Was thinking to make another thread but it's closely related so I'll stick it in here.
From Wikipedia:
"The
Extremely Large Telescope (
ELT) is an
astronomical observatory currently under construction. When completed, it is planned to be the world's largest
optical/
near-infrared extremely large telescope. Part of the
European Southern Observatory (ESO) agency, it is located on top of
Cerro Armazones in the
Atacama Desert of northern
Chile...
The ELT will search for extrasolar planets – planets orbiting other stars. This will include not only the discovery of planets down to Earth-like masses through indirect measurements of the wobbling motion of stars perturbed by the planets that orbit them, but also the direct imaging of larger planets and possibly even the characterisation of their atmospheres.
[55] The telescope will attempt to image Earthlike
exoplanets, which may be possible.
[1]
Furthermore, the ELT's suite of instruments will allow astronomers to probe the earliest stages of the formation of planetary systems and to detect water and organic molecules in protoplanetary discs around stars in the making. Thus, the ELT will answer fundamental questions regarding planet formation and evolution.
[4]
By probing the most distant objects the ELT will provide clues to understanding the formation of the first objects that formed: primordial stars, primordial galaxies and black holes and their relationships. Studies of extreme objects like black holes will benefit from the power of the ELT to gain more insight into time-dependent phenomena linked with the various processes at play around compact objects.
[55]
One of the goals of the ELT is the possibility of making a direct measurement of the acceleration of the Universe's expansion. Such a measurement would have a major impact on our understanding of the Universe. The ELT will also search for possible variations in the fundamental physical constants with time. An unambiguous detection of such variations would have far-reaching consequences for our comprehension of the general laws of physics"
Planned to become active in 2027
en.wikipedia.org
