ELT: How Will It Affect Humanity?
Scientific technology has been advancing on for decades, and a new tool is currently being developed inside the Rubin Observatory: The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). This high-tech instrument is believed to be able to change the course of astronomy when it is finished, helping keep the Earth safe and discovering new stars and planets.
The ELT
The Extremely Large Telescope is currently being built by the European Southern Observatory, located on top of a mountain in Chile. Its development costs 1.3 billion euros (around $1.4 billion). It has a mirror that is approximately 128 feet across, and it will be capable of detecting terrestrial planets. Rather than one slab, the mirror is made up of many hexagonal segments, which are all individually cleaned and recoated. Because of the telescope’s and its mirror’s size, it will reflect a lot more light and be able to show finer details in the fainter objects. According to Keith Cooper on Space.com, “The telescope will be capable of seeing things no human has ever seen and of observing familiar objects in a level of detail never achieved.” This shows that the ELT is a game-changer and will be a huge step for astronomy technology. The Extremely Large Telescope will be one of the most powerful telescopes ever created in the history of astronomy.
Earth’s Protection
There have been many asteroids and meteorites that have come dangerously close to our planet. Even though most of them don’t survive the fall, these chances are never zero. But with ELT, scientists at Rubin can now observe comets like never before, and at the same time alert everyone to any particular shooting star that could harm Earth. “This is like a brand-new field of really looking at these things,” Dr. Schwamb said. “Most people aren’t monitoring asteroids, because no one will give us the observing time to do that.” His statement proves that the ELT will give scientists a greater advantage in learning more about the giant rocks in our galaxy. NASA is currently working on developing a system that can deflect and/or destroy any oversized rocks that may be a threat to planet Earth, and a new giant telescope will be a great help to spotting any threats before they get close enough to endanger humanity.
New Discoveries
In addition to being able to locate dangers to Earth, ELT can also discover new planets within our universe. After Pluto was demoted, astronomers discovered there were a lot more floating objects beyond our solar system, one of them being Planet Nine. Planet Nine was believed to be a planet with a mass several times larger than Earth’s. But all searches of the mysterious planet came out empty, leaving the existence of this planet unconfirmed. When ELT is finished, researchers in Rubin predict that though ELT may not directly point out Planet Nine, with its size and much better light reflection, it will give astronomers an opportunity to take picturesthe that could help them find the unseen planet. “There’s a good chance Rubin will simply just find it,” Dr. Brown, a scientist in California Institute of Technology, said. “If Planet Nine is on the brighter end of our predictions, Rubin will easily find it within the first year of operations.” This shows that since ELT is much more advanced than previous telescopes, it has a lot more ability to be able to find things that were previously unable to be seen with other technology.
Conclusion
The Extremely Large Telescope is an instrument currently in building progress, but when finished, it is determined to be able to do things no other telescope has been able to do before. With its giant mirror and advanced technology, it will be able to protect Earth from threats, help scientists discover things that weren’t possible before, and overall expand the knowledge of space even further.
