The European Southern Observatory (ESO) plans to build an extremely massive telescope in the next decade that will be able to image the disks of planets outside the solar system and isolate stars from galaxies beyond our local group
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) plans to build an extremely massive telescope in the next decade. This is the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). It is a telescope with a diameter of 42 meters, which will weigh 5,000 tons and will consist of 984 separate mirrors. It will be able to image the disks of extrasolar planets and isolate stars from galaxies beyond our local group.
By 2018, ESO hopes to be able to use this huge telescope to look so deep into the universe that they can actually see the universe expanding.
The E-ELT is planned to be indeed perfect around 2018. When built it will be 4 times larger than any other instrument looking at the sky in the visible light range, and 100 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, despite being a ground-based telescope.
Using the advanced corrective optics system, the E-ELT will be able to use fewer stars to analyze the flicker caused by atmospheric motions. The computer systems will move the separate panels of the 984 mirrors up to a thousand times per second to eliminate the blurring effect in real time. The result will be a sharp image almost as sharp as the one that would have been obtained if the telescope had been in space.
A combination of advanced technologies and enormous size means that the E-ELT will not only be able to detect the presence of planets around other suns but even start photographing them. It can even take a direct shot of super-Earths and larger ones within 15-30 light years from Earth, and there are about 400 stars within that range, some of which must surely be planets.
The E-ELT will also be able to isolate stars in distant galaxies and thus we can better understand the history of such galaxies. The method of using the chemical composition, age and mass of the stars to reveal the history of the galaxy is called "galactic archaeology" and instruments such as the E-ELT could lead to such studies.
Amazingly, by measuring the redshift of distant galaxies over many years with a sensitive telescope like the E-ELT it will be possible to detect a gradual change in the Doppler shift. In this way the E-ELT will allow humanity to directly observe the expansion of the universe itself.
ESO has already spent millions on developing the E-ELT concept. If it is completed as planned, its cost will reach about one billion euros. The technology required to realize the E-ELT is being developed these days all over the world - in fact it creates new technologies, jobs and industry as it develops. Closing the space of the telescope itself represents a huge engineering problem - how to build something the size of a modern sports stadium at a high altitude in a place where roads do not reach? And how it will be possible to smoothly rotate 5,000 tons of metal and glass during operation, as well as find a way to mass-produce over 1,200 hexagonal mirrors with a diameter of 1.4 meters (of course, you also want to build spare parts so as not to jam the telescope in case a mirror or several mirrors break) .
The E-ELT will have the ability to change our knowledge not only of the universe but also of telescopes and the technology to build them. It will be a huge leap in telescope engineering and for European astronomy it will be a 42 meter diameter diamond in their crown.
7 תגובות
lion,
The truth is that it also makes sense: these are actions that, to an observer from outside the earth, represent its inhabitants, i.e. humanity. It doesn't matter who in the blue ball performed this or that action of the type you mentioned. That is why it is appropriate that there should be cooperation across all borders between people on the globe.
Projects of this magnitude should be international like the space station.
So should the next super accelerators, a manned journey to Mars, the space elevator and more.
By a global union of scientists and resources it will be possible to implement these amazing projects in a shorter schedule.
4- There are already telescopes that try to do this, although it improves the quality of the image nothing can beat an image taken in space.
In any case, the telescope will only be completed in 2018, so there is nothing to discuss about it...
To 3
They just explained in the article that the technology of the planned telescope will be such that it will avoid the need to place it in space since frequent mirror repairs will be carried out:
"The computer systems will move the separate panels of the 984 mirrors up to a thousand times per second to eliminate the blurring effect in real time. The result will be an image almost as sharp as the one that would have been obtained if the telescope was in space."
1- Hubble has a mirror of 2.5 meters and you see much better than telescopes on the ground with a mirror of more than 10 meters, telescopes in space will always be better and more efficient no matter what. And I'm sure the James Webb telescope will be excellent.
And what about the USA? NASA is the most advanced space agency in the world, whether you want to admit it or not.
What does it matter that the US has or doesn't have one????
A. They cooperate.
B. The more the person overcomes the urge to have more, the better.
third. If they decide to invest 2 billion they will have it.
d. If the Union invests 3 billion, it will have even more
E = c.
and = d.
G. You get the idea.
H. I will summarize: SO F***ING WHAT?
What is certain is that the USA has no such thing, this time it is taking NASA by storm. The James Webb Space Telescope will not reach the level of this either and in addition the construction of this telescope will launch the industry forward.