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European Extremely Large Telescope tilted for the first time

Original: 2000 tonnes of steel sliding on a few microns of oil! Our Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) was tilted for the first time

The European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope in Chile has been tilted on its horizontal axis for the first time, moving roughly 2,000 tonnes of steel structure on a film of oil only microns thick. Combined with its earlier rotation on the vertical axis, this allows the telescope to point anywhere in the southern sky. Astronomers celebrated the milestone as a major step toward first light of what will be the world's largest optical telescope.

Why now: A major engineering milestone for the world's largest optical telescope, marking its first full movement toward operation.

European Southern ObservatoryExtremely Large TelescopeChileAtacama Desert

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