Huge telescope. The largest telescopes in the world. Parkes Observatory, Australia
The James Webb Telescope is an orbital infrared observatory that should replace the famous Hubble Space Telescope.
This is a very complex mechanism. Work on it has been going on for about 20 years! The James Webb will have a composite mirror 6.5 meters in diameter and cost about $6.8 billion. For comparison, the diameter of the Hubble mirror is “only” 2.4 meters.
Let's see?
1. The James Webb telescope should be placed in a halo orbit at the Lagrange point L2 of the Sun-Earth system. And it's cold in space. Shown here are tests conducted on March 30, 2012, to examine the ability to withstand the cold temperatures of the space. (Photo by Chris Gunn | NASA):
2. The James Webb will have a composite mirror 6.5 meters in diameter with a collecting surface area of 25 m². Is this a lot or a little? (Photo by Chris Gunn):
3. Compare with Hubble. Hubble (left) and Webb (right) mirrors on the same scale:
4. Full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope in Austin, Texas, March 8, 2013. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
5. The telescope project is an international collaboration of 17 countries, led by NASA, with significant contributions from the European and Canadian Space Agencies. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
6. Initially, the launch was planned for 2007, but was later postponed to 2014 and 2015. However, the first segment of the mirror was installed on the telescope only at the end of 2015, and the main composite mirror was not fully assembled until February 2016. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
7. The sensitivity of a telescope and its resolution are directly related to the size of the mirror area that collects light from objects. Scientists and engineers have determined that the minimum diameter of the primary mirror must be 6.5 meters in order to measure light from the most distant galaxies.
Simply making a mirror similar to that of the Hubble telescope, but larger, was unacceptable, since its mass would be too large to launch the telescope into space. The team of scientists and engineers needed to find a solution so that the new mirror would have 1/10 the mass of the Hubble telescope mirror per unit area. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
8. Not only here everything becomes more expensive from the initial estimate. Thus, the cost of the James Webb telescope exceeded the original estimates by at least 4 times. The telescope was planned to cost $1.6 billion and be launched in 2011, but according to new estimates, the cost could be $6.8 billion, with the launch not taking place earlier than 2018. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
9. This is a near-infrared spectrograph. It will analyze a range of sources, which will provide information about both the physical properties of the objects under study (for example, temperature and mass) and their chemical composition. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
The telescope will make it possible to detect relatively cold exoplanets with a surface temperature of up to 300 K (which is almost equal to the temperature of the Earth’s surface), located further than 12 AU. that is, from their stars, and distant from Earth at a distance of up to 15 light years. More than two dozen stars closest to the Sun will fall into the detailed observation zone. Thanks to James Webb, a real breakthrough in exoplanetology is expected - the capabilities of the telescope will be sufficient not only to detect the exoplanets themselves, but even the satellites and spectral lines of these planets.
11. Engineers test in the chamber. telescope lift system, September 9, 2014. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
12. Research on mirrors, September 29, 2014. The hexagonal shape of the segments was not chosen by chance. It has a high fill factor and has sixth order symmetry. A high fill factor means that the segments fit together without gaps. Thanks to symmetry, the 18 mirror segments can be divided into three groups, in each of which the segment settings are identical. Finally, it is desirable that the mirror has a shape close to circular - to focus the light on the detectors as compactly as possible. An oval mirror, for example, would produce an elongated image, while a square one would send a lot of light from the central area. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
13. Cleaning the mirror with carbon dioxide dry ice. Nobody rubs with rags here. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
14. Chamber A is a giant vacuum test chamber that will simulate outer space during testing of the James Webb Telescope, May 20, 2015. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
17. The size of each of the 18 hexagonal segments of the mirror is 1.32 meters from edge to edge. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
18. The mass of the mirror itself in each segment is 20 kg, and the mass of the entire assembled segment is 40 kg. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
19. A special type of beryllium is used for the mirror of the James Webb telescope. It is a fine powder. The powder is placed in a stainless steel container and pressed into a flat shape. Once the steel container is removed, the beryllium piece is cut in half to make two mirror blanks about 1.3 meters across. Each mirror blank is used to create one segment. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
20. Then the surface of each mirror is ground down to give it a shape close to the calculated one. After this, the mirror is carefully smoothed and polished. This process is repeated until the shape of the mirror segment is close to ideal. Next, the segment is cooled to a temperature of −240 °C, and the dimensions of the segment are measured using a laser interferometer. Then the mirror, taking into account the information received, undergoes final polishing. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
21. Once the segment is processed, the front of the mirror is coated with a thin layer of gold to better reflect infrared radiation in the range of 0.6-29 microns, and the finished segment is re-tested at cryogenic temperatures. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
22. Work on the telescope in November 2016. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
23. NASA completed assembly of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2016 and began testing it. This is a photo from March 5, 2017. At long exposures, the techniques look like ghosts. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
26. The door to the same chamber A from the 14th photograph, in which outer space is simulated. (Photo by Chris Gunn):
28. Current plans call for the telescope to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket in the spring of 2019. When asked what scientists expect to learn from the new telescope, project lead scientist John Mather said, "Hopefully we'll find something that no one knows anything about." UPD. The James Webb Telescope's launch has been postponed to 2020.(Photo by Chris Gunn).
Continuation of the review of the largest telescopes in the world, begun in
The diameter of the main mirror is more than 6 meters.
See also the location of the largest telescopes and observatories on
Multi-Mirror Telescope
The Multimirror Telescope tower with Comet Hale-Bopp in the background. Mount Hopkins (USA).Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT). Located in the observatory "Mount Hopkins" in Arizona, (USA) on Mount Hopkins at an altitude of 2606 meters. The diameter of the mirror is 6.5 meters. Started working with the new mirror on May 17, 2000.
In fact, this telescope was built in 1979, but at that time its lens was made of six 1.8-meter mirrors, which is equivalent to one mirror with a diameter of 4.5 meters. At the time of construction, it was the third most powerful telescope in the world after BTA-6 and Hale (see previous post).
As the years passed, technology improved, and already in the 90s it became clear that by investing a relatively small amount of money, you could replace 6 separate mirrors with one large one. Moreover, this will not require significant changes in the design of the telescope and tower, and the amount of light collected by the lens will increase by as much as 2.13 times.
Multiple Mirror Telescope before (left) and after (right) reconstruction. This work was completed by May 2000. A 6.5 meter mirror was installed, as well as systems active And adaptive optics. This is not a solid mirror, but a segmented one, consisting of precisely adjusted 6-angle segments, so there was no need to change the name of the telescope. Is it possible that sometimes they began to add the prefix “new”.
The new MMT, in addition to seeing 2.13 times fainter stars, has a 400-fold increase in field of view. So, the work was clearly not in vain.
Active and adaptive optics
System active optics allows, using special drives installed under the main mirror, to compensate for the deformation of the mirror when rotating the telescope.
Adaptive optics, by tracking the distortion of light from artificial stars in the atmosphere created using lasers and the corresponding curvature of auxiliary mirrors, compensates for atmospheric distortions.
Magellan telescopes
Magellan telescopes. Chile. Located at a distance of 60 m from each other, they can operate in interferometer mode. Magellan Telescopes- two telescopes - Magellan-1 and Magellan-2, with mirrors 6.5 meters in diameter. Located in Chile, in the observatory "Las Campanas" at an altitude of 2400 km. In addition to the common name, each of them also has its own name - the first, named after the German astronomer Walter Baade, began work on September 15, 2000, the second, named after Landon Clay, an American philanthropist, went into operation on September 7, 2002.
The Las Campanas Observatory is located two hours by car from the city of La Serena. This is a very good place for the location of the observatory, both due to the fairly high altitude above sea level and due to the distance from populated areas and sources of dust. Two twin telescopes, Magellan-1 and Magellan-2, operating both individually and in interferometer mode (as a single unit) are currently the main instruments of the observatory (there is also one 2.5-meter and two 1-meter meter reflector).
Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). Project. Implementation date: 2016.On March 23, 2012, construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) began with a spectacular explosion at the top of one of the nearby mountains. The top of the mountain was demolished to make way for a new telescope, due to begin operation in 2016.
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will consist of seven mirrors of 8.4 meters each, which is equivalent to one mirror with a diameter of 24 meters, for which it has already been nicknamed “Seven Eyes”. Of all the huge telescope projects, this (as of 2012) is the only one whose implementation has moved from the planning stage to practical construction.
Gemini telescopes
Gemini North telescope tower. Hawaii. Mauna Kea volcano (4200 m). 
"Gemini South" Chile. Mount Serra Pachon (2700 m). There are also two twin telescopes, only each of the “brothers” is located in a different part of the world. The first is “Gemini North” - in Hawaii, on the top of the extinct volcano Mauna Kea (altitude 4200 m). The second is “Gemini South”, located in Chile on Mount Serra Pachon (altitude 2700 m).
Both telescopes are identical, their mirror diameters are 8.1 meters, they were built in 2000 and belong to the Gemini Observatory, managed by a consortium of 7 countries.
Since the telescopes of the observatory are located in different hemispheres of the Earth, the entire starry sky is available for observation by this observatory. In addition, telescope control systems are adapted for remote operation via the Internet, so astronomers do not have to travel long distances from one telescope to another.
Northern Gemini. View inside the tower. Each of the mirrors of these telescopes is made up of 42 hexagonal fragments that have been soldered and polished. The telescopes use active (120 drives) and adaptive optics systems, a special silvering system for mirrors, which provides unique image quality in the infrared range, a multi-object spectroscopy system, in general, a “complete stuffing” of the most modern technologies. All this makes the Gemini Observatory one of the most advanced astronomical laboratories today.
Subaru telescope
Japanese telescope "Subaru". Hawaii. “Subaru” in Japanese means “Pleiades”; everyone, even a beginner astronomer, knows the name of this beautiful star cluster. Subaru Telescope belongs Japanese National Astronomical Observatory, but located in Hawaii, on the territory of the Observatory Mauna Kea, at an altitude of 4139 m, that is, next to the northern Gemini. The diameter of its main mirror is 8.2 meters. “First light” was seen in 1999.
Its main mirror is the world's largest solid telescope mirror, but it is relatively thin - 20 cm, its weight is "only" 22.8 tons. This allows the efficient use of the most precise active optics system of 261 drives. Each drive transmits its force to the mirror, giving it an ideal surface in any position, which allows us to achieve almost record-breaking image quality to date.
A telescope with such characteristics is simply obliged to “see” hitherto unknown wonders in the universe. Indeed, with its help, the most distant galaxy known to date was discovered (distance 12.9 billion light years), the largest structure in the universe - an object 200 million light years long, probably the embryo of a future cloud of galaxies, 8 new satellites of Saturn.. This telescope also “particularly distinguished itself” in searching for exoplanets and photographing protoplanetary clouds (clumps of protoplanets are even visible in some images).
Hobby-Eberly Telescope
MacDonald Observatory. Hobby-Eberly Telescope. USA. Texas. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET)- located in the USA, in MacDonald Observatory. The observatory is located on Mount Faulks, at an altitude of 2072 m. Work began in December 1996. The effective aperture of the main mirror is 9.2 m. (In fact, the mirror has a size of 10x11 m, but the light-receiving devices located in the focal node trim the edges to a diameter of 9.2 meters.)
Despite the large diameter of the main mirror of this telescope, Hobby-Eberle can be classified as a low-budget project - it cost only 13.5 million US dollars. This is not much, for example, the same “Subaru” cost its creators about 100 million.
We managed to save budget thanks to several design features:
- Firstly, this telescope was conceived as a spectrograph, and for spectral observations a spherical rather than a parabolic primary mirror is sufficient, which is much simpler and cheaper to manufacture.
- Secondly, the main mirror is not solid, but composed of 91 identical segments (since its shape is spherical), which also greatly reduces the cost of the design.
- Thirdly, the main mirror is at a fixed angle to the horizon (55°) and can only rotate 360° around its axis. This eliminates the need to equip the mirror with a complex shape adjustment system (active optics), since its angle of inclination does not change.
But despite this fixed position of the main mirror, this optical instrument covers 70% of the celestial sphere due to the movement of the 8-ton light receiver module in the focal region. After pointing at an object, the main mirror remains stationary, and only the focal unit moves. The time for continuous tracking of an object ranges from 45 minutes at the horizon to 2 hours at the top of the sky.
Due to its specialization (spectrography), the telescope is successfully used, for example, to search for exoplanets or to measure the rotation speed of space objects.
Large South African Telescope
Large South African Telescope. SALT. SOUTH AFRICA. Southern African Large Telescope (SALT)- is located in South Africa in South African Astronomical Observatory 370 km northeast of Cape Town. The observatory is located on the dry Karoo plateau, at an altitude of 1783 m. First light - September 2005. Mirror dimensions 11x9.8 m.
The government of the Republic of South Africa, inspired by the low cost of the HET telescope, decided to build its analogue in order to keep up with other developed countries in the study of the universe. By 2005, construction was completed, the entire project budget was 20 million US dollars, half of which went to the telescope itself, the other half to the building and infrastructure.
Since the SALT telescope is an almost complete analogue of HET, everything that was said above about HET also applies to it.
But, of course, it could not be done without some modernization - mainly it concerned the correction of the spherical aberration of the mirror and an increase in the field of view, thanks to which, in addition to working in spectrograph mode, this telescope is capable of obtaining excellent photographs of objects with a resolution of up to 0.6 ". This device is not equipped with adaptive optics (probably the South African government did not have enough money).
By the way, the mirror of this telescope, the largest in the southern hemisphere of our planet, was made at the Lytkarino Optical Glass Plant, that is, at the same place as the mirror of the BTA-6 telescope, the largest in Russia.
The largest telescope in the world
Great Canary Telescope
Tower of the Grand Canary Telescope. Canary Islands (Spain). The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC)- located on the top of the extinct Muchachos volcano on the island of La Palma in the north-west of the Canary archipelago, at an altitude of 2396 m. The diameter of the main mirror is 10.4 m (area - 74 sq.m.) Start of work - July 2007.
The observatory is called Roque de los Muchachos. Spain, Mexico and the University of Florida took part in the creation of the GTC. This project cost US$176 million, of which 51% was paid by Spain.
The mirror of the Grand Canary Telescope with a diameter of 10.4 meters, composed of 36 hexagonal segments - the largest existing in the world today(2012). Made by analogy with Keck telescopes.
..and it looks like GTC will hold the lead in this parameter until a telescope with a mirror 4 times larger in diameter is built in Chile on Mount Armazones (3,500 m) - “Extremely Large Telescope”(European Extremely Large Telescope), or the Thirty Meter Telescope will not be built in Hawaii(Thirty Meter Telescope). Which of these two competing projects will be implemented faster is unknown, but according to the plan, both should be completed by 2018, which looks more doubtful for the first project than for the second.
Of course, there are also 11-meter mirrors of the HET and SALT telescopes, but as mentioned above, out of 11 meters they effectively use only 9.2 m.
Although this is the largest telescope in the world in terms of mirror size, it cannot be called the most powerful in terms of optical characteristics, since there are multi-mirror systems in the world that are superior to the GTC in their vigilance. They will be discussed further..
Large Binocular Telescope
Tower of the Large Binocular Telescope. USA. Arizona. (Large Binocular Telescope - LBT)- located on Mount Graham (height 3.3 km) in Arizona (USA). Belongs to the International Observatory Mount Graham. Its construction cost $120 million, the money was invested by the USA, Italy and Germany. LBT is an optical system of two mirrors with a diameter of 8.4 meters, which in terms of light sensitivity is equivalent to one mirror with a diameter of 11.8 m. In 2004, LBT “opened one eye”, in 2005 a second mirror was installed. But only since 2008 it started working in binocular mode and in interferometer mode.
Large Binocular Telescope. Scheme. The centers of the mirrors are located at a distance of 14.4 meters, which makes the telescope's resolving power equivalent to 22 meters, which is almost 10 times greater than that of the famous Hubble Space Telescope. The total area of the mirrors is 111 square meters. m., that is, as much as 37 sq. m. more than GTC.
Of course, if we compare LBT with multi-telescope systems, such as Keck telescopes or VLT, which can operate in interferometer mode with larger bases (distance between components) than LBT and, accordingly, provide even greater resolution, then the Large Binocular Telescope will be inferior to them in terms of this indicator. But comparing interferometers with conventional telescopes is not entirely correct, since they cannot provide photographs of extended objects in such resolution.
Since both LBT mirrors send light to a common focus, that is, they are part of one optical device, unlike telescopes, which will be discussed later, plus the presence of the latest active and adaptive optics systems in this giant binocular, it can be argued that The Large Binocular Telescope is the most advanced optical instrument in the world at the moment.
William Keck Telescopes
William Keck Telescope Towers. Hawaii. Keck I And Keck II- another pair of twin telescopes. Location: Hawaii, Observatory Mauna Kea, at the top of the Mauna Kea volcano (height 4139 m), that is, in the same place as the Japanese Subaru and Gemini North telescopes. The first Keck was inaugurated in May 1993, the second in 1996.
The diameter of the main mirror of each of them is 10 meters, that is, each of them individually is the second largest telescope in the world after the Grand Canary, quite slightly inferior to the latter in size, but surpassing it in “sightedness”, thanks to the ability to work in pairs, and also a higher location above sea level. Each of them is capable of providing an angular resolution of up to 0.04 arcseconds, and when working together, in interferometer mode with a base of 85 meters, up to 0.005″.
The parabolic mirrors of these telescopes are made up of 36 hexagonal segments, each of which is equipped with a special computer-controlled support system. The first photograph was taken back in 1990, when the first Keck had only 9 segments installed, it was a photograph of the spiral galaxy NGC1232.
Very Large Telescope
Very Large Telescope. Chile. Very Large Telescope (VLT). Location - Mount Paranal (2635 m) in the Atacama Desert in the Chilean Andes mountain range. Accordingly, the observatory is called Paranal, it belongs to European Southern Observatory (ESO), which includes 9 European countries.
VLT is a system of four 8.2-meter telescopes, and four more auxiliary 1.8-meter telescopes. The first of the main instruments came into operation in 1999, the last in 2002, and later the auxiliary ones. After this, for several more years, work was carried out to set up the interferometric mode; the instruments were first connected in pairs, then all together.
Currently, telescopes can operate in coherent interferometer mode with a base of about 300 meters and a resolution of up to 10 microarcseconds. Also, in the mode of a single incoherent telescope, collecting light into one receiver through a system of underground tunnels, while the aperture of such a system is equivalent to one device with a mirror diameter of 16.4 meters.
Naturally, each of the telescopes can work separately, receiving photographs of the starry sky with an exposure of up to 1 hour, in which stars up to 30th magnitude are visible.
The first direct photo of an exoplanet, next to the star 2M1207 in the constellation Centaurus. Received at VLT in 2004. The material and technical equipment of the Paranal Observatory is the most advanced in the world. It is more difficult to say which instruments for observing the universe are not here than to list which ones are. These are spectrographs of all kinds, as well as radiation receivers from the ultraviolet to the infrared range, as well as all possible types.
As stated above, the VLT system can operate as a single unit, but this is a very expensive mode and is therefore rarely used. More often, to operate in interferometric mode, each of the large telescopes works in tandem with its 1.8-meter assistant (Auxiliary Telescope - AT). Each of the auxiliary telescopes can move on rails relative to its “boss”, occupying the most advantageous position for observing a given object.
All this does VLT is the most powerful optical system in the world, and ESO is the world's most advanced astronomical observatory, it is an astronomer's paradise. The VLT has made a lot of astronomical discoveries, as well as previously impossible observations, for example, the world's first direct image of an exoplanet was obtained.
The most detailed image of a neighboring galaxy yet. Andromeda was photographed using the new ultra-high-resolution camera Hyper-Suprime Cam (HSC) installed on the Japanese Subaru telescope. This is one of the world's largest working optical telescopes - with a primary mirror diameter of more than eight meters. In astronomy, size is often critical. Let's take a closer look at other giants that are expanding the boundaries of our observations of space.
1. “Subaru”
The Subaru telescope is located at the top of the Mauna Kea volcano (Hawaii) and has been operating for fourteen years. This is a reflecting telescope made according to the Ritchie-Chretien optical design with a hyperbolic-shaped primary mirror. To minimize distortion, its position is constantly adjusted by a system of two hundred and sixty-one independent drives. Even the building body has a special shape that reduces the negative impact of turbulent air flows.
Telescope “Subaru” (photo: naoj.org).Typically, images from such telescopes are not available for direct perception. It is recorded by camera matrices, from where it is transmitted to high-resolution monitors and stored in an archive for detailed study. “Subaru” is also notable for the fact that it previously allowed observations to be made the old fashioned way. Before installing the cameras, an eyepiece was constructed, into which not only astronomers from the national observatory looked, but also the country's top officials, including Princess Sayako Kuroda, the daughter of Emperor Akihito of Japan.
Today, up to four cameras and spectrographs can be simultaneously installed on Subaru for observations in the range of visible and infrared light. The most advanced of them (HSC) was created by Canon and has been operating since 2012.
The HSC camera was designed at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan with the participation of many partner organizations from other countries. It consists of a lens block 165 cm high, filters, a shutter, six independent drives and a CCD matrix. Its effective resolution is 870 megapixels. The previously used Subaru Prime Focus camera had an order of magnitude lower resolution - 80 megapixels.
Since HSC was developed for a specific telescope, the diameter of its first lens is 82 cm - exactly ten times smaller than the diameter of the Subaru main mirror. To reduce noise, the matrix is installed in a vacuum cryogenic Dewar chamber and operates at a temperature of -100 °C.
The Subaru telescope held the palm until 2005, when construction of the new giant, SALT, was completed.
2. SALT
The South African Large Telescope (SALT) is located on a hilltop three hundred and seventy kilometers northeast of Cape Town, near the town of Sutherland. This is the largest operating optical telescope for observing the southern hemisphere. Its main mirror, measuring 11.1 x 9.8 meters, consists of ninety-one hexagonal plates.
Large-diameter primary mirrors are extremely difficult to manufacture as a monolithic structure, so the largest telescopes have composite mirrors. For the manufacture of plates, various materials with minimal thermal expansion, such as glass ceramics, are used.
SALT's primary mission is to study quasars, distant galaxies, and other objects whose light is too weak to be observed by most other astronomical instruments. SALT is similar in architecture to Subaru and a couple of other famous telescopes at Mauna Kea Observatory.
3. Keck
The ten-meter mirrors of the two main telescopes of the Keck Observatory consist of thirty-six segments and in themselves allow achieving high resolution. However, the main feature of the design is that two such telescopes can operate together in interferometer mode. A pair of Keck I and Keck II is equivalent in resolution to a hypothetical telescope with a mirror diameter of 85 meters, the creation of which is technically impossible today.
For the first time, an adaptive optics system with laser beam adjustment was tested on Keck telescopes. By analyzing the nature of its propagation, the automation compensates for atmospheric interference.
The peaks of extinct volcanoes are one of the best sites for the construction of giant telescopes. The high altitude above sea level and the distance from large cities provide excellent conditions for observations.
4.GTC
The Grand Canary Telescope (GTC) is also located on the peak of the volcano at the La Palma Observatory. In 2009, it became the largest and most advanced ground-based optical telescope. Its main mirror, 10.4 meters in diameter, consists of thirty-six segments and is considered the most advanced ever created. All the more surprising is the relatively low cost of this grandiose project. Together with the CanariCam infrared camera and auxiliary equipment, only $130 million was spent on the construction of the telescope.
Thanks to CanariCam, spectroscopic, coronagraphic and polarimetric studies are performed. The optical part is cooled to 28 K, and the detector itself is cooled to 8 degrees above absolute zero.
5.LSST
The generation of large telescopes with a primary mirror diameter of up to ten meters is coming to an end. The nearest projects include the creation of a series of new mirrors with an increase in the size of mirrors by two to three times. Already next year, the construction of a wide-angle survey reflecting telescope, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), is planned in northern Chile.
LSST – Large Survey Telescope (image: lsst.org).It is expected to have the largest field of view (seven apparent diameters of the Sun) and a camera with a resolution of 3.2 gigapixels. Over the course of a year, LSST must take more than two hundred thousand photographs, the total volume of which in uncompressed form will exceed a petabyte.
The main task will be to observe objects with ultra-low luminosity, including asteroids that threaten the Earth. Measurements of weak gravitational lensing to detect signs of dark matter and registration of short-term astronomical events (such as a supernova explosion) are also planned. According to LSST data, it is planned to build an interactive and constantly updated map of the starry sky with free access via the Internet.
With proper funding, the telescope will be commissioned in 2020. The first stage requires $465 million.
6.GMT
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is a promising astronomical instrument being developed at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The main element of this new generation telescope will be a composite mirror of seven concave segments with a total diameter of 24.5 meters.
Even taking into account the distortions introduced by the atmosphere, the detail of the images taken by it will be approximately ten times higher than that of the Hubble orbital telescope. In August 2013, the casting of the third mirror was completed. The telescope is scheduled to be put into operation in 2024. The cost of the project today is estimated at $1.1 billion.
7.TMT
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is another next-generation optical telescope project for Mauna Kea Observatory. The main mirror with a diameter of 30 meters will be made of 492 segments. Its resolution is estimated to be twelve times greater than that of Hubble.
Construction is scheduled to begin next year and completion by 2030. Estimated cost: $1.2 billion.
8. E-ELT
The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) today looks the most attractive in terms of capabilities and costs. The project envisages its creation in the Atacama Desert in Chile by 2018. The current cost is estimated at $1.5 billion. The diameter of the main mirror will be 39.3 meters. It will consist of 798 hexagonal segments, each of which is about one and a half meters in diameter. The adaptive optics system will eliminate distortion using five additional mirrors and six thousand independent drives.
European Extremely Large Telescope – E-ELT (photo: ESO).The estimated mass of the telescope is more than 2800 tons. It will be equipped with six spectrographs, a near-infrared camera MICADO and a specialized EPICS instrument optimized for searching for terrestrial planets.
The main task of the E-ELT observatory team will be a detailed study of currently discovered exoplanets and the search for new ones. Additional goals include detecting signs of the presence of water and organic matter in their atmosphere, as well as studying the formation of planetary systems.
The optical range makes up only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum and has a number of properties that limit observation capabilities. Many astronomical objects are practically undetectable in the visible and near-infrared spectrum, but at the same time reveal themselves due to radio frequency pulses. Therefore, in modern astronomy, a large role is given to radio telescopes, the size of which directly affects their sensitivity.
9. Arecibo
One of the leading radio astronomy observatories, Arecibo (Puerto Rico), houses the largest single-aperture radio telescope with a reflector diameter of three hundred and five meters. It consists of 38,778 aluminum panels with a total area of about seventy-three thousand square meters.
Arecibo Observatory radio telescope (photo: NAIC – Arecibo Observatory).With its help, a number of astronomical discoveries have already been made. For example, the first pulsar with exoplanets was discovered in 1990, and dozens of double radio pulsars have been found in recent years as part of the Einstein@home distributed computing project. However, for a number of tasks in modern radio astronomy, Arecibo’s capabilities are already barely sufficient. New observatories will be created on the principle of scalable arrays with the prospect of growing to hundreds and thousands of antennas. ALMA and SKA will be one of these.
10. ALMA and SKA
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an array of parabolic antennas up to 12 meters in diameter and weighing more than one hundred tons each. By mid-autumn 2013, the number of antennas combined into a single radio interferometer ALMA will reach sixty-six. Like most modern astronomical projects, ALMA costs more than a billion dollars.
The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) is another radio interferometer from an array of prabolic antennas located in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand over a total area of about one square kilometer.
Antennas of the “Square Kilometer Array” radio interferometer (photo: stfc.ac.uk).Its sensitivity is approximately fifty times greater than that of the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope. The SKA is capable of detecting ultra-weak signals from astronomical objects located 10–12 billion light years from Earth. The first observations are planned to begin in 2019. The project is estimated at $2 billion.
Despite the enormous scale of modern telescopes, their prohibitive complexity and many years of observations, space exploration is just beginning. Even in the solar system, only a small part of objects that deserve attention and can influence the fate of the Earth have so far been discovered.
The term telescope literally means “looking far away.” Modern optical devices allow astronomers to study our Solar System, as well as discover new planets located beyond its borders. The top ten below includes the most powerful telescopes in the world.
10. BTA
BTA opens the ranking of the most powerful telescopes, which has one of the largest monolithic mirrors in the whole world. This giant, built in the 70s of the last century, still holds the advantage in terms of the largest astronomical dome. The mirror with a diameter of over 6 meters is made in the form of a paraboloid of revolution. Its mass is forty-two tons, if you do not take into account the weight of the frame. The total mass of this giant is 850 tons. The chief designer of the BTA is B.K. Ionnisani. The reflective mirror coating was made of unprotected aluminum. The working layer requires replacement every ten years.
9. Giant Magellan Telescope
Giant Magellan Telescope is one of the ten largest and most powerful in the world. Full completion of its construction is planned for 2020. To collect light, a system will be used that includes seven primary mirrors, each of which will have a diameter of 8.4 m. The total aperture of the device will correspond to a telescope with a mirror more than 24 m in diameter. Presumably, the MHT will be several times more powerful than all modern telescopes. It is planned that MHT will become the most powerful and will help discover many new exoplanets.
8. Gemini South and Gemini North
Gemini South And Gemini North are a complex that includes two telescopes, eight meters high. They are designed to provide full, unobstructed coverage of the sky and are located on different peaks. These are some of the most powerful and advanced infrared optical telescopes available today. The devices provide the clearest possible images, which is achieved using spectroscopy and adaptive optics. Telescopes are often controlled remotely. The devices are actively involved in the search for exoplanets.
7. Subaru
Subaru- one of the most powerful telescopes in the world, created by Japanese scientists. It is located at the top of the Mauna Kea volcano. It has one of the largest monolithic mirrors in the world with a diameter of more than eight meters. Subaru is capable of detecting planets outside our solar system, and can also determine their size by studying planetary light and detect the gases that dominate the atmosphere of exoplanets.
6. Hobby-Eberly Telescope
Hobby-Eberly Telescope is one of the ten most powerful telescopes today with a main mirror diameter exceeding nine meters. During its creation, many innovations were used, which is one of the main advantages of this device. The main mirror includes 91 elements that function as a single unit. Hobby - Eberly is used both to study our solar system and to study extragalactic objects. With its help, several exoplanets were discovered.
5. SALT
SALT– the full name sounds like Southern African Large Telescope. The optical device has a large main mirror, the diameter of which is eleven meters and consists of an array of mirrors. It is located on a hill almost 1.8 km high near the province of Sutherland. Using this device, astronomy specialists conduct research into nearby galaxies and find new planets. This most powerful astronomical device allows for various types of analyzes of the radiation of astronomical objects.
4.LBT
LBT or Large Binocular Telescope translated into Russian means Large Binocular Telescope. It is one of the most technologically advanced devices that has the highest optical resolution in the world. It is located at an altitude of more than 3 kilometers on a mountain called Graham. The device includes a pair of huge parabolic mirrors with a diameter of 8.4 m. They are installed on a common mount, hence the name “binocular”. In terms of power, the astronomical instrument is equivalent to a telescope with one mirror having a diameter of more than 11 meters. Thanks to its unusual structure, the device is capable of producing images of one object simultaneously through different filters. This is one of its main advantages, because thanks to this you can significantly reduce the time to obtain all the necessary information.
3. Keck I and Keck II
Keck I and Keck II located at the very top of Mauna Kea, whose height exceeds 4 kilometers above sea level. These astronomical instruments are capable of operating in interferometer mode, which is used in astronomy for high-resolution telescopes. They can replace a large aperture telescope with an array of devices with small apertures that are connected like an interferometer. Each of the mirrors consists of thirty-six small hexagonal ones. Their total diameter is ten meters. Telescopes were created according to the Ritchie-Chretien system. The twin devices are controlled from the Waimea headquarters offices. It was thanks to these astronomical units that most of the planets located outside the solar system were found.
2.GTC
GTC– this abbreviation translated into Russian means the Grand Canary Telescope. The device really has an impressive size. This optical reflecting telescope has the largest mirror in the world, the diameter of which exceeds ten meters. It is made from 36 hexagonal segments, which were obtained from Zerodur glass-crystalline materials. This astronomical device has active and adaptive optics. It is located at the very top of the extinct Muchachos volcano in the Canary Islands. A special feature of the device is the ability to see various objects at a very large distance, billions weaker than the naked human eye can distinguish.
1. VLT
VLT or Very Large Telescope, which translated into Russian means “very large telescope.” It is a complex of devices of this type. It includes four separate and the same number of optical telescopes. This is the largest optical device in the world in terms of total mirror area. It also has the highest resolution in the world. The astronomical device is located in Chile at an altitude of more than 2.6 km on a mountain called Cerro Paranal, located in the desert near the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to this powerful telescopic device, a couple of years ago scientists were finally able to get clear photographs of the planet Jupiter.