Photo: Giant Magellan Telescope/GMTO Corporation
A telescope that is a qualitatively new instrument for studying outer space is expected to go live in 2024 in high-altitude desert in Chile. The location was chosen in large part because the location is one of the driest spots on Earth where one can expect to have near-perfect visibility almost year round.
The appropriately named Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be the world's largest and sensitive enough to potentially detect Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars as most planets detected so far were gas clouds similar to Jupiter. Discoveries of planets suitable for life similar to the life on Earth may bring us that much closer to discovering extra-planetary civilizations, if they actually exist.
The telescope brings forth a whole array of new capabilities, from optical imaging to spectral data acquisition. It may be one of these moments where slow accumulation of technological and scientific advances adds up to a visible - and paradigm-changing - shift in our knowledge and perspectives.
Sources
New Mega-Telescope Will Soon Rise in Chile's Andes Mountains
Mike Wall, Space.com, 9 September 2014
A $1 Billion Telescope That Will Take Pictures 10 Times Sharper Than Hubble's Is Now Officially Under Way
Dave Mosher, Business Insider, 19 August 2018