THE EXTREMELY LARGE TELESCOPE The World's Biggest Eye on the Sky ELT HOME ABOUT TELESCOPE

The giant ELT dome will house the telescope and its interior structure, providing protection from the extreme environment of Chile’s Atacama Desert. The main structure of the telescope will hold its five …

ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope, or ELT for short, is a revolutionary ground-based telescope that will have a 39-metre main mirror and will be the largest visible and infrared light telescope in the world: …

Name Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) Main mirror diameter 39 metres Light collecting area

It comprises thousands of highly sophisticated components that require extreme accuracy, not only during their manufacture, but also during installation and observations. This is certainly a challenge …

Dome complete The ELT dome is the largest telescope dome in the world. It is expected to be fully completed in early 2027.

4 days ago · This interactive, 360-degree webcam offers high-resolution internal views from the top of the dome of ESO’s ELT as it is being constructed. From this perspective the construction of the …

The ESO Council selected Cerro Armazones as the site for the Extremely Large Telescope. Armazones is a peak in the Chilean Atacama Desert, with an altitude slightly above 3000 metres.

Open Sesame: The ELT doors move for the first time Video 23 Sep 2025 — eltu_pds Aligning the mirrors of the world's largest optical telescope Picture of the Week 15 Sep 2025 — potw2537 A …

With the ELT, the detailed study of the atmospheres of young, Earth-like and massive exoplanets will intensify. The telescope will search for biomarker molecules — signs of extraterrestrial life.