Construction of the world’s biggest telescope – dubbed the ‘European Extremely Large Telescope’ (E-ELT) has been approved.
The telescope, which will be cited atop the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile’s Atacama Desert, will measure approx 40 metres in its main mirror and will be 4 times the size of its nearby predecessor; ‘Very Large Telescope’ (VLT – gotta love those techy names!) whose mirror currently measures in at 8 metres.
The E-ELT will herald the next generation in Astronomy and will be capable of viewing rocky worlds outside our solar system; and the galaxy in the sharpest ever realised detail. Hopefully, this will help answer a few questions about Black Hole’s, Dark Matter, Dark Energy and possible life on other worlds.
We shouldn’t hold our breathes though, as the telescope will not be ready until 2022 and building will not begin until the €1 billion funding is secured (to be split equally in a joint venture between European and North and South American states).
Whether it will answer the question of life on other worlds is unknown, but if they want to save money they should just go have a looksy on Burgh Marsh, they might just see a Spaceman.