Worlds largest telescope to be built in Hawaii

HONOLULU A consortium of U.S. and Canadian universities announced Tuesday it has decided to build the world's largest telescope in Hawaii.

Mauna Kea volcano was picked by Thirty Meter Telescope Observatory Corp. The other finalist candidate site was Chiles Cerro Armazones mountain.

The $1.2 billion telescope should allow scientists to see some 13 billion light-years away a distance so great that researchers should be able to see images of the first stars and galaxies forming as the light they produced finally reaches Earth.

The telescope will be built by the University of California, the California Institute of Technology and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy.

Its mirror will stretch 30 meters, or almost 100 feet, in diameter. Thats about three times the diameter of the current worlds largest telescopes, which are located atop Mauna Kea.

Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano, is already home to 12 telescopes. Its popular with astronomers because its summit sits well above the clouds at 13,796 feet, giving scientists a clear view of the sky above for 300 days a year.

Hawaiis isolated position in the middle of the Pacific Ocean also means the area is relatively free of air pollution. Few cities on the Big Island mean there arent a lot of manmade lights around to disrupt observations.

The Thirty Meter Telescope would collect 10 times more light than existing telescopes, helping researchers more clearly see objects that appear faint with current devices. It is expected to routinely offer views of hundreds of planets orbiting around other stars and stars that are near the sun. Current telescopes have only rarely been able to show these images.

The Thirty Meter Telescope is the first of several massive telescopes universities plan to build, so it may not hold the worlds largest title for long.

A partnership of European countries plans to build the European Extremely Large Telescope, which would have an 138-foot mirror. The group is considering sites in Argentina, Chile, Morocco and Spain. It plans to decide on a location next year and be able to host its first observation in 2018.

Another group of universities plans to finish the Giant Magellan Telescope, also around 2018, with an 80-foot mirror in Las Campanas, Chile.