Brazil Ignites Telescope Race Deal Boosts Europe’S Bid to Build World’S Biggest Observatory, As US Groups Compete for Funds

NEWS IN FOCUS TUNISIA Stifled for decades, SOLAR PHYSICS High hopes for NEUROSCIENCE Picturing CHINA A maverick plots a scientists welcome the the Glory probe’s mission to Alzheimer’s plaques in the clear course for marine revolution p.453 watch the Sun p.457 living brain p.458 research p.460 ESO

Site tests suggest that the superlative observing conditions on Cerro Armazones make it an ideal location for the European Extremely Large Telescope.

AstroNoMY Brazil ignites telescope race Deal boosts Europe’s bid to build world’s biggest observatory, as US groups compete for funds.

BY ADAM MANN member. It also significantly improves the odds E-ELT. In return, Brazil will contribute about that the European Extremely Large Telescope €300 million (US$400 million) to ESO over o astronomers, Cerro Armazones in (E-ELT), an optical behemoth that would be the ten years, including a €130-million entry fee. Chile’s Atacama Desert practically world’s largest telescope and possibly the most That is enough to tip the scales in favour of the screams for an observatory. Above it important astronomical tool of the century, E-ELT being built and to cement ESO’s status Tis the same dry, stable air that gives the Very will be built on the summit of Armazones, with as the world’s leading astronomical research Large Telescope (VLT), 20 kilometres away construction to begin as soon as next year. entity. ESO had already selected Armazones as at Cerro Paranal (see map), one of the world’s “We have the site. We have the design. The the preferred site for the E-ELT next- generation best views of the heavens. But at 3,064 metres, addition of Brazil puts the whole funding observatory, which would have a segmented more than 400 metres higher than Paranal, scenario on a much sounder footing,” says Tim main mirror that is a staggering 42 metres Armazones should make an even better perch de Zeeuw, director-general of ESO, which is across — giving it 15 times more light-gathering for an extraordinary telescope. headquartered in Garching, Germany. power than the largest telescopes in use today. The mountain may not have much longer The deal will give Brazil’s astronomers access But until now, it has not been clear whether to wait. On 29 December, Brazil announced to ESO’s facilities and put the organization would secure the estimated its intention to join the European South- the country’s burgeon- NATURE.COm €1 billion it needs to make the E-ELT a reality. ern Observatory (ESO), which operates the ing high-tech sector in For more on The news increases pressure on two US-led VLT among other sites in Chile. If ratified by a position to bid com- next-generation efforts of comparable scale: the Thirty Meter Brazil’s parliament, the move will make it the petitively on building telescopes: Telescope (TMT) project, which also consid- consortium’s fifteenth, and first non-European, components for the go.nature.com/lpcyol ered Armazones but instead opted for the

advantages of a US location on Mauna Kea ESO has also asked members for a further evaluate where science will be — not today, not in Hawaii, and the Giant Magellan Telescope “extraordinary contribution” of €400 million, next month, but in ten years.” Ulvestad says the (GMT), a 24.5-metre instrument planned on which should cover the remaining construc- agency should be ready to conduct a review of the summit of Cerro Las Campanas in Chile. tion costs of the E-ELT, says de Zeeuw. Despite proposals from the GMT and TMT by mid- Both are backed by a broad collaboration of US austerity measures, he hopes that the European 2011, with a decision to follow by December. universities and international partners, and are states will formally agree to provide the extra Another complication is that the decadal aiming for first light around 2019, about the funding by the middle of this year. review lists building the Large Synoptic Sky same time as the E-ELT. Roger Davies, an astrophysicist at the Telescope (LSST), an 8.4-metre survey instru- Last year, the US astronomical community’s University of Oxford, UK, and chair of the ment that will image wide areas of the sky, as Astro2010 decadal review recommended that E-ELT standing review committee, says that a higher immediate priority than the GMT or the National Science Foundation (NSF) support Brazil’s entry greatly improves the odds that the TMT. Adhering to this would mean that the a giant new observatory. But with resources remaining funds will fall into place. If that hap- NSF would not be free to commit construction constrained, the panel said the NSF must pens, ESO’s governing council could approve funding to other projects before the LSST is choose between the two US-led telescopes. the E-ELT by September, with construction to built, which could be late in the decade — long begin early next year. after the GMT and TMT project teams hope to gRANdER dESIgN be well on the way towards completion. Both the E-ELT and the TMT are designed along Both projects are making contingency plans the lines of the two 10-metre Keck Telescopes in BOLIVIA in case federal funding does not materialize. “It Hawaii, but on a grander scale. Their primary certainly would be helpful,” says GMT director mirrors will consist of hundreds of 1.45-metre Antofagasta ALMA Chajnantor Patrick McCarthy, but the GMT could still go hexagonal mirrors, the position of which can Cerro Paranal Cerro Armazones ahead without NSF support, he says, as its inter- be controlled individually to optimize image national partners, Australia and South Korea, CHILE quality. By contrast, the GMT will be composed have made their funding commitments. of six 8.4-metre mirrors arranged around a Cerro La Silla Similarly, Edward Stone, vice-chair of the seventh, central mirror of the same size (see TMT’s board of directors, says that the TMT ‘Big eyes on the sky’). ARGENTINA aims to get started as planned, “and that will The scientific case for such enormous South be if the NSF joins or not”. But the TMT could Paci c instruments is strong, says Ray Carlberg, an Santiago soon face a setback. A draft planning docu- Ocean European Southern astrophysicist at the University of Toronto, Observatory sites ment circulated this month by the Canadian Canada, and the Canadian project director of astronomical community recommends that the TMT. They will see to the edge of the vis- Canada pull out of the TMT and seek mem- ible Universe and discern the formation of the For the TMT and GMT, by contrast, bership of ESO if, by 2014, the TMT has fallen earliest stars, galaxies and black holes. Closer momentum has slowed. The decadal review, significantly behind the E-ELT. to home, they will image planets in orbit which recommended that the NSF cover 25% The recommendation is a reminder of the around other stars and probe their atmos- of the cost of one project, urged the agency to high stakes in the rivalry, as observational pheres for constituents that might indicate the make the decision between the two projects “as astronomy shifts from an era in which a dozen presence of life. Any country without access to soon as possible”. Researchers are concerned or so major observatories represented the lead- such a powerful instrument will be at a great that a prolonged period of uncertainty could ing edge of the field to a time when just two or disadvantage compared with the rest of the drive away other partners. three will do so. “People are realizing it will be astronomical community, says Carlberg. An informed decision cannot be made with- devastating to be left behind,” says Carlberg. Because of their size and cost, such projects out analysing how such a large investment will By joining ESO, Brazil, which also considered require more resources than any single nation shape the scientific community in the years the GMT and TMT, has apparently decided it can provide. In ESO’s case, Brazil’s cost of entry to come, says James Ulvestad, division direc- will not be left behind. The coming year will is matched by a total of €300 million already tor for astronomical sciences at the NSF. “It’s determine who else may be in or out of astrono- committed by the 14 European members. predicting the future,” he says. “You have to my’s next great round of cosmic exploration. ■

BIG EYES ON THE SKY How the megascopes compare n; TMT; ESO TMT; n; O i T ra O rp O GMTO C GMTO

PROJECT NAME: Giant Magellan Telescope PROJECT NAME: Thirty Meter Telescope PROJECT NAME: European Extremely Large Telescope SELECTED SITE: Cerro Las Campanas, Chile SELECTED SITE: Mauna Kea, Hawaii SELECTED SITE: Cerro Armazones, Chile DIAMETER OF MIRROR ARRAY: 24.5 metres DIAMETER OF MIRROR ARRAY: 30 metres DIAMETER OF MIRROR ARRAY: 42 metres PARTNERS: United States, Australia, South Korea PARTNERS: United States, Canada, Japan, India, China PARTNERS: European Southern Observatory members ESTIMATED COST: US$700 million ESTIMATED COST: US$1 billion (14 European states and Brazil) PROJECTED CONSTRUCTION PERIOD: 2012–20* PROJECTED CONSTRUCTION PERIOD: 2012–19* ESTIMATED COST: US$1.4 billion * Subject to funding * Subject to funding PROJECTED CONSTRUCTION PERIOD: 2012–21