-ELT is viable and the UK community will be looking to take leading roles in design and construction of the telescope and its instruments as well as in the eventual scientific work."
The primary 42-m diameter mirror is composed of 906 hexagonal segments, each 1.45 m in size, while the secondary mirror is as large as 6 m in diameter. In order to overcome the fuzziness of stellar images due to atmospheric turbulence the telescope needs to incorporate adaptive mirrors into its optics. A tertiary mirror, 4.2 m in diameter, relays the light to the adaptive optics system, composed of two mirrors: a 2.5-m mirror supported by 5000 or more actuators able to distort its own shape a thousand times per second, and one 2.7 m in diameter that allows for the final image corrections. This five mirror approach results in an exceptional image quality, with no significant aberrations in the field of view.
The site of the E-ELT is not yet fixed as studies are still undergoing with a plan to make a decision by 2008.
"The E-ELT will provide European astronomers with access to a facility that will allow them to do very exciting research projects including looking for Earth-like planets around other stars, a real quest for astronomers," said Richard Wade.
"This is really the beginning of a new era for optical and infrared astronomy," said Catherine Cesarsky.
Extremely Large Telescopes are considered world-wide as one of the highest priorities in ground-based astronomy. They will vastly advance astrophysical knowledge allowing detailed studies of, among others, planets around other stars, the first objects in the Universe, super-massive Black Holes, and the nature and distribution of the Dark Matter and Dark Energy which dominate the Universe. The European Extremely Large Telescope project will maintain and reinforce Europe's position at the forefront of astrophysical research, gained in large part at the turn of the Century through the ESO Very Large Telescope facility.
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