UT System reaches for sky

Regents OK $50 million to fund 5% of telescope to be erected in Chile.

The world’s largest telescope moved a step closer to reality on Thursday when University of Texas System regents authorized the Austin campus to commit $50 million from its research reserves to the project.

The $1 billion Giant Magellan Telescope is to be built in Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the world’s highest and driest locations, attributes conducive for gazing at the heavens. With mirrors forming an optical surface whose aperture will measure 80 feet in diameter, the telescope will collect more light than any previous one, enabling researchers to look for evidence of life on other planets, study how stellar matter congealed after the Big Bang and otherwise study the complexities of the universe.

UT-Austin’s commitment — equal to 5 percent of the construction cost — will entitle its researchers to 16½ days of annual use of the telescope. The university hopes to raise an additional $50 million in donations, which would double its stake to 10 percent and its days to 33

This will place the astronomy department among the top departments in the world, not just the nation,” said Pedro Reyes, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the UT System.

UT-Austin is one of the founding partners of the Giant Magellan’s governing board, the others being Texas A&M University, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, the Carnegie Institution for Science, the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Arizona, Australian National University, Astronomy Australia Ltd. and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute.

Darren DePoy, a professor of physics and astronomy at A&M and a representative on the telescope’s governing board, said UT’s commitment is a “great demon-

stration of support” that advances the project significantly.

DePoy said A&M has contributed about $30 million, with a bit more than two-thirds donated by George Mitchell, the late oilman and philanthropist. A&M hopes to raise an additional $20 million in donations and university funds, DePoy said.

“The state of Texas is pretty unusual in having two state universities with active astrono- my programs that really want to pursue this kind of activity,” DePoy said.

The telescope’s governing board is expected to decide in the next year or so to start construction, and the telescope is expected to become operational around 2020.

Paul Foster, chairman of the UT regents, said the Giant Magellan project will complement, rather than replace, research at UT’s McDonald Observatory in West Texas.