The Extremely Large Telescope. ESO/Cimolai
Looking almost like an optical illusion, this week’s Picture of the Week shows why the European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) truly lives up to its name.
The photo was taken inside the telescope’s dome, where members of the ELT team stand above the huge structure that will support its main mirror. The mirror will be 39 metres across and made up of 798 individual segments working together as one, making it the largest optical telescope on Earth.
The image was captured during a major construction milestone. For the first time, the telescope’s structure was rotated around its vertical axis. Engineers from ESO and the Ace/Cimolai construction team first moved it by hand a few centimetres before completing a full rotation using auxiliary motors.
Although the movement seems simple, the structure already weighs about 3,500 tonnes and will eventually reach around 4,600 tonnes once the mirrors and scientific instruments are installed. It rotates on a layer of oil only 80 microns thick, allowing it to move smoothly. Testing this system is essential to ensure the telescope can point anywhere in the southern sky.
“For me, this is a beautiful reminder of what can be achieved when people push in the same direction, literally and figuratively,” said Roberto Tamai, ESO‘s ELT Programme Manager, who appears on the right of the photo. Marco Sciarra, Executive President of Cimolai, stands in the centre, while Pascal Martinez, ESO Project Manager for the Dome and Main Structure, is on the left.
Expected to see its first light later this decade, the ELT is set to transform astronomy. As the world’s biggest eye on the sky, its enormous mirror and advanced instruments will help scientists explore the Universe in greater detail than ever before.
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