3 ms·

Given that we're talking about telescopes under construction, the largest one will be EELT, no?

by jagger11 9y ago

saagarjha 9y ago
You’re talking about the Extremely Large Telescope, right? What’s the first “E” stand for?
- jandrese 9y ago
  European IIRC.
sohkamyung 9y ago
You are right. Based on an image in this article [1], the EELT would be the largest optical telescope, once completed in 2022, two years after the GMT, if the dates are correct. And in the battle for superlatives, the cancelled OLT would have been the largest of them all. [1] https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/worlds-largest-telescope-will-revolutionize-the-future-of-astronomy-d31386b92605 https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/worlds-largest-telesco...
- emanreus 9y ago
  The battle for superlatives. Off topic, but I have to say that's such a beautiful way to put it. Masterful use of words.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  I love the way telescopes are named. Can't wait for the "JFCTABT".
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- welterde 9y ago
  The GMT FAQ [1] has 2023 for a partially complete telescope (3-4 of 7 mirrors) - only the future will tell if there will even be a point of time where the GMT actually is the largest (optical) telescope in the world. And for certain applications the four VLT unit telescopes [2] can already be used as one big telescope [3][4]. Even with 4 mirrors in place the GMT would only have slightly more collection area than the four VLT telescopes combined (8.4m primary mirrors versus 8.2m primary mirrors). [1] http://www.gmto.org/overview/frequently-asked-questions/ http://www.gmto.org/overview/frequently-asked-questions/ [2] https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/ut.html https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/ut.htm... [3] https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vlti.html https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vlti.h... [4] https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/develop/instruments/espresso.html https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/develop/instruments/espre...

Given that we're talking about telescopes under construction, the largest one will be EELT, no?

saagarjha 9y ago

You’re talking about the Extremely Large Telescope, right? What’s the first “E” stand for?

jandrese 9y ago
European IIRC.

sohkamyung 9y ago

You are right. Based on an image in this article [1], the EELT would be the largest optical telescope, once completed in 2022, two years after the GMT, if the dates are correct. And in the battle for superlatives, the cancelled OLT would have been the largest of them all. [1] https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/worlds-largest-telescope-will-revolutionize-the-future-of-astronomy-d31386b92605 https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/worlds-largest-telesco...

emanreus 9y ago
The battle for superlatives. Off topic, but I have to say that's such a beautiful way to put it. Masterful use of words.
ceejayoz 9y ago
I love the way telescopes are named. Can't wait for the "JFCTABT".
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
welterde 9y ago
The GMT FAQ [1] has 2023 for a partially complete telescope (3-4 of 7 mirrors) - only the future will tell if there will even be a point of time where the GMT actually is the largest (optical) telescope in the world. And for certain applications the four VLT unit telescopes [2] can already be used as one big telescope [3][4]. Even with 4 mirrors in place the GMT would only have slightly more collection area than the four VLT telescopes combined (8.4m primary mirrors versus 8.2m primary mirrors). [1] http://www.gmto.org/overview/frequently-asked-questions/ http://www.gmto.org/overview/frequently-asked-questions/ [2] https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/ut.html https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/ut.htm... [3] https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vlti.html https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vlti.h... [4] https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/develop/instruments/espresso.html https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/develop/instruments/espre...