The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, attends the first stone ceremony for the ELT

On 26 May 2017 the first stone ceremony for ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) was attended by the President of the Republic of Chile, Michelle Bachelet Jeria. The ceremony was held at ESO's Paranal Observatory, close to the future home of the giant telescope. This milestone marked the beginning of the construction of the dome and main telescope structure of the world’s biggest optical telescope. The occasion also marked the connection of the observatory to the Chilean national electrical grid.

The President appears here with Tim de Zeeuw, ESO's Director General (left), Roberto Tamai, Programme Manager for the ELT (second from right) and Andreas Kaufer, Director of the La Silla Paranal Observatory (right).