According to the Giant Magellanic Telescope Organization (GMTO), the program has just secured a further injection of $205 million in funding – out of a total of $1 billion – which will be used to accelerate construction, which began in 2015 and is expected to end. in 2025.
This is mainly due to its size. While Webb occupies a privileged position in the solar system, the fact that it is a space telescope has imposed limits on its measurements and its mass. On the other hand, the GMT, being a terrestrial telescope, does not have to face such restrictions.
As such, it has a 10x larger light gathering area and 400% higher spatial resolution. Compared to the legendary Hubble, the quality of the images will be up to 100 times higher. In short: GMT will be more powerful than any research telescope currently in service – both in space and on the ground.
Construction of a 40,000 square meter facility in Rockford, Illinois, designed to manufacture the telescope’s structure, has been completed, according to the GMTO. Additionally, production of the telescope’s first adaptive secondary mirror is underway in France and Italy, and the site in Chile is being prepared for the next stage of construction and laying of the foundation.
When completed, the GMT will feature seven primary mirrors, each 8.4 meters in diameter, arranged in an array 25.4 meters wide that will produce the most detailed images ever captured from space. The seven discs will change position to reshape the array at a maximum frequency of 2,000 times per second, to allow the telescope to correct for the optical blur effect of Earth’s atmosphere.
As of now, there’s no specific timeline for when it will go live, but it should be by the end of this decade. The latest round of funding will help accelerate this process.
Brazil will have a guaranteed seat on the consortium’s board of directors
“The equipment will allow astronomers to study the formation of stars and galaxies shortly after the Big Bang, measure the mass of black holes, and map the immediate environment around them,” reads a statement released by the project’s Brazilian partner, the Fundação de Amparo at Research. by the State of São Paulo (FAPESP), responsible for contributing US$45 million (R$228.4 million) in this latest round of investments.
Its participation in the construction of the mega-telescope will guarantee researchers from the state of SP a part of the GMT observation time. In addition, Brazil will be entitled to a seat on the consortium’s board of directors. “It will be very important for the development of astronomy research in Brazil,” the statement said.
With a total light-gathering area of 368 square meters, the entire device will be kept in a 65-meter, 4,000-ton cabinet, which can complete a full rotation in about three minutes.
“This unprecedented angular arrangement, combined with groundbreaking spectrographs and high-contrast cameras, will work in direct synergy with the JWST to fuel new scientific discoveries,” says the GMTO.
The GMT will be part of a new generation of so-called “extremely large telescopes”, which are ground-based and designed to provide unprecedented clarity and sensitivity in observing astrophysical phenomena – such as the origins of chemical elements. and the formation of the first stars and galaxies.
In addition to FAPESP, the new investment includes commitments from the Carnegie Institute of Science, Harvard University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Arizona and University of Chicago.
“We are honored to receive this investment in our future,” said Robert Shelton, president of the Giant Magellanic Telescope. “The funding is truly a collaborative effort of our founders. This will result in the construction of the largest mirrors in the world, the network of giant telescopes that hold and align them, and a scientific instrument that will allow us to study the chemical evolution of stars and planets like never before.