Powerful telescope to be built in Chile (AP/CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

Thursday, May 18, 2006; Posted: 1:52 p.m. EDT (17:52 GMT)

TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- A mountain peak in Chile has been chosen as home for the world's most powerful survey telescope.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a Tucson-based project, will be able to scan the entire visible sky every three nights.

The 8.4-meter telescope will be 50 times as powerful as any survey telescope, with the ability to image the entire visible sky in just days, instead of years as required by current telescopes, said LSST project manager Donald Sweeney.

He said the LSST will be able to map the visible sky rapidly and continuously, providing a new way to observe the universe.

The observations will focus on astronomy and fundamental physics, including studies in dark energy and dark matter to understand why the universe is expanding.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/05/18/chile.telescope.ap/index.html