* Astronomy

Construction begins on the world's first super telescope

With a main mirror 39 metres in diameter, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), is going to be, as its name suggests, enormous. Unlike any other before it, ELT is also designed to be an adaptive telescope and has the ability to correct atmospheric turbulence, taking telescope engineering to another level.
To mark the construction's milestone, a ceremony was held at ESO's Paranal residencia in northern Chile, close to the site of the future giant telescope which will be on top of Cerro Armazones, a 3046-metre peak mountain.
Read more

E-ELT: UK signs on for Harmoni telescope instrument

UK researchers have signed the contract that will lead to the development of one of the first instruments for the European Extremely Large Telescope.
The E-ELT will be the biggest optical and infrared observatory ever constructed, with a primary mirror just short of 40m across.
A British-led consortium will make a £50m spectrograph called Harmoni.
Read more

UK invests £88 million in world's largest ever optical telescope

The UK research base and industry will play a leading role in one of the biggest global science collaborations in history, after the UK government confirmed long-term investment in the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) to be built in Chile.
The E-ELT will make huge strides toward our understanding of the Universe, the effects of dark matter and energy and planets outside of the solar system. Its 39 metres in diameter mirror will collect 15 times more light than any existing telescope and it will produce images 16 times sharper than the Hubble space-based telescope. 
Read more

 ESO To Build Worlds Biggest Eye On The Sky

ESO is to build the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. At its meeting in Garching today, the ESO Council approved the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) Programme, pending confirmation of four so-called ad referendum votes. The E-ELT will start operations early in the next decade.
ESO's governing body, the Council, met today, at the ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany. The main topic on the agenda was the start of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) Programme - the world's biggest eye on the sky. The E-ELT will be a 39.3-metre segmented-mirror telescope sited on Cerro Armazones in northern Chile, close to ESO's Paranal Observatory.
Read more