Telescopes
ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimetre Array, will be the largest and most sensitive
telescope in the world at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths (10mm-350micron).
It is what is known as an 'aperture synthesis' telescope and
will consist of 64 antennas, each 12 metres in diameter. It will be built
on the plains at Chajnantor, at 5000m above sea level in the Atacama Desert
in Chile.
Credit: ESO.
Commissioned in 1974, the Anglo-Australian
Telescope was one of the last 4-metre equatorially mounted telescopes
to be constructed. Its excellent optics, exceptional mechanical stability
and precision computer
control make it one of the finest telescopes in the world. Also important
to the AAT's success has been its suite of state-of-the-art instrumentation,
which is constantly being upgraded and improved. It is run by the Anglo-Australian
Observatory on behalf of the astronomical communities of Australia and the
UK.
Credit: Barnaby Norris.
In December 2006, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) initiated a three-year
Phase B study of a 42-m European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). In 2010
a full construction proposal will be compiled, including plans for the first
generation instrumentation suite. The UK is playing a leading role in development
of the science case and instrumentation for the project.
Credit: ESO.
The Gemini Observatory consists of twin 8-meter optical/infrared telescopes
located on two of the best observing sites on our planet. From their locations
on mountains in Hawai'i and Chile, Gemini Observatory's telescopes
can collectively access the entire sky. The Gemini South telescope is located
at almost 9,000' elevation on a mountain in the Chilean Andes called Cerro
Pachon.
Credit: Gemini Observatory.
With a diameter of 15m the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) is the largest
astronomical telescope in the world designed specifically to operate in the
submillimeter wavelength region of the spectrum. The JCMT is used to study
our Solar System, interstellar dust and gas, and distant galaxies. It is
situated close to the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at an altitude of 4092m.
Credit: JAC.
JWST is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, and it will be almost
three times the size of Hubble. JWST has been designed to work best at infrared
wavelengths. This will allow it to study the very distant Universe, looking
for the first stars and galaxies that ever emerged.
Credit: ESA/NASA.
The European Space Agency's Herschel
Space Observatory has the largest single
mirror ever built for a space telescope. At 3.5-metres in diameter, the mirror
collects long-wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most
distant objects in the Universe. In addition, Herschel is the only space
observatory to cover a spectral range from the far infrared to sub-millimetre.
Credit: ESA/NASA.
Mauna Kea, Hawai'i at sunset.
The world's largest telescope dedicated solely to infrared astronomy, UKIRT is sited in Hawaii near the summit of Mauna Kea at an altitude of 4194m above
sea level. It is owned by the United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities
Council and operated, along with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT),
by the staff of the Joint Astronomy Centre, which is located in Hilo. The
operation and development of UKIRT are overseen by the UKIRT Board.
Credit: JAC.
The Very Large Telescope array (VLT) is the flagship facility for European
ground-based astronomy at the beginning of the third Millennium. It is the
world's most advanced optical instrument, consisting of four Unit Telescopes
with main mirrors of 8.2m diameter and four movable 1.8m diameter Auxiliary
Telescopes. The telescopes can work together, in groups of two or three,
to form a giant 'interferometer', the ESO Very Large Telescope
Interferometer, allowing astronomers to see details up to 25 times finer
than with the individual telescopes.
Credit: ESO.
VISTA (the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) is at ESO's Paranal Observatory. VISTA is a survey telescope working at infrared wavelengths and is the world's largest telescope dedicated to mapping the sky. Its large mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive detectors will reveal a completely new view of the southern sky.