Latest news with #telescope
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Science
- Wall Street Journal
A Cosmic Mystery: Is China Building the World's Biggest Telescope?
Astronomer Robert Kirshner investigates some of the universe's biggest questions: What happens when a star explodes? Is the universe still expanding? He recently added a new mystery to the list: Is China quietly building the world's biggest telescope? He would like to know, because he leads a rival telescope project in the U.S.
Fast Company
3 days ago
- Science
- Fast Company
Trump's budget cuts may hand Spain a scientific prize worth billions
BY As the U.S. backs away from key climate, aid, and scientific investments, Europe is stepping in to pick up the slack. Europe's latest intervention? Saving a plan to build one of the world's largest, cutting-edge telescopes. This week, the Spanish government offered to pay $470 million to take over one of the most ambitious astronomy projects in history, known as the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). In the deal, Spain would also provide the unconstructed mega-telescope a home atop a rugged peak on La Palma, one of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. After massive proposed cuts to the National Science Foundation's $9 billion budget, the project faced a financing shortfall that likely spelled its doom. Trump's cuts, detailed in late May, slash the foundation's budget by more than half, jettisoning funding for the TMT while keeping another $3 billion telescope project, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) – under construction now in Chile – alive. 'Faced with the risk of this major international scientific project being halted, the Government of Spain has decided to act with renewed commitment to science and major scientific infrastructures for the benefit of global knowledge,' Spain's Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities Diana Morant said. When constructed, the telescope will be a modern scientific marvel. Named the Thirty Meter Telescope for the size of its mirror, the project was designed to take on some of astronomy's most compelling questions, searching the deep skies for signs of extraterrestrial life, evidence of the universe's origins and clues about the nature of dark matter. Compared to images from the James Webb Space Telescope, a triumph of engineering itself, the TMT will produce images four times sharper. A controversial telescope Pondering the universe's biggest mysteries is a shared human experience, but the TMT's journey to investigate them has proven surprisingly divisive. The plan to build a mega-telescope with a mirror as big as a blue whale began in 2003. The project evolved over time into a consortium of scientists from around the globe, an organization now known as the TMT International Observatory (TIO). The group determined that the ideal site for the massive lens was the summit of Hawaii's highest peak, Mauna Kea. While Mauna Kea's high, dry summit attracts astronomy projects and already hosts thirteen other telescopes, the peak's history as a sacred place in Hawaiian culture prompted a public outcry from residents and conservationists who wanted the TMT built elsewhere. The mountain is known as the home of the god Wakea and plays a central role in native Hawaiian creation stories, a status that inspired a resistance movement against plans to further develop the area. It's not the project's first pick, but Spain's offer to host the project is a natural fit. The Spanish island of La Palma was already the telescope's backup plan, and like Mauna Kea it offers a remote, high perch with consistently clear skies and infrastructure already in place from other international observatories. 'In 2019, the Government of Spain already expressed its willingness for the TMT to be built on this island, and now, six years later, it is taking a decisive step with a strategic investment that will benefit the European Union, Spain, the Canary Islands, and especially La Palma,' Spain's Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities said. Trump-era cuts to science funding weren't the first time that the U.S. budget imperiled at least one of the two major next-generation telescopes in the works. With the GMT still on track, its counterpart might have a brighter future under an eager government across the ocean. 'While some countries are cutting science investments and even denying it, Spain is a refuge for science,' Morant said. The super-early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is tonight, July 25, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Taylor Hatmaker is a writer and photographer based on the West Coast. She was previously a Senior Editor at TechCrunch, where she specialized in social media, gaming and online culture. More
NHK
17-07-2025
- Science
- NHK
World's largest digital camera captures clear images of galaxies
A team at an astronomical observatory in Chile has released images by "the world's largest digital camera", which can capture 3.2 billion pixels. The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly set up by US institutions, is equipped with an 8.4-meter telescope and a 3.2-gigapixel camera. It has been recognized as the world's largest digital camera by Guinness World Records. The equipment is said to provide the widest field of view achieved by a telescope of its class -- wide enough to capture an area of the sky equivalent to 45 full moons in a single exposure. Images taken between April and May were made public for the first time. One composite image, compiled from 678 photos, reveals galaxies located thousands of light years from Earth in the direction of the Sagittarius constellation. The image clearly shows gases and dust -- the materials that form stars. Another composite, made from 1,185 photos captured in the direction of Virgo, reportedly contains around 10 million galaxies. The team plans to continuously photograph the entire sky over the southern hemisphere over the next ten years. Scientists hope to make new discoveries, such as finding asteroids within the solar system and identifying how dark matter distorts space. Dark matter is a mysterious substance making up the majority of a galaxy's mass and acting as an invisible glue that keeps stars, dust, and gas together. Associate Professor Utsumi Yousuke of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and a member of the team said he expects numerous astronomical questions will be answered by observing the universe with an unprecedented breadth and depth.
The Independent
16-07-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Scientists witness birth of solar system in unique spectacle
Scientists have for the first time observed a solar system in the earliest stages of its formation. Using a powerful telescope, researchers witnessed the initial material clumping together to form planets. This breakthrough offers new insights into how solar systems, including our own, develop. The nascent system is forming around HOPS-315, a young star approximately 1300 light-years from Earth. The observations captured the very beginning of planet formation within the star's protoplanetary disc.
South China Morning Post
16-07-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
China joins US in hunt for ripples in spacetime with new telescope in Tibet
High on the Tibetan Plateau, China has completed a cutting-edge telescope designed to detect ripples in spacetime from the dawn of the universe with the help of the United States – strengthening a global effort to probe how everything began. The Ali Cosmic Microwave Background Polarisation Telescope (AliCPT), perched at 5,250 metres (17,220 ft) in Tibet 's remote Ali prefecture, was finished this month after eight years of construction involving 16 institutions worldwide, including Stanford University, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Led by the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in Beijing, the project is one of the few surviving examples of China-US collaboration in basic science at a time when geopolitical tensions have sharply curtailed joint research. Among the project's international partners, Stanford University played a key role in building and testing the telescope's detectors and readout systems, ensuring the 'brains' of the instrument could operate reliably in freezing conditions before being shipped to Tibet, according to a 2020 paper in Proceedings of SPIE. The cutting-edge Ali Cosmic Microwave Background Polarisation Telescope took eight years to build. Photo: Handout The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) could also contribute to the project.
