Grands Téléscopes

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http://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/archive/hubble/

This Hubble photo is of a small portion of one of the largest-seen star-birth regions in the galaxy, the Carina Nebula. Towers of cool hydrogen laced with dust rise from the wall of the nebula. The pillar is also being pushed apart from within, as infant stars buried inside it fire off jets of gas that can be seen streaming from towering peaks. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI). View larger image

Hubble Telescope

Hawaii Telescope

Observatoire du Pic du Midi

Large Binocular Telescope Observatory

In 2007, the Arizona Arts, Science and Technology Academy (AASTA) analyzed the economic importance of astronomy, space sciences and planetary sciences research to Arizona. The study was published in January 2008. To read more, click here .

MMT Observatory

The Very Large Telescope Project

The Very Large Telescope array (VLT) is the flagship facility for European ground-based astronomy at the beginning of the third Millennium. It is the world's most advanced optical instrument, consisting of four Unit Telescopes with main mirrors of 8.2m diameter and four movable 1.8m diameter Auxiliary Telescopes. The telescopes can work together, to form a giant ‘interferometer’, the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer , allowing astronomers to see details up to 25 times finer than with the individual telescopes. The light beams are combined in the VLTI using a complex system of mirrors in underground tunnels where the light paths must be kept equal to distances less than 1/1000 mm over a hundred metres.

SALT (Southern African Large Telescope)

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere and among the largest 5 or so in the world. It has a hexagonal primary mirror array 11 metres across, comprising 91 individual 1.2m hexagonal mirrors. Although very similar to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in Texas, SALT has a redesigned optical system resulting in a larger field of view and effective collecting area. SALT can detect the light from faint or distant objects in the Universe, a billion times too faint to be seen with the unaided eye - as faint as a candle flame would appear at the distance of the moon. The telescope and instruments are designed to operate from the near ultraviolet to the near infrared (320 to 1700 nm), and offer some unique or rare capabilities on a telescope of this size. SALT is funded by a consortium of international partners from South Africa, the United States, Germany, Poland, India, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Gran Telescopio CANARIAS

Mauna Kea Observatories

The 4,200 meter high summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii houses the world's largest observatory for optical, infrared, and submillimeter astronomy. UH Hilo Educational telescope The first telescope on the mountain, a 0.6m diameter reflector, was placed on this site in 1969.

Hobby-Eberly Telescope

The HET is one of the world's largest optical telescopes, with an effective aperture of 9.2 meters and a 78 square meter, hexagonal mirror array made from 91 segments. Its design is revolutionary. It sits at a fixed elevation angle of 55º, and rotates in azimuth to access 81% of the sky visible from McDonald Observatory (discounting the "high airmass" zone right next to the horizon which telescopes normally avoid).

http://www.as.utexas.edu/mcdonald/het/het_gen_01.html

Mapping Galaxy Formation in Dual Mode A team of astronomers has explored the synergies between the Subaru Telescope and the United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) to locate numerous distant galaxies in the ancient universe and investigate their star formation activity. By combining narrow-band filter observations from both the Subaru Telescope and the UKIRT, the team has been able to obtain clean panoramic maps of parts of the distant universe about 9 billion years ago. This dual mode of surveying faint galaxies provides a powerful technique for selecting and studying star-forming galaxies during their formation and evolution...