Construction of world's largest telescope commences in the middle of Chile's Atacama Desert

Image courtesy: alliance/dpa/European Southern Observatory/L. Calçada

New Delhi: With the goal of delving deeper into the universe in order to understand it better, the construction of the world's largest telescope is now officially underway.

Touted to be some five times larger than the top observing instruments in use today, the construction of the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) began in Chile on Friday.

Located on a 3,000 meter-high mountain in the middle of the Atacama desert, the telescope's main mirror will measure some 39 meters (43 yards) across and is due to begin operations in 2024.

Among other capabilities, it will add to and refine astronomers' burgeoning discoveries of planets orbiting other stars, with the ability to find smaller planets, image larger ones, and possibly characterize their atmospheres, a key step in understanding if life is present. "What is being raised here is more than a telescope. Here we see one of the greatest examples of the possibilities of science," said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in a speech to mark the beginning of construction at the site.

The dry atmosphere of the Atacama provides as near perfect observing conditions as it is possible to find on Earth, with some 70 percent of the world's astronomical infrastructure slated to be located in the region by the 2020s. The ELT is being funded by the European Southern Observatory, an organization consisting of European and southern hemisphere nations. Construction costs were not available but the ESO has said previously that the ELT would cost around 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) at 2012 prices.

(With inputs from Reuters)