Extremely Large Telescope (ELT)
The Extremely Large Telescope, or ELT, will be the largest visible and infrared telescope ever built. It is expected to start observations in the late 2021s. At the UK ATC we are working on two of the scientific instruments that will be the first to be used on the telescope. These are called HARMONI and METIS. They are both spectrographs, which spread light out into a rainbow so that astronomers can learn more about objects in space
About the Telescope
Get the low down on the ELT and how we’re involved at ROE from Chris – Head of Science and Principal Investigator for the UK ELT programme
The ELT site and some artist’s impressions of the telescope
How does the ELT’s size and observing power stack up?
About the first instruments to be used on the telescope – HARMONI and METIS
Meet Katie a Mechanical Engineer – working here on a component for METIS
In Greek mythology, Metis was the spouse of Zeus and mother of Athena, goddess of wisdom
For astronomers, METIS will let them study the life cycle of stars – both in our Solar System and in distant galaxies
HARMONI will let astronomers see smaller, fainter objects, further away, further back in time and in more detail than ever before…. about 12-13 million light years away!
This is a computer design of the HARMONI instrument
HARMONI is being built with state-of-the-art tech called ‘adaptive optics'. This is a really cool solution. It stops the Earth’s atmosphere from blurring the telescope's view of the sky
Patrick explains how he uses a freezer in the lab for testing HARMONI components
Family Friendly Activities
For more information on the ELT
Head over to the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to find out more about the ELT at Cerro Armazones in Chile
Read some of our most recent news
The next big thing in astronomy: the Extremely Large Telescope
Meet the student helping to 'fine-tune observations' from the world's largest optical telescope