World's largest telescope to be built in Hawaii

World's largest telescope to be built in Hawaii

news.yahoo.com

Hawaii was chosen Tuesday as the site for the world's biggest telescope, a device so powerful that it will allow scientists to see some 13 billion light years away and get a glimpse into the early years of the universe.

(visit the link for the full news article)

It will sort of give us the history of the universe

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a904ea7aa8bd.jpg[/atsimg]
Artist rendering above

I think this is great! I have been a big fan of observatories since visiting McDonald's observatory as a child. The dismensions of this telescope are simply stunning.

The telescope's mirror — stretching almost 100 feet in diameter, or nearly the length of a Boeing 737's wingspan

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 22-7-2009 by MysterE]

That's one big mother of a mirror and quite a feat of engineering, mind you, it states in the same article:

But it may not hold the world's largest title for long. A partnership of European countries plans to build the European Extremely Large Telescope, which would have an 138-foot mirror. The group is considering sites in Argentina, Chile, Morocco and Spain. It plans to decide on a location next year and be able to host its first observation in 2018.

Wow!!