![]() This is partly due to observational discoveries in other wavelength bands often requiring follow-up observations with large optical telescopes to confirm their scientific value. While the country does have world-class observatories operating in the radio and high-energy bands, its lack of medium and large optical telescopes could hinder the overall development of Chinese astronomy. The largest domestic “general-purpose” optical telescopes are the 2.4m telescope in Yunnan and the 2.16m telescope in Hebei. Meanwhile, the largest Chinese optical telescope is the Guo Shoujing Telescope, with an average aperture of 4m, however this is a special telescope only used for spectral surveys. The largest apertures currently available are all approximately 10m, offered by the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) in La Palma, Spain, the Keck telescopes in Hawaii, the Hobby–Eberly Telescope (HET) in Texas, and the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) at the Northern Cape.įuture telescopes currently either planned or under construction will extend the largest apertures available to 25-40m, including the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and Giant Magellan Telescope under construction in Chile – with 39.3m and 24.5m primary mirrors respectively – and the Thirty-Meter Telescope planned in Hawaii which, as its names suggests, will have a 30m primary mirror. They are installed in the Americas, Europe, and Africa – all outside of Asia. ![]() Named the Expanding Aperture Segmented Telescope (EAST), the new instrument will be constructed in two phases (with an initial diameter of 6m, later expanding to 8m) and is intended to narrow the current gap in optical astronomy capability between China and the rest of the world.Ĭurrently, optical astronomical telescopes with an aperture of more than 6m are mainly owned by the United States, Europe, and Japan. ![]() China has made plans to construct an optical telescope with the largest aperture in Asia by 2030.
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