Sense of size...

[emadmoussa]

In few years we will have E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope) up and running on top of Cerro Amazones in the Atacama desert, Chile. Will be the largest telescope in the human history.

Just to have a feel of the size in images...

[faulksy]

very nice and very big, one of the mirrors on the floor would do me. thanks for posting emad

[hoops86]

Wow thats impressive!

[Tinker1947]

Will it use a "Telrad"

[mitchelln]

Blimey, and I thought collimating my scope was fiddly

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Thanks for posting that, does give a better idea of the scale. Will Lady Liberty be employed to push it around on it's mount?

[emadmoussa]

Thanks for posting that, does give a better idea of the scale. Will Lady Liberty be employed to push it around on it's mount?

I think Lady Liberty will have bigger problems at hand...very old fashioned values for example

[Naemeth]

It won't be the largest scope ever made, in a few years someone will get an even more serious case of aperture fever and we'll get an even larger scope .

[emadmoussa]

It won't be the largest scope ever made, in a few years someone will get an even more serious case of aperture fever and we'll get an even larger scope .

So far, it is...

[Andy_E]

Great image, thanks for sharing. The name might not be imaginative but certainly appropriate!

[LukeSkywatcher]

That's only the secondary mirror laid out. 

LOL

[emadmoussa]

Great image, thanks for sharing. The name might not be imaginative but certainly appropriate!

This is exactly what I was thinking...unimaginable telescope with silly name!!

[Naemeth]

So far, it is...

Soon enough there will be a 50m scope, watch this space .

[emadmoussa]

Soon enough there will be a 50m scope, watch this space .

Sure there will be..50 years ago the Palomar 200" reflector was the largest in the world...it's dwarfed now in comparison with  the latest observatories in Chile and Hawaii.

[themos]

Once they're done with it, can I point it at the Sun?

[emadmoussa]

Once they're done with it, can I point it at the Sun?

Same as any other telescope it comes with a big label ''Don't look directly at the sun"...

[Pig]

I wouldn't want to be the one that fits the dew shield

[emadmoussa]

I wouldn't want to be the one that fits the dew shield

You'd rather do the strap?

[Pig]

It will be much better with the strap

[LukeSkywatcher]

Would you need to barlow that scope or not?

[Gumph242]

I know it is funded by the eso, hence the E at the start of the name, but it being based in chile is going to confuse people. Should give dara o'brien some joke fodder though!

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[Naemeth]

I know it is funded by the eso, hence the E at the start of the name, but it being based in chile is going to confuse people. Should give dara o'brien some joke fodder though!

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Best place to put it though. It never rains in some parts of the Atacama, and is almost never cloudy.

[emadmoussa]

That position...last year 335 days of clear skies.

[robbie c]

That position...last year 335 days of clear skies.

Yeah but you know the cloud gods are going to get their revenge when its up and running 

[Gumph242]

Best place to put it though. It never rains in some parts of the Atacama, and is almost never cloudy.

I know why it is based in chile, it is just the name that is poorly chosen, just think of the poor people who will work there though:

Layman: hi my name is bob, where do you work?

Astro boy: at the e-elt

L: what's that?

A: the european extremely large telescope

L: oh, is that in paris or berlin or somewhere near there?

A: no, chile

L: chile!!! Why the foosh is it called european then??

A: well, its like this...

And then our hapless astro boy has to spend the next 10 minutes explaining the situ. 10 minutes he could have better spent gazing up through this sweet beasty.

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