They call it the Planet Machine. Weighing 1,000 tons and standing as tall as an 18-storey building, the world's biggest optical telescope is designed to see where no-one has seen before. It has been a gleam in the eye of astronomers for nearly a decade and now they are on the verge of seeing the birth of their brainchild - a telescope that for the first time will enable us to watch other Earth-like planets orbit distant suns.The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be four times bigger than the biggest existing telescope and 10 times more powerful than the hugely successful Hubble Space Telescope.It will use computer optics to eliminate atmospheric interference so that from its mountaintop perch in the bone-dry Atacama desert of Chile it will see further than any terrestrial telescope into the depths of time and space.In addition to seeing "exoplanets" beyond our Solar System, the telescope could quite literally shed light on some of the biggest mysteries of the universe, from the origins of creation to what might happen if time itself comes to an end.

The Australian National University announced this week that it is the latest partner to sign up to the consortium of nine institutions dedicated to building the GMT at a total estimated cost of £310m.The largely American consortium is being led by the Carnegie Institution of Washington which built one of the first large telescopes at the beginning of the 20th century that led the great American astronomer Edwin Hubble to discover that the universe was expanding.

View: Full Article | Source: The Independent

wow...

can't wait to see the pictures..

Last I heard they were going to place such telescope in Earth's orbit. But I guess its too heavy to lift up smth like 1t...

I agree.
The HST (Hubble) has some excelent pictures.

Wow that's great man. Hopefully we see a alien-sat orbiting a planet.

Would they be able to observe something moving like a meteor?????

absolutely beautiful <3

this is music to my eyes!

When Hubble was designed their were huge advantages in placing optical telescopes in space. The movement of the air in Earth's atmosphere degrades the quality of images which can be taken from the ground. The reason Hubble's images are so sharpe is because it orbits above the atmosphere.

But technology has moved on. Computers are first enough now to allow what is known as adaptive optics. Either by flexing the secondary mirror or by placing extra, movable, mirrors in the system the telescopes can compensate for the earths atmosphere allowing for images which rival or surpass those of Hubble.

Hubble's replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, will not operate in the optical region of the spectrum but will instead be a near infra-red instrument. These wavelengths are absorbed by the atmosphere.




The telescope will only be able to observe meteors if they pass through it's field of view. Even during a meteor shower, when the rough direcion that meteors appear from can be predicted, a meteor will appear in a random place in the sky, hence it is not possible an advance to know exactly where to point the telescope. Even if you could predict where a meteor wouls appear moving 1000 tonnes of machine quickly enough to track it would be difficult and dangerous.

It is possible to use telescopes to observe slower moving objects such as satellites. I have seen some amazing pictures of the ISS and the shuttle taken by amateurs. Whether this telescope would be capable of doing this I don't know, but as observing time is so limited I doubt that it would be used for something that could be done better by specialist instruments.



The GMT is one of a number of currently proposed huge optical telescopes. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has plans for a 100m behmoth called the OverWhelmingly Large Telescope (OWL).

Links:

The Giant Magellan Telescope
OverWhelmingly Large Telescope

This is so cool!

So if they are going to be able to see planets in other galaxies would they be able to see whats on some of these planets.

I dont see why not atleast the planets in the closer galaxies.

They won't be able to see planets around other galaxies, just planets around fairly near by stars. They won't be able to see any detail on these planets, they will appear as little more than points of light, but at the moment no telescope can see even that.

"10 times more powerful than the hugely successful Hubble Space Telescope!"

I need to see this thing in action, i adore astronomy, so peaceful.