{"id":150830,"date":"2025-09-17T17:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/150830\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T17:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:16:08","slug":"sunrise-silhouettes-the-worlds-largest-telescope-photo-of-the-day-for-sept-17-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/150830\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunrise silhouettes the world’s largest telescope photo of the day for Sept. 17, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deep in the Chilean desert, the European Extremely Large Telescope<\/a> (ELT) is currently under construction. Operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO<\/a>), the ELT’s design features a 128-foot-wide (39 meters) primary mirror, making it the largest optical and infrared telescope in the world when completed.<\/p>\n

In this image<\/a>, cranes flank the rising solar disk with Earth<\/a> still in shadow as the first light silhouettes humanity\u2019s next giant eye on the sky.<\/p>\n

What is it?<\/p>\n

The ELT is one of the most ambitious ongoing projects in astronomy, with a cost of 1.3 billion euros<\/a> (around $1.4 billion US). Construction is underway atop Cerro Armazones, a mountaintop in Chile’s Atacama Desert. <\/a>Here, the lack of light pollution and moisture will allow the telescope to take more accurate readings of deep space and its structures.<\/p>\n

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Where is it?<\/p>\n

This photograph was taken at Cerro Armazones<\/a> in Chile, at an elevation of 10,052 feet (3,064 m) above sea level.<\/p>\n

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Sunrise illuminates the construction of the ELT. (Image credit: B. H\u00e4u\u00dfler\/ESO)Why is it amazing?<\/p>\n

The ELT\u2019s size and advanced instrumentation will let astronomers see fainter and more distant objects than ever before. The giant scope will image exoplanets<\/a> in reflected light, explore the earliest galaxies formed after the Big Bang <\/a>and much more.<\/p>\n

As the sun rises behind the ELT, the image stands for the dawning of a new era in astronomical discovery. When operational, the ELT will help us observe light from the most ancient parts of the universe.<\/p>\n

Want to learn more?<\/p>\n

You can read more about astronomy <\/a>and telescopes in Chile. <\/a><\/p>\n

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deep in the Chilean desert, the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is currently under construction. Operated by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49,48,66,306],"class_list":["post-150830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}