ASTRONOMERS, they say, do it on mountain tops, and it鈥檚 on a 2400-metre peak on La Palma in the Canary Islands where the largest telescope in the world has now been built.
The (GCT) opened its eye to the sky on 13 July. With a main mirror 10.4 metres across, it narrowly beats its closest rivals, the twin Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, which have 10-metre mirrors.
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope near Fort Davis, Texas, and the South African Large Telescope (SALT) near Sutherland, South Africa both have slightly larger main mirrors, measuring 11.1 by 9.8 metres, respectively, but because of the way they are constructed only a patch 9.2 metres across can be used for observations at any given time.
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The GCT is currently under test, and scientific observations are planned to begin around the middle of next year. Its huge light-gathering area means it should excel at studying faint objects, such as infant galaxies in the early universe. It will also study black holes and planets around other stars. To compensate for the distortion of light by the atmosphere, the GCT will make use of shape-changing mirrors.
鈥淭he GCT should excel at studying faint objects, such as galaxies in the early universe鈥�
The telescope cost $180 million to build, most of it coming from the Spanish government, with additional funds from Mexico and the University of Florida.
