Four telescope link-up creates world's largest mirror

[Tank]

Four telescope link-up creates world's largest mirror

Astronomers have created the world's largest virtual optical telescope, linking four telescopes in Chile so that they operate as a single device.

The telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory form a virtual mirror of 130m (424ft) in diameter.

A previous attempt to link the telescopes last March failed.

Thursday's link-up was the system's scientific verification - the final step before scientific work starts.

Linking all four units of the VLT will give scientists a much more detailed look at the Universe than previous experiments using just two or three telescopes to create a virtual mirror.

The process that links separate telescopes together is known as interferometry.

In this mode, the VLT becomes the biggest ground-based optical telescope on Earth...

So much to see, so much to explore!

[McQ]

Awe-freaking-some!

Thanks for sharing this!