Astronomers, royalty, rock stars to inaugurate world's largest telescope

July 13, 2009

Four hundred years after Galileo first turned his handmade telescope toward the heavens, the world's largest, most technologically advanced telescope is set to make its formal debut.

The inauguration of the Gran Telescopio Canarias -- with its 10.4-meter diameter mirror, the has more light-collecting area than any other — is scheduled for July 24 in Spain's Canary Islands. Officials and astronomers from the University of Florida, the only U.S. institution that is part of the project, will join more than 500 astronomers, journalists and celebrities in a ceremony presided over by Spain's King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia.

"The completion and inauguration of the GTC is a huge milestone for astronomy and for the University of Florida in collaboration with its partners in Spain and Mexico," UF Provost Joe Glover said. "We look forward to our astronomers playing a central role in the major discoveries this uniquely powerful telescope will enable."

Perched 7,874 feet above sea level on a mountain on the island of La Palma, the GTC has 6 square meters more light collecting area than any of the roughly one dozen 8- to 10-meter telescopes worldwide. With a mirror composed of 36 hexagonal segments thought to have the smoothest surfaces ever made, it is also the world's most technologically advanced . Sensors keep the mirrors aligned to counteract the force of gravity, with the result that they act as a single surface, even as the telescope is rotated and aligned in place.

Spain owns 90 percent, Mexico 5 percent and UF 5 percent of the telescope under construction since 2000. UF contributed $5 million toward the $180 million project — and its astronomers designed and built one of the first two astronomical instruments for the telescope, a multimillion dollar heat-sensing camera called CanariCam.

Stan Dermott, chairman of UF's astronomy department, said the GTC's size and technical attributes enable it not only to gather more light than any other telescope, but also resolve the light into sharper and clearer focus. For astronomers, he said, those capabilities make it a powerful tool to study cosmic origins - the early days of the universe and the very early moments in the mysterious births of stars, planets and galaxies.

"The interpretation of the structure of the disks where new planets form is highly dependent on the quality of the image," he said, adding that the GTC also will enable the discoveries of new planets, possibly including the first habitable planet.

The telescope gathers the light, but only astronomical instruments can reveal the mysteries it contains. The car engine-sized CanariCam, built at UF but now in La Palma and expected to become operational next year, "sees" the infrared light — the invisible light that accompanies heat — emitted by stars and planets as they form in space. It also sees the light that, in its visible form, is obscured by the dust clouds and gas in space.

CanariCam is unique among mid-infrared cameras in its ability to determine the direction of polarized light and accomplish coronagraphy, which blocks the bright of stars to make faint planets nearby more visible. Those abilities will help it reveal cool planets and more about the role of magnetic fields in planet and star formation, said Charles Telesco, UF astronomy professor and the principal investigator on the CanariCam project.

UF astronomer Eric Ford became one of the first astronomers worldwide to use the GTC earlier this year. Dermott said he anticipates that about 60 astronomy faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral associates and others — most of the members of the department — will become involved with GTC-related observations or research. He stressed that access to such a prominent telescope is key to success in astronomical research.

"All the objects we study are remote, and you have to get your information from looking at images," he said. "If the competition has a better image than you, you are basically out of business. So having the GTC puts our students and faculty on the front line."

There is far more demand for the world's largest telescopes than available nights, with the result that most astronomers get far less time than they want — and in some years, none at all. UF's part ownership of the GTC means that its astronomers are guaranteed 20 nights each year. UF'S instrument-building program will result in additional nights, as will UF astronomers' collaborations with Mexican and Spanish , Dermott said.

Brian May, lead guitarist of the rock group Queen and an astronomer himself, is expected to be among the celebrities present for the inauguration. 2009, the International Year of Astronomy, celebrates Galileo's first telescope observations in 1609.

Source: University of Florida (news : web)

3.9 /5 (10 votes)  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

omatumr
Jul 15, 2009

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
CONGRATULATIONS!

I look forward to seeing the images.

Oliver K. Manuel
Rank 3.9 /5 (10 votes)
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Is Venus Slowing Down?
    created11 hours ago
  • Never ending outer space.....
    createdFeb 11, 2012
  • Neutron Star fragments?
    createdFeb 11, 2012
  • stationary or not?
    createdFeb 11, 2012
  • Flash Scale of the Universe
    createdFeb 10, 2012
  • Titan's lack of impact craters
    createdFeb 09, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - General Astronomy

More news stories

Time of year important in projections of climate change effects on ecosystems

(PhysOrg.com) -- Does it matter whether long periods of hot weather, such as last year's heat wave that gripped the U.S. Midwest, happen in June or July, August or September?

Space & Earth / Environment

created 43 minutes ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists discover reason for Mt. Hood's non-explosive nature

(PhysOrg.com) -- For a half-million years, Mount Hood has towered over the landscape, but unlike some of its cousins in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains and many other volcanoes around the Pacific “Rim ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created 1 hour ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Missing dark matter located: Intergalactic space is filled with dark matter

Researchers at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) and Nagoya University used large-scale computer simulations and recent observational data of gravitational ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created 1 hour ago | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Planck mission steps closer to the cosmic blueprint

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's Planck mission has revealed that our Galaxy contains previously undiscovered islands of cold gas and a mysterious haze of microwaves. These results give scientists new treasure to mine ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created 10 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Scientists say Obama Mars cuts to hit research (Update)

The United States will scale back Mars exploration under a proposed budget by President Barack Obama released Monday that has some scientists fuming over the risk of a NASA brain-drain.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 7 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 23


First-of-its-kind stem cell study re-grows healthy heart muscle in heart attack patients

Results from a Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute clinical trial show that treating heart attack patients with an infusion of their own heart-derived cells helps damaged hearts re-grow healthy muscle.

Discovery paves way for salmonella vaccine

(Medical Xpress) -- An international research team led by a University of California, Davis, immunologist has taken an important step toward an effective vaccine against salmonella, a group of increasingly antibiotic-resistant ...

Smoking bans lead to less, not more, smoking at home: study

Smoking bans in public/workplaces don't drive smokers to light up more at home, suggests a study of four European countries with smoke free legislation, published online in Tobacco Control.

Ovarian cancer arises in fallopian tube of knockout mice

(Medical Xpress) -- The most deadly form of "ovarian" cancer arises in the fallopian tubes – not the ovaries – of knockout mice that lack two genes associated with the disease, said researchers led by Baylor College ...

UK cases of progressive sight loss condition set to rise a third by 2020

New cases of the progressive sight loss condition, known as age-related macular degeneration, or AMD for short, are set to rise by a third in the UK over the next decade, reveals research published online in the British Jo ...

Medical school link to wide variations in pass rate for specialist exam

Wide variations in doctors' pass rates, for a professional exam that is essential for one type of specialty training, seem to be linked to the particular medical school where the student graduated, indicates research published ...