It’ll be “the world’s biggest eye on the sky.” The European Southern Observatory has awarded a €400 million contract to build the European Extremely Large Telescope—the largest ever in ground-based astronomy, DW reported. The European Extremely Large Telescope will have a main mirror measuring nearly 40 meters in diameter, making it the largest optical telescope in the world, and will be built on a chosen site on the Cerro Armazones, a 3,000-meter peak in northern Chile. “The E-ELT will produce discoveries that we simply cannot imagine today, and it will inspire people around the world to think about science, technology and our place in the universe,” Tim de Zeeuw, European Southern Observatory Director General, said.
