Contact: Henri Boffin
hboffin@eso.org
49-893-200-6222
ESO

The European Extremely Large Telescope

Caption: Birds eye view of the elaborate three-dimensional model of the European Extremely Large Telescope developed to determine expected performance during observing conditions. With a 42-m diameter primary mirror, the present baseline, its total rotating mass is 5500 tons. The two platforms on each side of the structure hold large instruments. The telescope features a novel, innovative design, based on five mirrors. The primary 42-m mirror is composed of 906 segments, each 1.45 m wide, while the secondary mirror is as large as six m in diameter. A tertiary mirror, 4.2 m in diameter, relays the light to the adaptive optics system, composed of two mirrors: a 2.5-m mirror supported by 5000 or more actuators so as to be able to distort its own shape a thousand times per second, and one 2.7 m in diameter that allows for the final image corrections. This five mirror approach results in an exceptional image quality, with no significant aberrations in the field of view.

Credit: ESO

Usage Restrictions: The photos displayed here may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, if reference is made to the ESO. Publishers are requested to provide a copy, free of charge to ESO, of the publication in which the picture(s) appear(s).

Related news release: The rise of a giant