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World's largest optical telescope to see first light
A huge new observatory, called the Great Canary Telescope, is set to open its eye to the sky on Friday.
With a main mirror 10.4 metres across, it will effectively be the largest telescope for visible and infrared light in the world.
The next largest are the twin Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, US, which have main mirrors 10 metres across.
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope near Fort Davis, Texas, US, and South African Large Telescope (SALT) near Sutherland, South Africa both have main mirrors 11.1 by 9.8 metres across, but because of the way they are constructed, only a patch 9.2 metres across can be used at any given time for observations.
The Great Canary Telescope (GCT) cost $180 million to construct. Most of the money for GCT comes from the Spanish government, with additional funds from Mexico and the University of Florida, US.
The new telescope is set to begin test observations on Friday, with science observations intended to begin in about a year.
The observatory sits atop a mountain on the island of La Palma, part of the Canary Islands. It will make use of adaptive optics, in which shape-changing mirrors compensate for the distortion of light by the atmosphere.
The GCT's large light-gathering area will allow it to excel at studying faint objects, such as infant galaxies in the early universe. It will also study planets around other stars and black holes.
Canary Islands (AP) - The Great Canary Telescope, one of the world's largest and most powerful, opened its shutters, turned its vast 34-foot-wide mirror toward the skies and captured its first light at a mountaintop on one of Spain's Canary Islands on Saturday.
The $179 million telescope, designed to take advantage of pristine, clear skies at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory atop the Atlantic island of La Palma, should be fully operational by May 2008.
At 1 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EDT) on a crystal-clear night, Spain's Crown Prince Felipe keyed in the computer codes which brought the observatory's complex machinery to life.
"The observatory is located above the clouds at 7,870 feet above sea level, where, thanks to prevailing winds, the atmosphere is very stable and transparent," the Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute said in a statement.
Slowly, 12 of the telescope's eventual 36 mirrors aimed at a binary _ or twin _ star close to the Earth's northern axis, near the North Star. Twelve images merged into one as the telescope focused.
Among those in La Palma for the opening was Brian May, lead guitarist of pop group Queen, who studied part of his doctorate in astrophysics at the Canary Island institute.
May, who recently published "BANG! The Complete History of the Universe" with astronomers Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, said he was adding the finishing touches to a musical score which will be played at the telescope's inauguration next summer.
"The GTC will be able to reach the weakest and most distant celestial objects of the universe," the institute said.
Planning for the GTC began as long ago as 1987, when the nearby William Herschel telescope with a 14-foot-diameter mirror became operational. Construction work took seven years and involved more than 1,000 people from nearly 100 companies.
"With this (telescope) it will possible to capture the birth of new stars, to study more profoundly the characteristics of black holes or to decipher the chemical components generated by the Big Bang," the institute said.
Large reflecting telescopes entered a new era in Jan. 1949 when Edwin Hubble began capturing photographic exposures of space with the then massive 200-inch mirror at Mount Palomar Observatory, in north San Diego County, California.
The GCT is among the world's largest telescopes like the newly opened Southern African Large Telescope _ Salt _ which has a 36-foot mirror and has been described the southern hemisphere's largest single optical telescope and the Hobby-Eberly telescope on Mount Fowlkes, Texas, which also has an 36-foot mirror.
The Canary institute is considered one of the world's centers of excellence in astrophysics owing to the special geographical situation of the islands, off the northwest coast of Africa, which offers unusually transparent skies.
The cost of building the GTC was borne by Spain's Education and Science Ministry, the regional government of the Canary Islands and several overseas partners, including astronomical institutes in Mexico and the University of Florida.
With a main mirror 10.4 metres across, it will effectively be the largest telescope for visible and infrared light in the world.
The next largest are the twin Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, US, which have main mirrors 10 metres across.
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope near Fort Davis, Texas, US, and South African Large Telescope (SALT) near Sutherland, South Africa both have main mirrors 11.1 by 9.8 metres across, but because of the way they are constructed, only a patch 9.2 metres across can be used at any given time for observations.
The Great Canary Telescope (GCT) cost $180 million to construct. Most of the money for GCT comes from the Spanish government, with additional funds from Mexico and the University of Florida, US.
The new telescope is set to begin test observations on Friday, with science observations intended to begin in about a year.
The observatory sits atop a mountain on the island of La Palma, part of the Canary Islands. It will make use of adaptive optics, in which shape-changing mirrors compensate for the distortion of light by the atmosphere.
The GCT's large light-gathering area will allow it to excel at studying faint objects, such as infant galaxies in the early universe. It will also study planets around other stars and black holes.
Canary Islands (AP) - The Great Canary Telescope, one of the world's largest and most powerful, opened its shutters, turned its vast 34-foot-wide mirror toward the skies and captured its first light at a mountaintop on one of Spain's Canary Islands on Saturday.
The $179 million telescope, designed to take advantage of pristine, clear skies at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory atop the Atlantic island of La Palma, should be fully operational by May 2008.
At 1 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EDT) on a crystal-clear night, Spain's Crown Prince Felipe keyed in the computer codes which brought the observatory's complex machinery to life.
"The observatory is located above the clouds at 7,870 feet above sea level, where, thanks to prevailing winds, the atmosphere is very stable and transparent," the Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute said in a statement.
Slowly, 12 of the telescope's eventual 36 mirrors aimed at a binary _ or twin _ star close to the Earth's northern axis, near the North Star. Twelve images merged into one as the telescope focused.
Among those in La Palma for the opening was Brian May, lead guitarist of pop group Queen, who studied part of his doctorate in astrophysics at the Canary Island institute.
May, who recently published "BANG! The Complete History of the Universe" with astronomers Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, said he was adding the finishing touches to a musical score which will be played at the telescope's inauguration next summer.
"The GTC will be able to reach the weakest and most distant celestial objects of the universe," the institute said.
Planning for the GTC began as long ago as 1987, when the nearby William Herschel telescope with a 14-foot-diameter mirror became operational. Construction work took seven years and involved more than 1,000 people from nearly 100 companies.
"With this (telescope) it will possible to capture the birth of new stars, to study more profoundly the characteristics of black holes or to decipher the chemical components generated by the Big Bang," the institute said.
Large reflecting telescopes entered a new era in Jan. 1949 when Edwin Hubble began capturing photographic exposures of space with the then massive 200-inch mirror at Mount Palomar Observatory, in north San Diego County, California.
The GCT is among the world's largest telescopes like the newly opened Southern African Large Telescope _ Salt _ which has a 36-foot mirror and has been described the southern hemisphere's largest single optical telescope and the Hobby-Eberly telescope on Mount Fowlkes, Texas, which also has an 36-foot mirror.
The Canary institute is considered one of the world's centers of excellence in astrophysics owing to the special geographical situation of the islands, off the northwest coast of Africa, which offers unusually transparent skies.
The cost of building the GTC was borne by Spain's Education and Science Ministry, the regional government of the Canary Islands and several overseas partners, including astronomical institutes in Mexico and the University of Florida.
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