Observatorio e elt

Weather balloons were launch to check the visibility of the sites and choose the best one. They are also called radiosondes, and measure variousatmospheric parameters and transmit them to a receiver on the ground.

Several sites were tested in Morocco, Spain, Argentina and in Chile.


Cerro Macon atArgentina


Site Roque de los Muchachos at Spain Las Palmas


Cerro Aklim Morocco


Cerro las vizcachas in Chile



Cerro Tolonchar


CerroVentarrones


Cerro La Chira


Cerro Armazones
Armazones is also the committee’s preferred site, because it has the best balance of sky qualityacross all aspects and can be operated in an integrated fashion with the existing Paranal Observatory. It is 20 kilometeres from Paranal,
On the lower right ofthe image, below Cerro Armazones at an altitude of 2817m, we can see small telescopes operated by the Instituto de Astronomia de la Universidád Católia delNorte (UCN) in Antofagasta.

With a 42 meters mirror the E ELT (European Extreme large Telescope) will be the largest optical telescope
It gathers 15 timesmore light than any other Telescope and takes images 15 times sharpet that the hubble space telescope.
It is composed by 5 mirror, and the primary mirror is 42meters wide and consists of 1.000 segments each of 1.4 meter wide but only 50 mm thick. The secondary mirror will be 6 meters wide.
The ELT Dome will be asbig as a football stadium. With almost 100 meter diameter






Comparison with the statue of Libery and the VLT


Size compare to an Airbus