Curiosmos
  • Home
  • Unsolved Mysteries
  • Ancient Civilizations
  • Cosmic Phenomena
  • Alien Theories
  • Curious Lists
No Result
View All Result
Like us on Facebook
Curiosmos
  • Home
  • Unsolved Mysteries
  • Ancient Civilizations
  • Cosmic Phenomena
  • Alien Theories
  • Curious Lists
No Result
View All Result
Curiosmos
No Result
View All Result

The Giant Magellan Telescope: A Titan Poised to Outshine Hubble and Webb

Ivan PetricevicbyIvan Petricevic
April 14, 2023 - Updated on January 20, 2024
in Editor's Picks
The Giant Magellan Telescope. YouTube/The Giant Magellan Telescope.

The Giant Magellan Telescope. YouTube/The Giant Magellan Telescope.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The goal is kind of simple, to unveil the very secrets of the universe from a location atop the Atacama Desert in Chile. Are you ready to have your mind blown?


We wrote about this state-of-the-art telescope in 2021, but we felt we needed to publish another piece just to let people know how big of a deal this telescope really is.

A New Giant in the World of Telescopes

The James Webb Space Telescope may currently hold the title of the largest and most powerful telescope in space, but an enormous challenger awaits on the ground – the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). Set to become the world’s largest telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope’s launch has been delayed until 2029, but its capabilities will be four times more powerful than Webb’s, promising groundbreaking discoveries.

A Colossal Telescope with Unrivaled Capabilities

Costing significantly less than the $10 billion James Webb telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope boasts four times the spatial resolution of Webb, ten times that of Hubble, and 200 times more than other terrestrial telescopes. Its construction takes place on Cerro Las Campanas in Chile, south of the Atacama Desert, which also houses the VLT (the most powerful optical instrument) and ALMA (the largest radio telescope in the world).

Related Posts

This magnificent Hubble image shows the Veil Nebula, one of the most studied supernova remnants in the universe. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Here Are 30 Jaw-Dropping Images Taken By The Hubble Space Telescope

February 25, 2021 - Updated on January 21, 2024
What did we learn from the Hunga-Tonga volcanic eruption. Credit: UNICEF/NOAA

5 Things We Learned From the Mega Explosion of Tonga’s Volcano

February 8, 2022 - Updated on January 21, 2024

A Prime Location for Unparalleled Observations

The Giant Magellan Telescope’s location is crucial for its success. The Atacama Desert’s night sky remains virtually free of air pollution and minimally affected by light pollution. With an estimated 300 clear-sky nights per year, it provides one of the best locations on Earth for long-term astronomical observation.

Giant Magellan Telescope Design: A Honeycomb of Mirrors

Featuring seven 8.4-meter mirrors arranged in a honeycomb pattern, the Giant Magellan Telescope will have the equivalent of a single 25.4-meter diameter mirror. This unique design enables a powerful resolution ten times greater than NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

Giant Magellan Telescope: A New Era in Astronomy

Astronomer Wendy Freedman declared in 2015, when the Giant Magellan Telescope project received its first $500 million in funding, that the telescope would “usher in a new era in astronomy.” The Giant Magellan Telescope aims to reveal the universe’s first light-emitting objects, explore the mysteries of dark matter and energy, and identify potentially habitable planets in our galactic neighborhood.

Capturing Light on a Grand Scale

With the ability to collect light 50 million times better than the human eye, the Giant Magellan Telescope is an engineering marvel. Housed in a 22-story building weighing 4,800 tons, the observatory’s complex optics must accommodate our planet’s atmospheric vibrations and variable density.

The Ultimate Galactic Quest

A collaboration of 13 universities and institutions worldwide, the telescope seeks to answer the question, “Are we alone in the universe?” Together, these organizations strive to uncover the galaxy’s secrets, decipher our cosmic origins, and potentially pave the way for unraveling dark matter’s mysteries.

This article has been updated to correct the following in May 2023.

• The cost of James Webb was listed as $2 billion rather than $10 billion
• The 25.4-meter mirror was listed as 24.5-meters in the article
• Light collecting ability is listed 19 million times the human eye rather than 50 million (This is a stat recently updated by the Giant Magellan Telescope team)

PLEASE READ: Have something to add? Visit Curiosmos on Facebook. Join the discussion in our mobile Telegram group. Also, follow us on Google News.

Share157Tweet98Share27ShareSend
Ivan Petricevic

Ivan Petricevic

I've been writing passionately about ancient civilizations, history, alien life, and various other subjects for more than eight years. You may have seen me appear on Discovery Channel's What On Earth series, History Channel's Ancient Aliens, and Gaia's Ancient Civilizations among others.

Related Posts

The James Webb Space Telescope has found a galactic question mark
Editor's Picks

Why Is the Universe 93 Billion Light-Years Across If It’s Only 13.7 Billion Years Old?

November 27, 2024
A supermassive black hole is depicted in this artist's concept, surrounded by a swirling disk of material falling onto it. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Editor's Picks

Something Escaped a Distant Black Hole at Nearly the Speed of Light and NASA Observed It 

May 30, 2020 - Updated on March 3, 2023
An artist's illustration of the internal makeup of Earth. Depositphotos.
Editor's Picks

What’s the Deepest Hole We’ve Drilled, and Can we Reach the Center of Earth?

September 2, 2022 - Updated on January 21, 2024
Tel Megiddo, also known as Armageddon bears traces of habitation spanning back more than 9,000 years. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Editor's Picks

The Ancient City of Armageddon Predates the Egyptian Pyramids by 4,000 Years

May 18, 2020 - Updated on January 21, 2024
Geoengineering to cool the Earth.
Editor's Picks

Geoengineering to cool the Earth with reflective particles is moving forward

September 29, 2018 - Updated on April 15, 2025
Shutterstock.
Editor's Picks

Treasures of the Deep: 7 Underwater Discoveries That Left Experts Amazed

July 5, 2019 - Updated on August 31, 2021
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Fair Use Notice
  • DMCA / Removal
  • Impressum
  • Contact
  • Fact-Checking Policy
  • Ethics Policy
  • Ownership and Funding Information
  • Impressum
CURIOSMOS.COM

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Unsolved Mysteries
  • Ancient Civilizations
  • Cosmic Phenomena
  • Alien Theories
  • Curious Lists