Stunning Photos Show Construction of World’s Largest Telescope – PetaPixel
2025-04-24T11:52:21Z
Building work has reached its highest point.
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has shared spectacular progress photos of the world’s largest telescope which is being constructed on the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will become the world’s largest optical telescope with a mirror that measures 128 feet (29 meters) across. It costs roughly $1.4 billion and scientists hope it may be able to resolve terrestrial planets that orbit other stars.
Expected to start operations in 2028, the ELT recently had dome of the roof and large sliding doors constructed meaning building work has reached its highest point. As is customary in Chile, workers hold a Topping Out or Roofing ceremony to celebrate the milestone. Known locally as Tijerales, the ceremony took place on April 16 and it involved a traditional barbecue for the workers on site.
Both of the dramatic sunrise photos were taken by photographer and ESO engineer Eduardo Garcés from a distance of about 14 miles (23 kilometers) away with the first being taken in August 2023 and the second one this month. To create the effect of the Sun looming so large over the ELT, Garcés shot the photos on a telephoto lens, in this case, a Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6 – 6.3.
The ESO also shared an amazing video timelapse of the same scene of the sunrise over the ELT created by Garcés. See below.
A recent snapshot taken on April 14 via one of the site’s live webcams shows the Milky Way glowing brilliantly across the sky, arching above the telescope’s dome like a cosmic river. The structure’s open roof reveals the gleaming white frame of the telescope’s core — a colossal support that will cradle its powerful optical instruments, including a jaw-dropping 128-foot (39-meter) primary mirror, the largest ever crafted for an optical telescope.
Space notes that the dome itself is a behemoth — 305 feet (93 meters) wide, roughly the span of a football field, and reaching 263 feet (80 meters) into the sky. At its heart lies a 130-foot (39.3-meter) mirror, designed for the ELT. This instrument will unlock dazzling detail in visible light, offering humanity sharper glimpses of distant exoplanets, the birth of early galaxies, the gravity wells of supermassive black holes, and the elusive forces of dark matter and dark energy.
In March, PetaPixel reported on a study that found a proposed green hydrogen production facility also in Chile’s Atacama Desert may significantly impact the ESO.
Image credits: ESO
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