Giant Mirrors as a Milestone for Science

The Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham, has taken celestial images using its twin side-by-side, 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) primary mirrors together, achieving first “binocular” light. U.S., Italian and German partners in the telescope, known as the LBT, are releasing the images today. First binocular light is a milestone not only for the LBT– now the world’s most powerful telescope – but for astronomy itself, the partners say. The University of Arizona owns a quarter of the telescope’s observing time.
The LBT has a light-collecting area equivalent to a single 11.8-meter (39-foot) surface and will combine light to produce the image sharpness equivalent to a single 22.8-meter (75-foot) telescope. It is located on 10,480-foot Mount Graham in southeastern Arizona.

“To have a fully functioning binocular telescope is not only a time for celebration here at LBT, but also for the entire astronomy community,” UA Steward Observatory Director, Regents’ Professor and LBT Corp. President Peter A. Strittmatter said. “The images that this telescope will produce will be like none seen before. The power and clarity of this machine is in a class of its own. It will provide unmatched ability to peer into history, seeing the birth of the universe.”

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