Summary Building work on the European Extremely Large Telescope has been authorised by ESO's governing body.
PARIS (AFP) - The European Southern Observatory (ESO) said Thursday it would go ahead with construction of the world s most powerful land-based telescope, a behemoth designed to locate planets in other solar systems.
Building work on the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) has been authorised by ESO s governing body after funding pledges exceeded 90 percent of the roughly one-billion-euro ($1.25-billion) cost, the organisation said.
The E-ELT will be a 39-metre (1,535-inch) -aperture optical and infrared telescope sited on Cerro Armazones in Chile s Atacama desert, one of the most arid places in the world.
It will be located 20 kilometres (12 miles) from ESO s highly successful Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal.
Intended to start operations 10 years from now, the E-ELT "will be the world s largest eye on the sky ," ESO said in a press release.
"It will enable tremendous scientific discoveries in the fields of exoplanets, the stellar composition of nearby galaxies and the deep Universe," it said.
ESO s governing council approved the E-ELT in June 2012 but attached conditions to launching major work in order to ensure budget discipline.
It said contracts with a value larger than two million euros could only be awarded once the total cost of the telescope -- 1.083 billion euros at 2012 prices -- was funded to a 90-percent level.
An exception was made for ground-clearing work, which began with a ceremony in June this year.
Poland s accession to the ESO means that current funding commitments to the E-ELT have now exceeded the 90-percent threshold, the 15-member organisation said.
