Press Release
Towards a European Extremely Large Telescope
ESO sets-up ELT Project Office
18 July 2006
ESO, the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, is taking an important step towards the realisation of a new, giant telescope for Europe's astronomers, by creating the ESO Extremely Large Telescope Project Office. It will be headed by Jason Spyromilio, formerly La Silla Paranal Observatory Director.
"We believe that the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is essential if we are to ensure the continued competitiveness of the astronomical community in ESO's member-states. This goal can be achieved in a timely manner through ESO and the community working closely together, and the establishment of the ELT project office is a significant step in this direction", says Catherine Cesarsky, ESO's Director General.
"In its December 2004 Resolution, ESO's Council requested ESO to launch the construction of an ELT on a competitive timescale", says Jason Spyromilio. "The creation of the ELT Project Office is thus the logical step, following on the large amount of preparatory work on ELTs carried out in Europe, for instance in the framework of the OWL Conceptual Study [1], the EU co-funded ELT Design Study project [2] and more recently by the five ELT thematic working groups established by the Director General."
The ESO ELT Project Office, which is part of the ESO Telescope Systems Division (TSD), will work closely together with experts, from both ESO and the European scientific community, represented in the ELT Science and Engineering Working Group and in a Standing Review Committee established by the ESO Council.
"ESO aims to put the European Extremely Large Telescope on a 'fast-track', within a wide collaboration with its community and with the direct involvement of industry", says Roberto Gilmozzi, head of the ESO TSD and E-ELT Principal Investigator.
A baseline design is to be presented to the ESO Council at the end of 2006. The plan is a telescope with a primary mirror between 30 and 60 metres in diameter and a financial envelope of about 750 m Euros. It aims at more than a factor ten improvement in overall performance compared to the current leader in ground based astronomy: the ESO Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory.
The draft Baseline Reference Design will be presented to the wider scientific community on 29 - 30 November 2006 at a dedicated ELT Workshop Meeting in Marseille (France) and will be further reiterated. The goal is to start the detailed E-ELT design work by the first half of 2007.
Notes
[1]: The OWL Conceptual Study for a 100-m telescope was initiated to explore totally new avenues for telescope construction. The study involved industry and the scientific community in the sense that it prompted the parallel effort - within OPTICON - to develop the ELT science case and also in early discussions regarding ELT instrumentation. The study was concluded by the end of 2005 with a review carried out by an international review panel, paving the way for the next step towards a European ELT. Other ELT studies include the so-called Euro-50 as well as studies mainly in the US.
[2]: The ELT Design Study is a technology development programme conducted by institutes and companies in Europe, Israel and Australia, coordinated by ESO. It is funded in part - about one third - by the European Commission under its Framework Programme 6, the rest being provided by the participating institutions themselves.
Contacts
Roberto Gilmozzi
ESO
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6667
Email: rgilmozz@eso.org
About the Release
| Release No.: | eso0625 |
| Legacy ID: | PR 25/06 |
| Name: | Extremely Large Telescope |
| Type: | Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Telescope |
| Facility: | Extremely Large Telescope |
Images
Our use of Cookies
We use cookies that are essential for accessing our websites and using our services. We also use cookies to analyse, measure and improve our websites’ performance, to enable content sharing via social media and to display media content hosted on third-party platforms.
ESO Cookies Policy
The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy. It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy.
This Cookies Policy is intended to provide clarity by outlining the cookies used on the ESO public websites, their functions, the options you have for controlling them, and the ways you can contact us for additional details.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device by websites you visit. They serve various purposes, such as remembering login credentials and preferences and enhance your browsing experience.
Categories of cookies we use
Essential cookies (always active): These cookies are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our website. Without these cookies, the website cannot operate correctly, and certain services, such as logging in or accessing secure areas, may not be available; because they are essential for the website’s operation, they cannot be disabled.
Functional Cookies: These cookies enhance your browsing experience by enabling additional features and personalization, such as remembering your preferences and settings. While not strictly necessary for the website to function, they improve usability and convenience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent.
Analytics cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors interact with our website, such as which pages are visited most often and how users navigate the site. This data helps us improve website performance, optimize content, and enhance the user experience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent. We use the following analytics cookies.
Matomo Cookies:
This website uses Matomo (formerly Piwik), an open source software which enables the statistical analysis of website visits. Matomo uses cookies (text files) which are saved on your computer and which allow us to analyze how you use our website. The website user information generated by the cookies will only be saved on the servers of our IT Department. We use this information to analyze www.eso.org visits and to prepare reports on website activities. These data will not be disclosed to third parties.
On behalf of ESO, Matomo will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
Matomo cookies settings:
Additional Third-party cookies on ESO websites: some of our pages display content from external providers, e.g. YouTube.
Such third-party services are outside of ESO control and may, at any time, change their terms of service, use of cookies, etc.
YouTube: Some videos on the ESO website are embedded from ESO’s official YouTube channel. We have enabled YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, meaning that no cookies are set unless the user actively clicks on the video to play it. Additionally, in this mode, YouTube does not store any personally identifiable cookie data for embedded video playbacks. For more details, please refer to YouTube’s embedding videos information page.
Cookies can also be classified based on the following elements.
Regarding the domain, there are:
- First-party cookies, set by the website you are currently visiting. They are stored by the same domain that you are browsing and are used to enhance your experience on that site;
- Third-party cookies, set by a domain other than the one you are currently visiting.
As for their duration, cookies can be:
- Browser-session cookies, which are deleted when the user closes the browser;
- Stored cookies, which stay on the user's device for a predetermined period of time.
How to manage cookies
Cookie settings: You can modify your cookie choices for the ESO webpages at any time by clicking on the link Cookie settings at the bottom of any page.
In your browser: If you wish to delete cookies or instruct your browser to delete or block cookies by default, please visit the help pages of your browser:
Please be aware that if you delete or decline cookies, certain functionalities of our website may be not be available and your browsing experience may be affected.
You can set most browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g. profile logging-in, shop check out).
Updates to the ESO Cookies Policy
The ESO Cookies Policy may be subject to future updates, which will be made available on this page.
Additional information
For any queries related to cookies, please contact: pdprATesoDOTorg.
As ESO public webpages are managed by our Department of Communication, your questions will be dealt with the support of the said Department.