This animation beautifully visualises the passage that light takes through the ELT telescope's novel five-mirror design. Light first reflects from the innovatively designed main mirror (M1), a 39 metre array of 798 hexagonal pieces, and then onto the secondary mirror (M2) which at 4 metres dwarfs the primary mirrors of all of ESO's instruments at the La Silla site. Two of the mirrors (M4 and M5) form part of the adaptive optics, and this unique collection of optics will produce images of incredible quality.
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Credit:
ESO/L. Calçada/ACe Consortium