THIRTY METER TELESCOPE (TMT)
Location: Mauna Kea, Hawaii Type: Optical-infrared Diameter: 30 metres
4 This project is currently in progress as part of an international collaboration between Japan’s National Institutes of Natural Sciences and National Astronomical Observatory, the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, the National Research Council Canada, National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Department of Science and Technology of India.
Its name gives away the measurement of the large primary mirror, which will consist of 492 hexagonal panels. Between each 1.44-metre tessellated mirror is a gap of just 2.5 millimetres. The site of this telescope is at an altitude of 4,012 metres, and it will be used to analyse black holes at the heart of the Milky Way and other galaxies.