Inside the World's Largest Telescope: "It's Progressing Fast!" | ESO

Inside the World's Largest Telescope: "It's Progressing Fast!" | ESO

With its 39 m primary mirror, the European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will be the biggest and most powerful optical telescope in the world. In this episode of Chasing Starlight, we take you on an exclusive tour of the ELT, from the massive telescope structure inside the dome to the facility that will coat the mirrors with reflective silver.

The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is a massive building. It is almost as tall as London's Big Ben clock tower and larger than Rome's Colosseum. The construction materials used for the ELT include: 10,000 tonnes of steel, 30 million bolts or 500 km of cables.

The ELT stands at Cerro Armazones in Chile's Atacama Desert. 
Altitude: 3,046 meters
Planned year of technical first light: 2027

Learn more about ESO’s ELT at: https://elt.eso.org

Credit: European Southern Observatory
Directed by: L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser, N. Schäfer
Hosted by: S. Randall
Written by: S. Randall, K.-M. Mikosch
Editing: M. Kornmesser, L. Calçada
Videography: A. Tsaousis, N. Schäfer
Animations & footage: ESO, L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser, J. C. Muñoz-Mateos, G. Vecchia, A. Tsaousis, Google Earth, CIMOLAI/S. Petković, H.-H. Heyer, SCHOTT AG, G. Hüdepohl Safran, Chepox, M. Wallner, J. Beltrán, E. Garcéss
Filming Locations: Cerro Armazones and ELT
Acknowledgements: D. Deina, R. Parra, B. Koehler, ACe/Cimolai, SCHOTT, Safran Reosc, PI - Physik Instrumente, FAMES (Micro-Epsilon Messtechnik, Fogale Nanotech), VDL ETG Projects B.V.
Duration: 10 minutes
Release Date: March 13, 2026

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