Four telescope link-up creates world's largest mirror (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16869022)
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QuoteAstronomers 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!