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The announcement today that the green light has been given for construction of the world’s biggest optical and infrared telescope, the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), will provide huge opportunities for the UK astronomy community and UK Industry.

Preparation of the site for the European Southern Observatory (ESO) E-ELT began in Chile in 2014 and today’s announcement allows contracts for the construction of the telescope itself to be agreed in 2015. This will offer significant industrial opportunities for UK companies to participate in this exciting project. UK companies have already secured more than £9million in contracts and this figure could rise at least ten-fold before construction is completed.

STFC’s Professor Colin Cunningham, UK E-ELT Programme Director, said: “The UK E-ELT Project Office is very happy that the E-ELT project will now move into full construction phase. This means that the contracting process can now begin for the big-ticket items like the Dome and Telescope Main Structure and Primary Mirror Segments. Building the world’s biggest optical and infrared telescope provides huge opportunities for both the UK astronomy community and UK Industry. The telescope will enable discoveries at all scales of the Universe, from measurements of life-marker gases in the atmospheres of exoplanets to understanding the birth and evolution of stars and galaxies in the early Universe.”

The first phase of construction, at an approximate spend of one billion Euros, will deliver a fully working telescope with a suite of powerful instruments and first light targeted in ten years time. The largest ESO contract ever, for the telescope dome and main structure, will be placed within the next year.

The E-ELT’s 39-metre diameter optical mirror, consisting of over 600 hexagonal segments, will help unlock the mysteries of our universe, capturing 15 times more light than any other optical telescope currently in existence and creating images 16 times sharper than those produced by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) supported by significant UK government investment, is one of the 15 ESO members involved in the E-ELT. As a result, UK scientists and engineers are already successfully securing a pivotal role in construction and eventual operation of the E-ELT project, as well as in the development of the cutting edge instrumentation.

The University of Oxford’s Professor Niranjan Thatte, who leads the design and development of HARMONI, a first light instrument for the E-ELT, said: “We are delighted that construction of the world's largest telescope has commenced. The UK is leading the consortium that will build the first light spectrograph for the E-ELT. Spectroscopy allows us to understand the physics of a wide range of astrophysical objects - from planets around other stars to the very first galaxies in the Universe. UK astronomers are delighted that this flagship project is now underway. By allowing studies of the faintest objects in exquisite detail, it will dramatically improve our understanding of the cosmos.”

Professor Patrick Roche, also of the University of Oxford and a member of ESO Council, said: “Today ESO Council has confirmed that construction of an extraordinarily powerful new telescope will begin in 2015. At the end of the decade long construction period, the E-ELT will turn years of dedicated research and design in Universities and institutes in the UK and other ESO member states into a world-leading astronomical facility with unprecedented capabilities.”

View the full ESO press release for more detailed information on the two construction phases of the E-ELT.

Further information:

The UK funding for the E-ELT is managed by STFC, on behalf of the UK astronomy community. STFC subscribes to ESO to give UK astronomers access to its telescopes.

Further information about the E-ELT can be found at the following pages:

• European Extremely Large Telescope website 
   
• European Southern Observatory website 
   
• European Extremely Large Telescope 
   
• European Southern Observatory FAQ

Videos and images

• A video overview of how E-ELT will look and operate 
   
• More videos can be downloaded from ESO’s website 
   
• More E-ELT images can be found here: 
  These can all be used as long as ESO is credited.

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