The answer to today's Geo Quiz is Spain's Canary Islands.
There on the Island of La Palma, on top of a 7,300 foot tall volcanic mountain the first rays of starlight are falling on the mirror of a promising new telescope. It's one of the most powerful telescopes in the world and scientists hope it will shed more light on the origins of the universe.
Astronomers affectionately call the new telescope ‘Grantecan'. That's short for the Big Canaries Telescope in Spanish. Its main mirror, the biggest in the world, measures about 34 feet across. It's not a single mirror, but a patchwork of 36 smaller panels that will capture light coming from millions of light years away.
Standing beneath the device on the eve of what's called ‘first light', chief engineer Lluis Cavaller explains the basic technology. He says Grantecan is equipped with sensors to keep all those panels perfectly aligned. He says that helps compensate for atmospheric turbulence. In other words, Grantecan can remove the shimmering effect that makes stars 'twinkle.' Making it possible to see greater detail. Kelly Beattie is the editor of Sky and Telescope Magazine in Cambridge, MA. He says the telescope's massive size will allow it to pick up more than just stars.
BEATTIE : Another thing this telescope can do is look around other stars in our neighborhood and see if there are planets around them. By concentrating the light we can see very faint planets. And those are only shining by the reflected light of stars. So we actually have the chance to discover other solar systems and other earths.
The Canary Islands, far out in the Atlantic Ocean, have dark nights. So they're an ideal location for telescopes. Beattie says adding to the excitement around Grantecan's launch is a discovery this week. Scientists observed water vapour in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting around a star some 63 light years away.
BEATTIE : Now that planet is way too hot to support life, but bit by bit we're learning that there are planets out there. Some of them may be like the earth and with a little luck in 10 years or so we'll be searching them for signs of life.
Grantecan cost 143 million dollars and took 7 years to complete. But its powerful gaze will soon be eclipsed. In 2016, the Giant Magellen Telescope is expected to come on line. It's main mirror will be more than twice as big as Grantecan's.
