ESO Plans to Build the Largest Optical/Infrared Telescope

ESO Plans to Build the Largest Optical/Infrared Telescope 

Yes -- Those tiny objects at the base of the telescope are automobiles. The E-ELT will be sited on Cerro Armazones, a mountain that is just 20 km from Cerro Paranal where ESO currently operates its Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility - a suite of interconnected optical telescopes that includes four units with primary mirrors measuring 8.2 meters. Like Paranal, Armazones will enjoy near-perfect observing conditions - at least 320 nights a year when the sky is cloudless. (Image Credit: ESO)

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) plans to build the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. At its meeting at the ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany, the ESO Council approved the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) Program. The E-ELT will start operations early in the next decade.

The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) Program will be the world's biggest eye on the sky. The E-ELT will be a 39.3-metre segmented-mirror telescope sited on Cerro Armazones in northern Chile, close to ESO's Paranal Observatory.

All of ESO's Member States have already expressed very strong support for the E-ELT project. The Council voted in favour of a resolution for the approval of the E-ELT and its first suite of powerful instruments.

To approve the start of the program, two-thirds of the Member States (at least ten) had to vote in favour. At the Council meeting Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland voted in favour of the start of the E-ELT program. Four further countries voted in favour ad referendum: Belgium, Finland, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The remaining four Member States are actively working towards joining the program in the near future.

Following the resolution, spending on elements of the project other than the initial civil works will not commence until the contributions pledged by the Member States, as agreed in the funding principles approved by Council in late 2011, exceed 90 percent of the 1,083 million euro cost-to-completion (at 2012 prices).

On the current schedule, the first large E-ELT industrial contracts would have to be approved and major funding committed within the next year.

"This is an excellent outcome and a great day for ESO. We can now move forward on schedule with this giant project," said the ESO Director General Tim de Zeeuw.

Early contracts for the project have already been placed. Shortly before the Council meeting, a contract was signed to begin a detailed design study for the very challenging M4 adaptive mirror of the telescope. This is one of the longest lead-time items in the whole E-ELT program and an early start was essential.

Detailed design work for the route of the road to the summit of Cerro Armazones, where the E-ELT will be sited, is also in progress and some of the civil works are expected to begin this year. These include preparation of the access road to the summit of Cerro Armazones as well as the levelling of the summit itself.

"The E-ELT will keep ESO in a leading position for decades to come and lead to an extraordinary harvest of exciting science," concluded Council President Xavier Barcons.

With the start of operations planned for early in the next decade, the E-ELT will address many of the most pressing unsolved questions in astronomy. It may, eventually, revolutionize our perception of the Universe, much as Galileo's telescope did 400 years ago.

Astronomy is experiencing a golden era. The past decade alone has brought amazing discoveries that have excited people from all walks of life, from the first planets orbiting other stars to the accelerating Universe, dominated by the still-enigmatic dark matter and dark energy.

Europe is at the forefront of all areas of contemporary astronomy, thanks in particular to the flagship ground-based facilities operated by ESO, the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organization in astronomy, which is supported by 151 Member States.

The challenge is to consolidate and strengthen this position for the future. This will be achieved with a revolutionary new ground-based telescope concept, the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The majestic 40-meter-class telescope will be the world's biggest eye on the sky.

The telescope has an innovative five-mirror design that includes advanced adaptive optics to correct for the turbulent atmosphere, giving exceptional image quality. The main mirror will consist of almost 800 hexagonal segments, each 1.4 meters across. The gain is substantial -- the E-ELT will gather 15 times more light than the largest optical telescopes operating today. To take advantage of this unique science machine, sites in the northern and southern hemispheres have been carefully analysed, with the final decision settling on Cerro Armazones in the Atacama Desert, Chile.

The E-ELT will be a valuable tool in the quest for exoplanets, that is, planets orbiting other stars. This will include not only the discovery of planets down to Earth-like masses using indirect measurements of the wobbling motion of stars perturbed by the planets that orbit them, but also the direct imaging of larger planets and possibly even the characterisation of their atmospheres.

Furthermore, the E-ELT's suite of instruments will allow astronomers to probe the earliest stages of the formation of planetary systems and to detect water and organic molecules in protoplanetary discs around stars in the making. Thus, the E-ELT will answer fundamental questions regarding planet formation and evolution and bring us one step closer to answering the question: Are we alone? 

By probing the most distant objects the E-ELT will provide clues to understanding the formation of and relationship between the first stars, galaxies, and black holes. The E-ELT will also search for possible variations in the fundamental physical constants with time. An unambiguous

detection of such variations would have far-reaching consequences for our comprehension of the general laws of physics.

ESO has built up considerable expertise in planning, constructing, and operating large astronomical telescopes at remote sites. Today, ESO's Very Large Telescope is the world's most advanced ground-based optical telescope and has enabled many scientific breakthroughs.

ESO's expertise forms the backbone of the efforts to develop an Extremely Large Telescope for Europe's astronomers. The basic reference design was completed at the end of 2006. The final design of this facility, a study costing 67 million euros, was completed in 2011, with the aim of having the E-ELT observatory starting operation early in the next decade. In addition to these design activities, more than 30 European scientific institutions and high-tech companies are studying the technological aspects of large telescopes, partially funded by the European Commission. The E-ELT is a high technology, highly prestigious science-driven project that incorporates many innovative developments, offering numerous possibilities for technology spin-off and transfer, together with lucrative technology contract opportunities and it provides a dramatic showcase for European industry.

European leadership of this major flagship project will indisputably raise the European scientific, technological, and industrial profile.

The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organization in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. 

ESO carries out an ambitious program focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organizing cooperation in astronomical research. 

ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal, and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. When completed in the next decade, ESO's Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope will become the world's biggest eye on the sky.