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Weighing up the case for telescope site on la palma

Weighing up the case for telescope site on la palma

Weighing up the case for telescope site on la palma

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The European Southern Observatory (ESO) Council will soon decide where to install the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The currently recommended site is Armazones, a sierra near Paranal in Chile (_Nature_ 464, 146; 2010). But there is also a strong case for considering the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) on the Canary Island of La Palma. This European site has the support of the European parliament and meets the astronomical requirements and logistical services necessary to make the operation cost-effective. For example, the E-ELT will need to use adaptive optics, which require a high-quality atmosphere in which the turbulent layers are as near to the telescope entrance as possible: the ORM's stable and predictable atmosphere makes it the best-quality site under consideration, as well as the most well studied. Spain has offered the €300 million (US$400 million) needed to implement the project. Siting the telescope in this European ultra-peripheral region would make it eligible for additional funding for its construction and operation. At the meeting of the European Conference on Research Infrastructures held last month in Barcelona, it was stressed that all European research-infrastructure projects must minimize and optimize their construction and operational costs. These stipulations could be fulfilled by choosing the ORM option. Another factor is the high seismicity of the Armazones region, which could affect the E-ELT's huge structure, multiple mirrors, complex instrumentation and adaptive optics. Additional security provisions could double the estimated costs. European astronomy should not put all its eggs into one shaky basket, when there is an alternative secure site nearer home that offers equally good astronomical conditions. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Via Lactea s/n, La Laguna, Tenerife 38200, Canary Islands, Spain , Francisco Sanchez Authors * Francisco Sanchez View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Contributions may be submitted to correspondence@nature.com. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Sanchez, F. Weighing up the case for telescope site on La Palma. _Nature_ 464, 977 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/464977c Download citation * Published: 14 April 2010 * Issue Date: 15 April 2010 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/464977c SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) Council will soon decide where to install the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The currently recommended site is Armazones, a sierra near


Paranal in Chile (_Nature_ 464, 146; 2010). But there is also a strong case for considering the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) on the Canary Island of La Palma. This European site


has the support of the European parliament and meets the astronomical requirements and logistical services necessary to make the operation cost-effective. For example, the E-ELT will need to


use adaptive optics, which require a high-quality atmosphere in which the turbulent layers are as near to the telescope entrance as possible: the ORM's stable and predictable


atmosphere makes it the best-quality site under consideration, as well as the most well studied. Spain has offered the €300 million (US$400 million) needed to implement the project. Siting


the telescope in this European ultra-peripheral region would make it eligible for additional funding for its construction and operation. At the meeting of the European Conference on Research


Infrastructures held last month in Barcelona, it was stressed that all European research-infrastructure projects must minimize and optimize their construction and operational costs. These


stipulations could be fulfilled by choosing the ORM option. Another factor is the high seismicity of the Armazones region, which could affect the E-ELT's huge structure, multiple


mirrors, complex instrumentation and adaptive optics. Additional security provisions could double the estimated costs. European astronomy should not put all its eggs into one shaky basket,


when there is an alternative secure site nearer home that offers equally good astronomical conditions. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Via


Lactea s/n, La Laguna, Tenerife 38200, Canary Islands, Spain , Francisco Sanchez Authors * Francisco Sanchez View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google


Scholar ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Contributions may be submitted to [email protected]. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Sanchez, F.


Weighing up the case for telescope site on La Palma. _Nature_ 464, 977 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/464977c Download citation * Published: 14 April 2010 * Issue Date: 15 April 2010 * DOI:


https://doi.org/10.1038/464977c SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently


available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative