Giant telescopes of the near future

The largest present-day astronomical telescopes have mirrors around 8 - 10 metres diameter. You think that's big? It soon won't be. The Gordon and Betty Moore(*) Foundation has just pledged $200 million towards the construction of a Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT), to be built by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology. That may be only a fraction of the total cost, but they're off to a good start. From the TMT press release:

If completed on schedule in 2016, it will be the largest optical(**) telescope in the world. But not for long...

The Europeans are planning an even larger telescope, the E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope), with a primary mirror of 42 metres diameter. If things go smoothly, the E-ELT should be ready for operation around 2017.

These telescopes will be many times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, and will far surpass anything that can be achieved with even the best amateur telescope from Lidl. Still, there is hope. That artist's impression of the E-ELT support structure looks remarkably like a vast Meccano construction. Shouldn't be too difficult to build your own. As for the mirror, that's a doddle. A mirror that size isn't made in one piece, but put together in segments. Just pop down to OBI and grab a set of mirror tiles. Then all you need is a giant Meccano kit. Jeremy, have you made your list for Santa yet?

(*) That's the same Gordon Moore who proposed Moore's law, predicting an exponential increase in computing power with time. I wonder what are his thoughts on telescope power?
(**) optical - i.e. operating at visible wavelengths, as opposed to mm-wavelength or radio telescopes.

Interesting Frau Tea. Won't see that scope in Aldi for a while.

btw one of my future projects wull be a radio telescope for meteors.

I'm buying Windex futures.

Another player in the race to build the world's largest telescope - the Texans are getting in on the act:

George P. Mitchell Leads A&M and UT Partnership for Giant Magellan Telescope

Now here's an intriguing bit:

Nice try to squeeze some funding out of NASA . I wonder, is it just coincidence that this press release was issued on the same day as the story about that German schoolboy who - *ahem* - "showed" there was a fair chance that planet Earth was gonna get whacked by a whopping great asteroid in 2036? OK, turned out he got his sums wrong, but it was too late to stop the story...

The GMT looks like quite a monster. Six individual mirrors each 8.4 metres diameter, arranged around another central mirror. Have a look at the GMT web site if you like that kind of stuff.

And another big telescope set to go into action soon ... but this time out in space.

ESA press release: Herschel spacecraft assembly complete

Herschel will observe light from the Universe at wavelengths never before seen from space, ranging from far-infrared to sub-millimetre (that's between infrared light and radio waves). Its 3.5 metres diameter mirror is considerably larger than Hubble's mirror, and the largest ever to be sent into space.

More about Herschel here. Scroll down a bit for a neat animation showing how the satellite is built up piece by piece.

But why do they go to so much trouble to see the universe in infrared?
Here's a nice, concise, non-geeky explanation: Why infrared astronomy is a hot topic
and more stuff here: Observations: Seeing in infrared wavelengths

According to the Herschel Factsheet page, the launch date has now slipped to late 2008 ... but that's not altogether a bad thing, because meanwhile back on Mother Earth, on a high plateau at an altitude of 5000 metres in the Andes, an international consortium (Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Taiwan) is constructing another big facility, the "Atacama Large Millimetre Array" (ALMA), a huge array of antennas that will collect radiation from the Universe at wavelengths around one millimetre - which overlaps with Herschel's range. That offers the interesting possibility of combining ALMA and Herschel observations - but ALMA won't be ready before 2010, and Herschel is designed to operate for only 3 years or so. So the later the launch, the more overlap with ALMA.

Aw, come on, somebody say something ... or am I really the only one around here who thinks this stuff is cool?

Hi Green Tea!

I'm interested, honest

In fact I've just received my course materials, including a planisphere, for my OU Introducing Astronomy course The book is already partially out of date; as it still has Pluto listed as a "normal" planet!

I also recently got back in contact with a "space friend" via Facebook. He specializes in Asteroid near-infrared spectroscopy (just copied that from his profile!). I also googled a recording of him guesting on The Space Show on US radio. First time I'd heard him speaking English as we used to speak French when I knew him in Paris (he's Moroccan...).

And a German friend (who I met in Wales), who is a solar research specialist in Davos, also joined me on FB but hasn't replied to my messages yet.

I realise this has gone WAY off topic, but at least you know someone appreciates all your detailed postings

Hi Night Owl! Nice to know I'm not alone in the Universe . These huge telescopes are amazing, not just for what they will discover, but also for the engineering achievements. Nothing quite like this has ever been built before. We can't physically go to the stars and galaxies (yet), so this is the nearest thing we have to intergalactic space travel.

I did some observing at Arecibo in Puerto Rico back in 2000. There was a Chinese engineer in the cabin next to mine, and he said he was there to learn more about the telescope, since they were planning on building three 500 m dishes in China (for the uninitiated - radio telescopes are MUCH bigger than optical). The most recent information I can find doing a quick google search was from 2006. Any idea of they're still planning this?

@IPJ: No, sorry, haven't a clue about that. In case anyone's getting the wrong impression, I should perhaps clarify that I'm not involved in building or using these telescopes myself, but I know some people who do, and I find it all fascinating, so I try to keep track of what's going on. I guess you could say I'm an amateur theoretician. And since TT has a section dedicated to "Space", I thought I'd share my scraps of knowledge for anyone else who is into this stuff, and/or who wants to know what their taxpayer's money is being spent on. Enjoy.

Happy (slightly belated) birthday, VLT! The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope is 10 years old. Still a telescope of the future though, as it will continue to evolve over the next decade.

Read all about it: