The Search For Aliens Is About To Get More Intense

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The European Extremeley Large Telescope promises to be the world's most powerful (Credit: ESA)

The question of whether there is any form of life on other planets in our Universe has been plaguing humans for centuries - Now, the search is about to get even more intense, thanks to an ultra-large, uber-sophisticated telescope, innovatively dubbed - European Extremely Large Telescope or E-ELT!

Commissioned by the European Southern Observatory, a consortium of 15 European countries and Brazil, the telescope, which is expected to cost over $1.5 billion, is scheduled to be ready by 2020. While construction will not begin for at least a couple of years, scientists all over the world are currently vying for a chance to develop the sophisticated instruments that will be housed inside the dome-shaped structure, which amongst other things will feature a 40-meter (131 ft.) mirror put together from over 1,000 individual hexagonal segments.

The 'World's Biggest Eye On The Sky' will be built atop the 3,060 meters (10,000 ft.) high Cerro Amazones mountains that lie in the middle of Chile's Atacama Desert. The area, which also houses other powerful telescopes like the Paranal Observatory and the Atacama Large Military Array, is believed to be the ideal location for astronomical research because of its dry and arid climate.

The E-ELT will help atronomers glean inside some of the oldest galaxies (Credit: ESA)

When ready, the E-ELT will be ten times more sensitive to normal and infrared light than the Very Large Telescope that is currently in the Paranal Observatory — powerful enough to not only spot aliens but also, glean inside some of the oldest galaxies and help unlock secrets about how the Universe evolved to its current state.

Whether the 'World's Biggest Eye On The Sky' will be able to locate extraterrestrials is debatable — But, with the capability of taking pictures that are 15 times sharper than the Hubble Telescope, we are sure going to be the recipients of some amazing images of our Universe - So stay tuned!

Resources: Guardian.co.uk, esciencenews.com

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285 Comments
  • Connelly_2912almost 6 years
    OMG LOVED IT. I'm super exited
    • 1 2 3 4over 6 years
      whoa that's scary..
      • brendanalmost 7 years
        tell me about it
        • mlg_pro
          mlg_proover 7 years
          OMG WOW SO COOL
          • animealoveralmost 8 years
            ALIENS!!!!!!!!!! are coming to probe us
            • coolanime
              coolanimeover 8 years
              When I herd about this i was in shock😱........this soooooo Awesome
            • this isn't meover 8 years
              This is so amazing!!!!!!! There may be a whole planet of creatures far away and we might someday know!!!!!!!!!
              • nikeover 9 years
                wow
                • riverac6
                  riverac6over 9 years
                  like this comment if you have seen a U.F.O
                  • a man with ahatalmost 10 years
                    omg it's so big