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Sat 14 Jul, 2007 09:09 am
New huge telescope to start scouring the skies from Spain's Canary Islands
By Juan Manuel Pardellas, Associated Press Writer
Published: 14 July 2007
Independent UK
One of the world's most powerful telescopes will be trained on the skies on Friday, searching for planets similar to our own from a mountaintop on one of Spain's Canary Islands.
Perched 2,400 metres up on the Roque de los Muchachos peak in the Atlantic island of La Palma, the Great Canary Telescope has a 10.4-metre lens. It is to receive its so-called "first light" - when the telescope is pointed toward the sky and focusses on the North Star - at 11 pm in a ceremony attended by Crown Prince Felipe.
"The GTC will be able to reach the weakest and most distant celestial objects of the universe," the Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute said in a statement.
"One of its aims is to find planets similar to ours in other solar systems," the institute added.
The telescope will have 36 hexagonal mirrors, of which 12 are already in place.
According to the institute, once the telescope has had its first light, work will begin on placing and adjusting the remaining 24 mirrors to leave it fully functional for scientists within a year.
"With this (telescope) it will possible to capture the birth of new stars, to study more profoundly the characteristics of the black holes or to decipher the chemical components generated by the Big Bang," the Institute said in a statement.
The telescope cost 104m (£71m) and seven years to construct. The Canary Island observatory said institutes in Mexico and the United States collaborated in the project, involving more than 1,000 people in nearly 100 companies.
Among those in La Palma for the inauguration was Brian May, lead guitarist of the legendary pop group Queen, who studied for some his doctorate in astrophysics at the Canary Island institute.
The Great Canary Telescope is among the world's largest telescopes. Others are the Southern African Large Telescope, or Salt, which has an 11-meter mirror and has been described the southern hemisphere's largest single optical telescope. Another one is the Hobby-Eberly on Mount Fowlkes, Texas, also has an 11-metre mirror.
The Canary institute is considered one of the most important in the world of astrophysics owing to the special geographical situation of the islands, located off the northwest coast of Africa, and the transparency and the astronomical quality of their sky.
BBB, On a cruise from Buenos Aires to Barcelona last March, we had a port call at Tenefre of the Canary Islands, and was able to see Teide mountain, the highest in Spain at 12,198 feet. They made no mention of the telescope, so I'm wondering why they didn't build it on Teide rather than the shorter Roque de los Muchachos peak with it's 7959 feet?
That's probably a matter of "planning permission" and the bribes and deals which are commonly associated with the capacity to grant it.
I have never been to Tenerife myself, not wishing to put myself to all the trouble I imagine is entailed in achieving such a noble and dangerous feat, but I am able to see that your post is incoherent without moving from my chair.
Whatever it is that you are on I recommend you switch to John Smith's Extra Smooth or the American version of it if the real thing hasn't yet reached the outposts of our civilisation.
Is the evidence that the Roque de los Muchachos peak is exactly 7959 feet from sea level, which is where I presume you were observing from,
peer reviewed at high or low tide or from the poop deck or the bilges where they store all the shite the tourists produce until deep waters are reached.
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