Where is the largest telescope in the world?

Far from the bustle and fires of civilization, in desolate deserts and on the tops of mountains stand majestic titans, whose gaze is always directed at the starry sky. Some are already tens of years, and others only have to see their first stars. Today we will find out where are the 10 largest telescopes in the world, and we will get acquainted with each of them separately.

10. Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)

The telescope is at the top of the Chilean mountain of Sero-Pacon at an altitude of 2,682 m above sea level. By type, it refers to optical reflectors. The diameter of the main mirror is 8.4 m. The first light (the term meaning the first use of the telescope for its intended purpose) will be seen by LSST in 2020. And the device will fully work since 2022. Despite the fact that the telescope is located outside the United States, its construction is financed by Americans. One of them was Bill Gates, who invested $ 10 million. In total, the project will cost 400 million.

The main task of the telescope is to photograph the night sky with a frequency of several nights. For this, the device has a 3.2 gigapixel camera. LSST has a large viewing angle of 3.5 degrees. The moon and the sun, for example, in the form in which they can be viewed from the Earth, occupy only half a degree. Such wide opportunities are due to the impressive diameter of the telescope and its unique design. The fact is that instead of two familiar mirrors, three are used. This is not the largest telescope in the world, but it can become one of the most productive.

The scientific goals of the project: the search for traces of dark matter; Mapping the Milky Way; Detection of explosions of new and supernovae; Tracking of small objects of the solar system (asteroids and comets), in particular those that are in close proximity to the Earth.

9. The large South African telescope (SALT)

This device is also an optical reflector. He is in the South African Republic, on top of a hill, in a semi-desert area near the settlement of Suterland. The height of the telescope is 1798 m. The diameter of the main mirror is 11 / 9.8 m.

This is not the largest telescope in the world, but the largest in the southern hemisphere. Construction of the device cost $ 36 million. One third of them was allocated by the government of South Africa. The balance was distributed between Germany, Great Britain, Poland, America and New Zealand.

The first image of the SALT installation took place in 2005, almost immediately after the completion of the construction work. As for optical telescopes, its design is quite unusual. However, it was widely used among the newest representatives of large telescopes. The main mirror consists of 91 hexagonal elements, each of which has a diameter of 1 meter. To achieve certain goals and improve visibility, all mirrors can be adjusted by angle.

SALT is designed for spectrometric and visual analysis of radiation emanating from astronomical objects that are out of sight of telescopes located in the northern hemisphere. Employees of the telescope observe quasars, distant and close galaxies, and also track the evolution of stars.

A similar telescope is also in America - Hobby-Eberly Telescope. It is located in the suburbs of Texas and almost completely coincides in design with the installation of SALT.

8. Keck I and II

Two Keck telescopes are connected to a system that creates a single image. They are located in Hawaii on Mount Mauna Kea. The altitude above sea level is 4145 m. By type, telescopes also belong to optical reflectors.

Observatory Keck is located in one of the most favorable (from the point of view of the astroclimate) places on Earth. This means that the interference of the atmosphere in the observations here is minimal. Therefore, the observatory Keck has become one of the most effective in history. And this is despite the fact that the largest telescope in the world is not located here.

The main mirrors of Keck telescopes are completely identical to each other. They, like the telescope SALT, consist of a set of moving elements. Here they are 36 for each of the vehicles. The shape of the mirror is a hexagon. The observatory can observe the sky in the optical and in the infrared range. Keck conducts a wide range of basic research. In addition, it is today considered to be one of the most effective terrestrial telescopes to search for exoplanets.

7. The Large Canarian Telescope (GTC)

We continue to answer the question of where is the largest telescope in the world. This time, curiosity brought us to Spain, the Canary Islands, or rather on the island of La Palma, where the GTC telescope is located. The height of the structure above sea level is 2267 m. The diameter of the main mirror is 10.4 m. It is also an optical reflector. The construction of the telescope was completed in 2009. The opening was visited by Juan Carlos I - King of Spain. The project cost 130 million euros. 90% of the amount allocated by the Government of Spain. The remaining 10% were equally divided between Mexico and the University of Florida.

The telescope can observe the starry sky in the optical and in the middle infrared range. With the tools of Osiris and CanariCam, he can conduct polarimetric, spectrometric and coronographic studies of space objects.

6. Observatory "Arecibo"

Unlike the previous ones, this observatory is a radio reflector. The diameter of the main mirror is (attention!) 304.8 meters. It is a miracle of technology in Puerto Rico at an altitude of 497 m above sea level. And this is not the biggest telescope in the world. The name of the leader you will find out below.

A giant telescope has not once hit the lens of a movie camera. Do you remember the final fight between James Bond and his opponent in the movie "Golden Eye"? So it was here. The telescope was captured in the science fiction film Carl Sagan's "Contact" and many other films. The radio telescope also appeared in video games. In particular, in the Rogue Transmission card, Battlefield 4 toys. A clash between the military takes place around a design that completely mimics Arecibo.

For a long time it was thought that Arecibo is the largest telescope in the world. For sure, every second inhabitant of the Earth probably saw this giant's photo. It looks rather unusual: a plate of enormous size, placed in a natural karst funnel, covered with aluminum and surrounded by dense jungle. Above the plate hung a mobile irradiator, which is supported by 18 cables. They, in turn, are fastened on three tall towers, set at the edges of the plate. Due to such dimensions, Arecibo can catch a wide range (wavelength - from 3 cm to 1 m) of electromagnetic radiation.

The radio telescope was commissioned in the 1960s. He appeared in a huge number of studies, one of which was awarded the Nobel Prize. In the late 90's, the observatory became one of the key tools of the project to search for extraterrestrial life.

5. Large Massif in the Atacama Desert (ALMA)

It's time to consider the most expensive of the existing ground-based telescopes. It is a radiointerferometer located in the Atacama Desert (Chile) at an altitude of 5058 m above sea level. The interferometer consists of 66 radio telescopes, which have a diameter of 12 or 7 meters. The project cost $ 1.4 billion. It was financed by America, Japan, Canada, Taiwan, Europe and Chile.

ALMA is designed for the study of millimeter and submillimeter waves. For an apparatus of this kind, the alpine dry climate is most favorable. Telescopes were brought into place gradually. The first radio antenna was launched in 2008, and the latter - in 2013. The main scientific goal of the interferometer is the study of the evolution of the cosmos, in particular, the birth and development of stars.

4. The giant Magellan telescope (GMT)

Closer to the southwest, in the same desert as ALMA, at an altitude of 2516 m above sea level, a GMT telescope with a diameter of 25.4 m is being built. In terms of type, it refers to optical reflectors. This is a joint project of America and Australia.

The main mirror will include one central and six curved segments surrounding it. In addition to the reflector, the telescope is equipped with adaptive optics of a new class, which allows to achieve a minimum level of atmospheric distortion. As a result, the images will be 10 times more accurate than with the Hubble Space Telescope.

Scientific goals of GMT: search for exoplanets; The study of stellar, galactic and planetary evolution; The study of black holes and much more. The construction of the telescope should be completed by 2020.

Thirty Meter Telescope ( TMT). This project is similar in its parameters and objectives to the telescopes GMT and Keck. He will be on the Hawaiian mountain Mauna Kea, at an altitude of 4050 meters above sea level. The diameter of the main mirror of the telescope is 30 meters. In the optical reflector TMT a mirror is used, divided into a number of hexagonal parts. Only in comparison with Keck the dimensions of the device are three times larger. The construction of the telescope has not yet begun because of problems with the local administration. The fact is that Mount Mauna Kea is sacred to native Hawaiians. The cost of the project is 1.3 billion dollars. In the investment will mainly involve India and China.

3. 50-meter spherical telescope (FAST)

Here it is, the largest telescope in the world. September 25, 2016 in China was launched by the observatory (FAST), created to explore the cosmos and search for signs of intelligent life. The diameter of the device is as much as 500 meters, so it received the status of "The world's largest telescope." China began construction of the observatory in 2011. The project cost the country $ 180 million. Local authorities even promised that they would relocate about 10,000 people who live in a 5-kilometer zone near the telescope to create ideal conditions for monitoring.

Thus, Arecibo is no longer the largest telescope in the world. China took this title from Puerto Rico.

2. Square Kilometer Array (SKA)

If the project of this radiointerferometer is successfully completed, then the observatory SKA will be 50 times larger than the largest of existing radio telescopes. With its antennas, it will cover an area of about 1 square kilometer. The structure resembles the ALMA telescope, but it considerably exceeds the Chilean installation in size. To date, there are two options for the development of events: the construction of 30 telescopes with antennas at 200 m or the erection of 150-meter 90-meter telescopes. In any case, according to the idea of scientists, the observatory will have a length of 3000 km.

SKA will be located immediately on the territory of two states - South Africa and Australia. The cost of the project is about $ 2 billion. The amount is divided between 10 countries. By 2020, the completion of the project is planned.

1. Extremely large European telescope (E-ELT)

In 2025, an optical telescope will be launched at full capacity, which will exceed the dimensions of TMT by as much as 10 meters and will be located in Chile on the top of the Cerro Armazones mountain, at an altitude of 3,060 meters. It will be the largest optical telescope in the world.

Its main practically 40-meter mirror will include almost 800 moving parts, each one and a half meters in diameter. Thanks to such dimensions and modern adaptive optics, the E-ELT will be able to find planets like the Earth and study the composition of their atmosphere.

The largest mirror telescope in the world will also study the formation of planets and other fundamental questions. The price of the project is about 1 billion euros.

The largest space telescope in the world

Space telescopes do not need such dimensions, as terrestrial, because due to the absence of the influence of the atmosphere they can show excellent results. Therefore, in this case it is more correct to say "the most powerful" and not the "largest" telescope in the world. "Hubble" - a space telescope, famous throughout the world. Its diameter is almost two and a half meters. At the same time, the resolving power of the device is ten times greater than if it were on Earth.

To replace the "Hubble" in 2018 will come a more powerful telescope, "James Webb." Its diameter is 6.5 m, and the mirror will consist of several parts. To be located, according to the idea of the creators, "James Webb" will be at the Lagrange point L2, in the constant shadow of the Earth.

Conclusion

Today we met with a dozen of the most large-scale telescopes in the world. Now you know how gigantic and high-tech can be the designs that provide space exploration, and how much money is spent on building these telescopes.