High up in Chile’s Atacama desert, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is building the world’s largest optical telescope, named the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).
Set to start capturing images by 2028, this massive project could help expand our understanding of the universe.
A crucial part of the ELT’s design is its advanced mirrors, without which this groundbreaking telescope wouldn’t be possible, as explained by BBC.
One of the key mirrors is the M1, the largest mirror ever made for an optical telescope. This 39-meter-wide mirror is made up of 798 hexagonal segments and will gather 100 million times more light than the human eye.
Dr. Elise Vernet, an adaptive optics specialist at ESO, shares that M1 has to be incredibly precise, keeping its position and shape accurate to a level 10,000 times finer than a human hair.
BBC notes that another impressive mirror, the M4, can change its shape 1,000 times per second to correct for any disturbances, ensuring the telescope’s images remain clear.
These mirrors are being created with extraordinary attention to detail. For example, the M4’s six thin glass-ceramic petals were made in Germany, then polished in France before being sent to Chile.
As BBC highlights, these efforts will allow the ELT to be “the world’s biggest eye on the sky,” and the mirrors will play a central role in the telescope’s success.
In addition to these large mirrors, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany are developing quantum mirrors.
They have managed to create a mirror using just 200 aligned atoms, a structure so small it can’t be seen by the naked eye. This breakthrough could lead to advancements in quantum technologies, like super-secure networks, according to BBC.
Meanwhile, in another part of Germany, the optics company Zeiss is creating ultra-flat mirrors that are critical for producing advanced computer chips.
These mirrors are used in machines that print tiny circuits onto silicon wafers, and Zeiss aims to keep improving them to make even more powerful chips.
By 2030, they hope to help create a microchip with one trillion transistors, up from today’s hundreds of billions, as reported by BBC.
These groundbreaking mirrors, from those in space telescopes to those used in quantum technologies and chip manufacturing, are at the heart of future advancements in technology.
As BBC emphasizes, they will continue to push the boundaries of what humanity can achieve in the coming years.
https://www.bbc.com/business/technology-of-business