Scientists across the world are working tirelessly on building the biggest and best telescopes to date. Here are the five most exciting you might not have heard about!
First on our list is the Inouye Solar Telescope which began operation in December of 2021. With the aim to expand our understanding of the sun’s behavior, the images taken will be able to see our sun three time smaller than before!
Set to launch later this year, the Euclid Space telescope will have the mission of understanding why the universe is expanding at an accelerating pace and what is responsible for this expansion.
Scheduled to begin operation in October 2023, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will make a survey of the southern hemisphere. Taking over 2 million images in 10 years, Rubin will provide the scientific community with information on dark energy & dark matter, an inventory of the solar system, mapping the milky way, and more!
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT – Pictured above) will be a visible and infrared light telescope with roughly 100,000,000 times more light collecting area than a Human eye. ELT will use lasers to calculate distortion caused by the atmosphere.
Finally, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), will be a combination of hundreds of radio telescopes set in the radio quiet regions of South Africa and Australia. SKA will detect the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen, to measure pulsars in the milky way and the red shifts of galaxies.
Follow the links below to learn more!
Euclid and the origin of the accelerating universe
European Southern Observatory – The Extremely Large Telescope
Square Kilometer Array (SKAO) Public Website
Move over JWST! 5 new telescopes to get excited for (Dr. Becky Smethurst – YouTube)
