2009-08-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

In the scientific race to capture bigger and better images of our universe there is a new heavyweight champion. The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC for short) is now officially the world's largest single optical telescope.

Photos courtesy of Pablo Bonet

Construction of the telescope, sited on a volcanic peak 2,267 metres above sea level, took seven years and cost 130 million euros. Its installation had been hampered by weather conditions and the logistical difficulties of transporting equipment to such a remote location.

In the world of telescopes, bigger is better. "Basically, a telescope mirror functions like a bucket in the rain: The larger the bucket, the faster you collect water," said Michael Richer, an astronomer with Mexico's Instituto de Astronomia Ensenada who serves as a scientific adviser for the GTC.
"Larger telescopes allow you to collect light faster. This permits the observation of fainter sources — either because they're farther away or because they're intrinsically fainter."

However even with it's impressive size of 10.4 metres, the GTC won't hold it's title for long. Three larger telescopes are set for completion in 2018:
The Thirty Meter Telescope, is planned for the top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano.
The 21.4 metre mirror of the Giant Magellan Telescope will be built in the mountains of Las Campanas, Chile.
And also, The European Extremely Large Telescope, which currently doesn't have a site selected, will have a mirror diameter of a whopping 42 metres.

The Gran Telescopio Canarias formally opened its shutters on July 24, 2009, inaugurated by the King of Spain. More than 500 astronomers, government officials and journalists from Europe and the Americas attended the ceremony, including officials and alumni from the University of Florida.

The $180 million GTC is owned by Spain, Mexico and the University of Florida. All three groups will divide up the total number of nights every year based on how much funding each group committed to the project.

In addition to solving the mirror's weight problem, having many smaller segments allows the GTC to practice a relatively new observing technique called adaptive optics. Each of the 36 small mirrors can be moved and ever-so-slightly reshaped thousands of times a second to correct for the blurring effect Earth's atmosphere has on light from distant objects.

The GTC is fully operational and is already producing some of the best images yet of the universe including the deepest ever picture of a region of the Milky Way (website in Spanish).

This article was reprinted from two sources. And all credit goes to:

National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/08/photogalleries/worlds-largest-telescope-pictures/photo5.html

MSNBC News (author Irene Klotz)
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/32114355/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Thanks to Thomas for the design and Photoshop magic.