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World's Largest Telescope Up and Running
apdyck writes "ITWire is reporting that the world's largest telescope is now up and running, conducting one-year series of tests. The Great Canary Telescope, located in the Canary Islands, is the largest telescope in the world at 10.4 m (34') in diameter. Not for your average stargazer! 'The reflective telescope, sometimes also called GranTeCan, uses technology called adaptive optics, in which the mirror changes its shape in order to correct distortions of light caused by the Earth's atmosphere. The telescope is part of the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, located on the island of La Palma, Spain, within the Atlantic Ocean.'"
The telescope is located on top of a volcanic peak that is 2,400 meters (about 1.5 miles) above sea level.
Someone call Pierce Brosnan. Tell him to bring NASA's experimental locator beacon.
It's not the size that matters. It's how you use it.
During the daytime the telescope is used as a webcam for a local beach.
There's a great image of the first shot taking with the telescope here
Thank God I'm an atheist!
Did you intentionally chnage the word hexagonal from the original article or was it a strange aouto-correct error?
I had a telescope with "12 homosexual segments of the primary mirror for testing and observations" once. Unfortunately, all it was good for is observing Uranus.