Gigantic New Telescope Breaking Ground in Chile This Week

Construction will begin this week on a giant new telescope in the mountains of Chile, and Space.com will be there to take in the milestone moment. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) — a huge instrument that astronomers will use to hunt for signs of life in the atmospheres of alien planets, probe the nature of dark energy and dark matter, and tackle other big cosmic questions — is scheduled to occur Wednesday (Nov. 11) at the Las Campanas Observatory in