A commemorative time capsule was buried at the development site of what is going to soon be the world’s largest visible and infrared light telescope.
On Oct. 13, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) celebrated its upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ETL) by burying a time capsule that was sealed in 2017, when construction first began. The capsule is full of tokens celebrating ESO staff and the cooperation between the observatory and Chile. It also celebrates the amazing science and technology behind the 39.3-meter telescope.
“Serving as a symbolic message to future generations, it accommodates mementos from Chilean authorities, including a plaque from the then President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet Jeria, about opening the skies of the country to the questions of a complete planet, in addition to drawings from Chilean children featuring the Universe, ESO telescopes and northern Chile landscapes,” ESO officials said in an announcement.
Related: Amazing space views by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (photos)
Photographs of ESO staff and a replica of a book describing the long run scientific goals of the ELT, which is predicted to see its “daybreak” by 2028, were also preserved. The time capsule was buried within the wall of the ELT dome on Cerro Armazones within the Chilean Atacama Desert, where the ESO currently operates its Very Large Telescope (VLT).
The time capsule was covered in an engraved hexagon that may be a one-fifth-scale model of one in all the ELT’s primary mirror segments. The Oct. 13 event was led by ESO Council President Linda Tacconi (Germany) and Vice-President Mirjam Lieshout-Vijverberg (The Netherlands). A couple of days later, on Oct. 15, ESO Council members mounted a commemorative plaque next to where the time capsule was buried.
In July, the ELT reached the halfway point in its construction, with an expected completion date of 2028. While the telescope appears as only a steel structure at once, it would eventually house five separate mirrors, the most important of which can be made up of 798 individual hexagonal segments.
At 39.3 meters (120 feet) wide, the ELT will have the opportunity to soak up more light than current ground-based telescopes and thus provide sharper images of the cosmos, which could aid within the search for all times outside Earth and reveal latest insight on the character of dark matter and dark energy.
“As the most important optical and infrared telescope on the earth, the ELT will shift our understanding of the universe,” ESO officials said within the statement. “Its scientific goals range from the solar system to the sting of the observable universe, including exoplanets, black holes and the primary stars and galaxies.”