Life, the universe … and the Extremely Large Telescope

ASTRONOMERS based in Scotland are to take a leading role in building the world’s biggest telescope.

The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), which is being billed as “one of the key astronomical facilities of the 21st century”, will be able to search for “habitable zones” beyond our solar system.

It will also attempt to solve two of the biggest mysteries that have baffled astronomers – the formation of “dark matter” and “dark energy”.

The £950 million twin infrared/optical telescope, will be built on the 3,064-metre high Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile’s Atacama desert. .

The mirror inside it will be 39 metres across and will be tens of times more sensitive than any current telescope of its kind.

The European Southern Observatory Project, which is supported by 15 European countries, have approved the project that Edinburgh-based scientists have spent the past decade helping to develop.