The Extremely Large Telescope

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), with a main mirror 39 metres in diameter, will be the world’s biggest eye on the sky when it becomes operational early in the next decade.  The ELT will tackle the biggest scientific challenges of our time, and aim for a number of notable firsts, including tracking down Earth-like planets around other stars in the “habitable zones” where life could exist — one of the Holy Grails of modern observational astronomy.

The telescope design itself is revolutionary and is based on a novel five-mirror scheme that results in exceptional image quality. The primary mirror consists of almost 800 segments, each 1.4 metres wide, but only 50 mm thick.  The optical design calls for an immense secondary mirror 4.2 metres in diameter, bigger than the primary mirrors of any of ESO's telescopes at La Silla.

Adaptive mirrors are incorporated into the optics of the telescope to compensate for the fuzziness in the stellar images introduced by atmospheric turbulence. One of these mirrors is supported by more than 6000 actuators that can distort its shape a thousand times per second.

The telescope will have several science instruments. It will be possible to switch from one instrument to another within minutes. The telescope and dome will also be able to change positions on the sky and start a new observation in a very short time.

The very detailed design for the ELT shown here is preliminary.

Źródło:

ESO

O zdjęciu

Identyfikator:E-ELT_5000_Aug2012
Typ:Wizja artysty
Data publikacji:14 grudnia 2009
Rozmiar:3478 x 3366 px

O obiekcie

Nazwa:3D rendering, Extremely Large Telescope
Typ:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Telescope
Kategoria:ELT

Formaty zdjęć

Pełen rozmiar
10,0 MB
Wielki JPEG
1,9 MB
JPEG do druku
3,2 MB

Powiększenie


Tapety

1024x768
251,8 KB
1280x1024
365,8 KB
1600x1200
526,7 KB
1920x1200
684,9 KB
2048x1536
793,1 KB