SHARPER, PLEASE: New telescopes poised to unlock the universe.

For the Giant Magellan Telescope Organisation, a remote site in Chile, far from the ambient light of human habitation, will be home to the first of a new generation of extremely large telescopes. These optical telescopes will be far larger than anything we’ve seen to date.

With a diameter of 24.5 metres (80 feet) and a collecting area of 368 square metres (3,961 square feet), the GMT will open a new era of optical astronomy, able to capture images 10 times sharper than those of the Hubble Space Telescope. It’s the culmination of decades, if not centuries, of astronomical technology.

GMT is just one of three amazing new telescopes — optical, radio, and orbital — about to see “first light.”

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