OverWhelmingly Large Telescope (OWL)
A huge optical telescope, with a mirror about 100 m in diameter supported
by a structure about 200 m tall and weighing 40,000 tons. It would have
10 times more light-gathering power than all the other telescopes that have
ever been built put together, could be completed by 2015 for a cost of less
than $1 billion, and has been proposed by a team from the European
Southern Observatory. Among its uses would be obtaining spectra of the
atmospheres of extrasolar planets to
allow astronomers to look for signatures of life, such as the presence of
oxygen.
Archived news
Ground telescopes
to 'super-size' (Apr 10, 2005)
Related category
• OBSERVATORIES
AND TELESCOPES
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