World’s 11 Most Amazing Telescopes
Here are the top telescopes in the world, they've lets us see into space in ways we couldn't believe from the biggest to the best.
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7. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET)
Weighing an impressive 80 tons, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope or HET for short is an aperture telescope that is measured at being 30 feet and was built in the Davis Mountains in West Texas. Construction on the telescope took three years beginning in 1994 and ending in 1997. First light was achieved back in 1996 and since then it’s been used to study our solar system from things such as stars and galaxies, recently being upgraded to help find explanations for dark energy. The telescope is run by The University of Texas McDonald Observatory for a multitude of other universities such as Penn State and Stanford University.
6. The Arecibo Observatory
This radio telescope can be found living in the municipality of Arecibo, Puerto Rico where its construction was carried out from 1960 to 1963. Its radio telescope that’s measured at being 1,000 feet long was the largest single aperture telescope, that is, until the telescope in China that was just recently completed took that title. For those scientists that wish to use the telescope in their research, they must submit a proposal to do so and it has to be approved by an independent scientific board. The telescope is used in three specific areas: radar astronomy, radio astronomy, and atmospheric science.
5. The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST)
It was back in 2011 that China began to construct what is now the largest radio telescope in all of the world and the second largest single dish aperture. Abbreviated as FAST, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope was completed earlier this year and was first put to the test just a couple months ago in September. Surprisingly, this concept was proposed way back in 1994 and wasn’t approved until 2007 by the National Development and Reform Commission(NDRC). It was originally estimated that the entire budget needed to create this would be CN¥700 million but instead, it was stretched out to be the equivalence of 180 billion US dollars.
4.The Subaru Telescope
Sitting just close to the summit of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii is the Subaru Telescope that once held the record for the biggest monolithic primary mirror in the entire world until 2005. This telescope is classified as being a flagship telescope that is owned by the organization known as the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Thanks to an agreement between the University of Japan and the University of Hawaii that was sealed in 1986, construction of the telescope began in April of 1991 and it would be 7 years later that it would finally be completed. This also happens to be the main search tool being used to look for Planet Nine.
3. The W. M. Keck Observatory Telescopes (Keck I and Keck II)
Just like the telescope that was previously mentioned, the W. M. Keck Observatory Telescopes are located at the Mauna Kea Observatory on the island of Hawaii. The W. M. Keck Observatory Telescopes is situated at an elevation of 13,600 feet. Both telescopes of this astronomical observatory come equipped with a primary mirror that is measured at being 33 feet tall and are described as being “the two most scientifically productive telescopes on Earth.” The first telescope, the Keck I, saw first light back in 1990 and eventually the Keck II saw first light on October 23, 1996, after the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley Labs received additional funding from the W.M. Keck Foundation.
2. The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC)
Also known as the Great Canary Telescope when translated, this reflecting telescope can be found residing on top of a volcanic peak on the island of La Palma at 2,267 meters above sea level or 7,438 feet. The entire telescope took a tiring 7 years to fully complete due to weather complications and having to transport the necessary equipment and materials to such a remote area. After spending a whopping £112 million pounds and 20 years of planning, the telescope’s first light was finally achieved back in 2007.
1. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)
This astronomical interferometer of radio telescopes is comprised of a staggering 66 radio telescopes that are watching submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths. Abbreviated as ALMA, these telescopes happen to be a partnership between several countries that include Japan, Taiwan, Canada, Chile, South Korea, and the United States that cost a mind-numbing total of 1.4 billion US dollars. This makes it the most costly ground-based telescope that’s fully operational. The ALMA can be located at an altitude of 16,597 feet in the Atacama desert in northern Chile and first began to make scientific observations during the last half of 2011. It was also recently able to identify some of the earliest carbon “smog” to date.