Location chosen for European Extremely Large Telescope (42 metres wide!)

[muriel_volestrangler]

The observatory will be constructed on Cerro Armazones, a 3,000m-high mountain in Chile's Atacama Desert.

The E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope) will have a primary mirror 42m in diameter - about five times the width of today's best telescopes.

Astronomers say the next-generation observatory will be so powerful it will be able to image directly rocky planets beyond our Solar System.

It should also be able to provide major insights into the nature of black holes, galaxy formation, the mysterious "dark matter" that pervades the Universe, and the even more mysterious "dark energy" which appears to be pushing the cosmos apart at an accelerating rate.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8645511.stm

It seems about 4 times the width of today's largest, but nevertheless, that's a monster. Images 15 time sharper than the Hubble.