Deep in the Chilean desert, the tip of a 3,000m-high mountain was blasted off on Thursday to create the site for a telescope set to be the world’s largest and that could bring science closer to the answer of whether there is life elsewhere in the universe.
The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is designed around a primary mirror 39m in diameter that is expected to gather about 15 times more light than the largest functioning optical telescopes.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2024.
Photo: AFP
It is to be so powerful that it should be able to detect gases in the atmospheres of certain kinds of planets outside our solar system, and even biomarker molecules, an indicator of a biological process.
Such signs — if indeed they exist — could offer humanity the opportunity to detect the presence of extraterrestrial life.
Its operator, the European Southern Observatory (ECHO), says the telescope should also be able to find more extrasolar Earth-like rocky planets, building on discoveries made by the Kepler space observatory and others in recent years.
It may also provide researchers with important pieces in the cosmology jigsaw puzzle, from probing the fundamental laws of physics and dark energy to looking more closely at interactions around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
“The E-ELT will no doubt produce discoveries that we simply can’t imagine today, and it will surely inspire numerous people around the world to think about science, technology and our place in the universe,” ECHO director-general Tim de Zeeuw said at a ceremony to celebrate the blasting.
The Cerro Amazones peak was due to lose an estimated 30m of height after the blasting, as engineers created a plateau for the observatory to be built upon.
It is in Chile’s Atacama Desert, the driest in the world, where cloudless skies provide ideal observing conditions. Many of the world’s top telescopes are in the area, including the ALMA array, which had its final antennae delivered this week.
The ECHO has previously said the cost of the E-ELT would be just over 1 billion euros (US$1.36 billion), funded by its 14 member states.
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