Research - Pasadena, California, United States
The ground-based Giant Magellan Telescope will be one of a next class of 'Extremely Large Telescopes' or ELTs that strive to revolutionize our view and understanding of the universe. The GMT will be operational in 2023 at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The telescope has a unique segmented mirror design that makes use of six off-axis 8.4 m (27 ft) diameter monolith mirrors surrounding a central on-axis mirror, forming a single optical surface with an aperture of 24.5 m (80 ft) in diameter. It will make use of a sophisticated adaptive optics system and enclosure and will have a resolving power 10 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope.