The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is the world's largest optical telescope under construction, funded by the European Southern Observatory and set to gather 15 times more light than any existing optical telescope. Located on Cerro Armazones in northern Chile, the project involves a budget of approximately one billion dollars from 15 European countries and Brazil, and aims for its first light in 2024. The design features a 39-meter primary mirror and capabilities to produce images 15 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope.

1. E-ELT

2. What is E-ELT?
• E-ELT – The European-Extremely Large
Telescope.
• It is the project of European Southern
Observatory (ESO) council.
• It is the World’s Largest Optical Telescope
under construction.
• It gathers 15 times more light than the largest
optical telescope existing today.

3. BUDGET & LOCATION
• The budget for this project is around one
billion dollars.
• 15 European countries contributed for this
project and recently Brazil also added.
• Location: Cerro Armazones Mountain
(3000m), Northern Chile.
• The Location was chosen for its high rate of
clear sky.

4. Details:-
The design consists of 5
mirrors
Primary mirror – 39m
Secondary mirror – 4.2m
Supporting mirror – 3.7m
3rd & 4th mirror – adjusted
to remove atmospheric
blurring.
Largest diameter of its
primary mirror enables to
study both distant galaxies
and extrasolar planets.

5. HEIGHT COMPARISON

6. ON SITE CONSTRUCTION
PROGRESS:-
In June 2014, a controlled
explosion was conducted,
blowing millions of rocks
from the mountain’s peak
to make way for the
telescope.
The controlled demolition
reduced the mountain’s
height by around 40m.
Now the altitude of the
mountain is around
3000m.
Roads were also
constructed.

7. TELESCOPE APERTURE
DIAMETER(m)
FIRST LIGHT LOCATION
E-ELT 39.3 2024 CHILE
Thirty Meter
Telescope
30 2024 HAWAII
Giant Magellan
Telescope
24.5 2025 CHILE
Gran Telescopio
Canarias
10.4 2007 SPAIN
Keck-1 & Keck-2 10 1990 & 1996 HAWAII
Very Large
Telescope
8.2 1998 CHILE

8. The first light is
planned for 2024.
It is also called as
the “The WORLD’s
BIGGEST EYE ON
THE SKY”.
It provides images
15 times sharper
than Hubble Space
Telescope.

9. SOURCE:
WIKIPEDIA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Extremely_Large_T
elescope
ESO:
http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/e-elt/