The construction of the European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope (ESO's ELT) has reached an important milestone with the delivery to ESO and shipment to Chile of the first 18 segments of the telescope’s main mirror (M1). Once they arrive in Chile, the segments will be transported to the ELT Technical Facility, at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in the country’s Atacama Desert, where they will be coated in preparation for their future installation on the telescope main structure. Unable to be physically made in one piece, M1 will consist of 798 individual segments arranged in a large hexagonal pattern, with an additional 133 being produced to facilitate the recoating of segments. With a diameter of more than 39 metres, it will be the largest telescope mirror in the world.
The release, images and videos are available on:
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2319/
Kind regards,
The ESO Department of Communication
18 December 2023
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Rebecca Forsberg
Pamela Freeman
15 December 2023: With nearly 20 telescopes currently in operation, ESO’s observatories play a key role in the exploration of the Universe. Located in the remote Atacama Desert of Chile, the observatories have ...
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