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The construction of the largest optical telescope in the world the very large telescope (ELT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), has already begun and it is expected that, when & # 039; It will work, it will capture more light than 200 space telescopes such as Hubble.
This is a telescope designed to acquire the first images in 2024. The work began in the Chilean Andes, in the Atacama Desert, which houses the most powerful eyes turned to the sky. ESO said today that it is not easy to find a suitable place for such a structure. In addition to the dry conditions and lack of air pollution at high altitude, necessary for the success of astronomical observations, it also required considerable space to expand the bases.
When the ELT telescope is ready, it will weigh 3 tons, a dome 90 meters in diameter, the height of a 30-storey building and has a broad base resembling a football field . Thus began the era of new generation giant telescopes, which promise to revolutionize the understanding of the universe. The ELT will have a mirror of 39.3 meters in diameter, compared to 8.3 meters of the four telescopes that constitute another giant of astronomy: the very large telescope (VLT), still in the Atacama desert and still managed by ESO.
Since it is impossible to build a mirror 39 meters in diameter, the main mirror of the ELT will consist of a complex honeycomb structure of 798 mirrors hexagonal 1.4 meters perfectly fit one to the other. One of his main tasks will be to search for possible duplicates of the earth and to badyze the atmosphere in search of the elements of life.
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