E-ELT

The gas giant Jupiter, as seen here in a color-enhanced Juno image, is one of the worlds included in the new reference catalog

Space

"Light-fingerprints" of our solar system might reveal secrets of distant exoplanets

A team of scientists from Cornell University has created a reference catalog detailing the “light-fingerprints” of worlds orbiting our Sun, in the hope that it will help future telescopes to uncover the true natures of distant exoplanets.

Images showing Neptune captured using the new adaptive optics mode, and another with it switched off

Space

Adaptive optics lifts Earth's atmospheric veil to reveal a sharper cosmos

Astronomers at the Paranal Observatory in Chile have achieved first light with a cutting-edge adaptive optics mode for the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), designed to remove interference caused by Earth’s atmosphere.

Construction has begun on the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), the world's largest optical and infrared telescope

Space

First stone laid on the European Extremely Large Telescope

Construction has finally begun on the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), with the first stone laid in a ceremony last week. Being built by the ESO on the 3,046 m (9,993 ft) high summit of Cerro Armazones in Chile, the E-ELT is set to be the world’s largest optical and infrared telescope.

An artist's impression of the E-ELT (ESO/L. Calçada)

Space

European Extremely Large Telescope gets final go-ahead

The ESO has given its European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) the final green light, allowing construction to go ahead. The telescope is expected to take around a decade to complete, with the final installation expected to facilitate discoveries in galaxy composition and exoplanets.