited with inventing them in the first place - may not be actually correct, but was the first to apply for a patent on it in 1608)
Mar 15th, 2013 - 11:12 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Condorito
@3 and 4
Yes there are several telescopes in the Atacama so the “Atacama Telescope” just wouldn't do.

10 years ago I worked on concept designs for the hexagonal segments that these very large telescopes' mirrors comprise. The designs were part of a feasibility study for a 50m mirror. A French engineer came up with, what I thought was, a very good name: the OWL (OverWhelmingly Large) Telescope.

ALMA - the largest radio telescope array in the world - was inaugurated yesterday. I was surprised not to see any mention of it in MP.
Mar 15th, 2013 - 12:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Shed-time
Chile = good
Argentina = bad
Investment in Chile = good
Investment in Argentina = bad
Chile = Rich
Argentina = Poor
Nazi german genetic composition of Argentines = High
Nazi german genetic composition of Chileas = Low
British genetic composition of Chileans = High
British genetic composition of Argentines = Low

I'm sure a simple causation diagram would help me to make sense of these facts.
Mar 15th, 2013 - 12:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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briton
did not argentina have a claim on the andes .
Mar 15th, 2013 - 02:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Shed-time
@7 They 'took' a lot of the 'south patagonian ice fields' not un-recently where they just felt they would redraw the map. So I wouldn't be surprised if they felt they owned a lot of other things.

There is no end to their territorial nationalism.
Mar 15th, 2013 - 02:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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briton
very true,
when she finaly realises that she wont be getting the falklands,

then she may well turn her attention to others,

if she is still in power..
Mar 15th, 2013 - 02:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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Ayayay
@2 a billion EuROs, Mastershake. 1 billion three hundred million -dollars-and-prestige.

Of course, they first wanted to raise this telescope in Hawaii but there was a lot.of cutural heritage opposition because Mauna Kea is sacred, and, all the other telescopes are visible, instead of a peaceful, natural, mountaintop. That said, I love our astronomers.
Mar 16th, 2013 - 03:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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