(VEE) FIRST BRICK LAID OF E-ELT MAXI TELESCOPE BUILDING IN CHILE

(VELINO) Roma, 29 May - The first brick of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) building has been laid at the ESO (European Space Observatory) in Cello Paranal, Chile. It will be built at Cerro Armazones, not far from the site where the event took place. The work of constructing the dome and main structure of what will be the world's biggest optical telescope will be carried out by the Italian Consortium ACe. Those attending the ceremony included Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and Italy's Stefania Giannini, member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, and ambassador Marco Ricci. The building will be 90 metres tall, 100 metres wide, and weigh 5,000 tonnes. The E-ELT project will be used to observe the visible universe with a level of detail that is even greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. A mirror measuring approximately 39 metres will also allow the atmosphere of planets outside the solar system to be studied. The optical system of five mirrors is estimated to cost around 1.05 billion euros and is expected to be operational by 2024. It was originally announced by the ESO on 26 April 2010. vel
.