
Here is the name of one of the latest telescopes and a description of one called the E-ELT which is way bigger:
San Pedro de Atacama. Tucked amidst breathtaking scenery and natural wonders, this picturesque town is home to indigenous Atacameños and adventurous backpackers alike. Not far from San Pedro, ESO’s first dream machine is taking shape.
It’s called ALMA — the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.Close together, the 66 antennas provide a wide-angle view. But spread apart, they reveal much finer detail over a smaller area of sky.
Sporting a mirror almost forty meters across, the E- ELT simply dwarfs every telescope that preceded it. Almost eight hundred computer-controlled mirror segments. Complex optics to provide the sharpest possible images. A dome as tall as a church steeple.
The E-ELT is an exercise in superlatives. But the real wonder, or course, is in the Universe out there. The E-ELT will reveal planets orbiting other stars. Its spectrographs will sniff the atmospheres of these alien worlds, looking for bio-signatures.
What do you think they will find? Possibly galaxies, exoplanets close up or other things? Feel free to comment with your ideas.
