Telescope project starts with a bang on the Web

Scientists are detonating a "Big Bang" explosion on a Chile mountaintop on Friday to start construction on a major new telescope, and Internet denizens around the world can watch the action live online.

Backers of the Giant Magellan Telescope, a huge 82-foot (24.5-meter) observatory that promises to outdo the Hubble Space Telescope several times over, will broadcast the first excavation blast from Las Camapanas Peak in Chile's high Atacama Desert live at noon ET.

"This marks the beginning of leveling and site preparation prior to construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope," telescope project officials said in their announcement of the "Big Bang Event."

The webcast is available at: https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/chile

Viewers must "Enter as a Guest" and type a name to login in order to view the blast, project officials said.

The Giant Magellan Telescope is one of several huge ground-based telescopes currently under way at various locations around the world. The project aims to build a $700 million telescope made up of six circular mirrors, each 28 feet (8.4 meters) across, which can be adjusted to eliminate the blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere.

The telescope is being built by 10 different university and organizations spread across Australia, South Korea and the United States. It is expected to be completed in 2018.

The Giant Magellan Telescope isn't the world's largest telescope on the drawing boards. The planned 138-foot (42-meter) European Extremely Large Telescope has that honor, and also begins construction this year. But the GMT should have 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope, project officials said.

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Researchers hope the new telescope will be able to shed new light on how the first galaxies formed, the true nature of dark matter and dark energy, and other astronomical mysteries.

The new telescope's location, at an altitude of 8,500 feet (2,550 meters) up in Chile's Atacama Desert, provides an optimal base for deep-sky surveys. The region can have dark, clear skies 300 nights a year and is currently home to many telescopes operated by the European Southern Observatory. The desert will also be the home of the European Extremely Large Telescope.

You can follow Space.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter@tariqjmalik. Follow Space.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46834643/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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