ELT Foundation Work Started on Cerro Armazones

This image from early 2018 shows the start of the digging of the foundations for the dome and telescope structure of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) on Cerro Armazones — at an altitude of over 3000 metres in the Chilean Atacama Desert. The work is being carried out by the ACe Consortium, consisting of Astaldi and Cimolai. These dramatic pictures were taken using a drone by ESO photo ambassador Gerhard Hüdepohl to mark this event, gazing down upon Cerro Armazones.