Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 21, 2006 15:02:46 GMT -6
European Extremely Large Telescope
ESO, the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, is taking an important step towards the realisation of a new, giant telescope for Europe's astronomers, by creating the ESO Extremely Large Telescope Project Office.
A baseline design is to be presented to the ESO Council at the end of 2006. The plan is a telescope with a primary mirror between 30 and 60 metres in diameter and a financial envelope of about 750 million Euros. It aims at more than a factor ten improvement in overall performance compared to the current leader in ground based astronomy: the ESO Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory.
Source: www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=20403