Construction of Giant Next-Generation Telescope Begins in Chile

Construction of the world's biggest telescope is now underway. A star-studded groundbreaking ceremony here in the Chilean Andes Wednesday evening (Nov. 11) — attended by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, United States ambassador to Chile Michael Hammer and other dignitaries — officially ushered the $1 billion Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) into the construction phase. When it's finished, GMT will boast a light-collecting surface more than twice as wide as that of any existing opti