LARGE BINOCULAR TELESCOPE

The 'Large Binocular Telescope' ('LBT', originally named the 'Columbus Project') is located on 10,700-foot Mount Graham in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona and is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. As of November 2006, the telescope is under construction and partly operational. When the LBT is fully operational, it will be the world's highest resolution and most technologically advanced optical telescope, creating images in the near-infrared expected to be nearly 10 times sharper than images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Contents

Project

First Light

In the media

Additional photos

Other MGIO facilities

See also

External links

Project

LBT is a joint project of these members: the Italian astronomical community (represented by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, INAF); the University of Arizona; the LBT Beteiligungsgesellschaft in Germany (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Landessternwarte in Heidelberg, Astrophysical Institute Potsdam (AIP), Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Munich and Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn); The Ohio State University; Research Corporation in Tucson.
The telescope design has two 8.4-meter mirrors mounted on a common base, hence the name "binocular". LBT takes advantage of active and adaptive optics, provided by Arcetri Observatory. The collecting area is equivalent to an 11.8-meter circular aperture, greater than any other single telescope. Also, an interferometric mode will be available, with a maximum baseline of 22.8 meters for aperture synthesis imaging observations and a baseline of 15 meters for nulling interferometry.
The choice of location sparked considerable local controversy, both from the San Carlos Apache Tribe, who claimed the mountain is sacred, and from environmentalists who contended that the observatory would cause the demise of the endangered Mount Graham Red Squirrel. Environmentalists and members of the tribe filed some 40 lawsuits—eight of which ended up before a federal appeals court—but the project ultimately prevailed after an act of the United States Congress.
The telescope and mountain observatory survived two major forest fires in eight years, the more recent in the summer of 2004.

First Light

The telescope was dedicated in October 2004 and saw first light with a single primary mirror on October 12, 2005 while viewed NGC_891.[1][2] The second primary mirror was installed in January 2006. The telescope is not yet fully operational. As of May 2007, the LBT is scheduled to see "second light"—using both mirrors simultaneously "later this year"[3].

In the media

The telescope has also made an appearance on an episode of the TV show ''Really Big Things'' on the Discovery Channel.

Additional photos

Other MGIO facilities

★ Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope

★ Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope

See also

★ List of astronomical interferometers at visible and infrared wavelengths

★ List of largest optical reflecting telescopes

★ Mount Graham International Observatory

★ Safford, Arizona

External links

★ Website of the LBT

★ LBT Live Cam

★ LBT Observer's Wiki

★ The Research Corporation

★ LBT Beteiligungsgesellschaft

★ Discovery Park - Guided MGIO tours for the public