Europe’s extremely large telescope to be in Chile

Physics Today : The European Southern Observatory has announced that the Cerro Armazones site in Chile will be the baseline site for the planned $1.3 billion optical/infrared 42-meter European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), and not the island of Las Palmas as hoped by ESO member state Spain. Cerro Armazones is a mountain at an altitude of 3060 meters in the central part of Chile’s Atacama Desert, some 130 kilometers south of the town of Antofagasta and about 20 kilometers from Cerro Paranal, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The site was always the favorite candidate for the E-ELT due to the lack of water vapor at the site, and the clear skies. The final clincher for the location was the potential integration with ESO’s Paranal Observatory, which should produce some cost savings as well as new scientific opportunities."This is an important milestone that allows us to finalize the baseline design of this very ambitious project, which will vastly advance astronomical knowledge,” says ESO director general Tim de Zeeuw. “Adding the transformational scientific capabilities of the E-ELT to the already tremendously powerful integrated VLT observatory guarantees the long-term future of Paranal as the most advanced optical/infrared observatory in the world and further strengthens ESO’s position as the world-leading organisation for ground-based astronomy,” he adds.To support the project, the Chilean Government has agreed to donate to ESO a substantial tract of land contiguous to ESO’s Paranal property and containing Armazones in order to ensure that the site is protected in particular light pollution and mining activities.The final go-ahead for construction of the E-ELT is expected at the end of 2010, with the start of operations planned for 2018.Paul Guinnessy