Site testing at Cerro Armazones

The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) Programme Office has studied half a dozen potential sites for the future E-ELT observatory, which, with its 40-metre-class diameter, will be the world’s biggest eye on the sky. Various aspects need to be considered in the site selection process. Parameters taken into account are not restricted to “sky quality”, but include more general scientific aspects, as well as parameters essential for construction and operations. The above picture shows the site-testing equipment at Cerro Armazones, the site which was selected by the ESO Council.