An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The world’s largest → optical and → near infrared telescope, with a diameter of 42 m, to be built by the → European Southern Observatory (ESO).
→ First light is foreseen for 2018. The telescope has an innovative five-mirror design that includes advanced → adaptive optics to correct for the → atmospheric turbulence, giving exceptional → image quality. The → primary mirror will consist of almost 1000 hexagonal segments each 1.4 m across. The → secondary mirror will be 6 m in diameter. The E-ELT will collect 15 times more light than the largest optical telescopes operating today.

On 26 April 2010, the ESO Council selected Cerro Armazones as the baseline site for the E-ELT. Cerro Armazones is a mountain at an altitude of 3060 m in the central part of Chile’s Atacama Desert, some 130 km south of the town of Antofagasta and about 20 km from Cerro Paranal, home of ESO → Very Large Telescope.

See also: Short for the European Extremely Large Telescope