1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,000 ESO has just announced the site for its next large project, 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,000 the European Extremely Large Telescope. 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:15,000 This announcement comes after more than five years of detailed studies of many different sites. 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:22,000 Site selection experts make use of the most advanced technology and travel to remote, extreme places 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,000 to find the ideal site for studying stars and galaxies. 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:32,000 The right location is crucial when deciding where to put the best telescopes in the world. 7 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,000 This is the ESOcast! 8 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:43,000 Cutting-edge science and life behind the scenes of ESO, the European Southern Observatory. 9 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:50,000 Exploring the ultimate frontier with our host Dr J, a.k.a. Dr Joe Liske. 10 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,000 Hello and welcome to the ESOcast. 11 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,000 This week, ESO's governing body, the Council, 12 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:04,000 has selected Cerro Armazones in Chile as the site for the world's future biggest eye on the sky, 13 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:09,000 the new and revolutionary 42-metre European Extremely Large Telescope. 14 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:14,000 But how do we find the locations for the best telescopes in the world? 15 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,000 ESO has a long history in this field. 16 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:21,000 It all began in the late 1950s, when ESO was scouting for sites around the world 17 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,000 to find a location for its very first observatory. 18 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:29,000 Eventually the choice was La Silla, on the edge of the Atacama Desert in Chile. 19 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:35,000 Later, in the early 1980s, the hunt was on to find the perfect site for the Very Large Telescope. 20 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:43,000 This became what was then the most elaborate search ever undertaken to find a location for an observatory. 21 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:51,000 Top-notch observations require crystal-clear skies with extremely low humidity, 22 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,000 so ESO again looked to Chile’s remote Atacama Desert. 23 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:57,000 ESO selected several candidate mountains 24 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:04,000 and deployed a team to Mount Paranal in 1983 to begin detailed site testing. 25 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,000 In the early days, Paranal was relatively inaccessible 26 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:12,000 and the test equipment had to be carried up into the mountains on foot. 27 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,000 In the barren Atacama Desert, 28 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:22,000 the team kept detailed hourly logs of temperature, humidity, air pressure, and wind speed and direction. 29 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,000 In addition, they measured the sharpness of stellar images. 30 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:31,000 By better understanding the atmosphere, the scientists were able to choose the best site 31 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:36,000 in order to get the best possible science from the telescope. 32 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:44,000 During the early years of the survey we truly experienced the remoteness and isolation of the site. 33 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,000 People were working in teams of two, food was brought only every two weeks, 34 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,000 no communication with the outside world. 35 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,000 I think we really felt like the most isolated human beings on the planet. 36 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Modern telescopes make use of advanced technologies such as adaptive optics and interferometry, 37 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:07,000 and this requires a much better understanding of the atmosphere than what was needed before. 38 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:13,000 After eight years of constant vigilance, the site survey on Paranal was finally completed. 39 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:19,000 The team learned that Paranal offered clear skies for more 300 nights per year, 40 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,000 with little atmospheric turbulence or water vapour that could affect astronomical observations. 41 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:30,000 A fantastic site for ESO´s Very Large Telescope had finally been found! 42 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:36,000 ESO’s next optical and infrared telescope is the European Extremely Large Telescope, 43 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,000 or E-ELT, for short. 44 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:42,000 Since the end of 2005, ESO and its user community 45 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,000 have been working together to define this giant new telescope. 46 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,000 The E-ELT will be a revolutionary and powerful telescope, 47 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:57,000 which calls for a location with exceptional atmospheric conditions. 48 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,000 Search teams must also consider many other issues. 49 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:04,000 Where will the more than 150 staff live? 50 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Is water and electricity readily available? 51 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:12,000 Can a flat surface equivalent to several football fields be found? 52 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Does it have the necessary infrastructure to allow for the transport of a thousand shipping containers? 53 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:28,000 Over several years, the E-ELT site selection team, with the help of the community, 54 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,000 has been investigating different sites in several countries worldwide. 55 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,000 After narrowing the field during the last couple of years, 56 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,000 the site selection committee drew up a shortlist, 57 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:46,000 comprising four sites in Chile’s Region II, as well as El Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma in Spain. 58 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:51,000 As for the VLT, site testing for the E-ELT is a Herculean task, 59 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:57,000 and it really demands the utmost dedication from all of the scientists and engineers involved. 60 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,000 They have to work at high altitude in bone-dry conditions, 61 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,000 under the blazing daytime sun and in the darkness of night, 62 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:10,000 in order to collect the data that is so vital for the success of the next generation of telescopes. 63 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,000 Since the time of the VLT site testing, 64 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,000 there's been tremendous progress in remote sensing techniques, 65 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,000 using satellites and automated equipment on site. 66 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,000 This provides the scientists with an enormous amount of data 67 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 and also significantly reduces the amount of time needed for fieldwork. 68 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:33,000 The technical report concludes that of all the sites shortlisted, 69 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, stands out as the clearly preferred site, 70 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,000 because it has the best balance of sky quality across all aspects 71 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,000 and it can be operated in an integrated fashion with the existing ESO Paranal Observatory. 72 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Armazones is an isolated peak, with an altitude slightly above 3000 metres. 73 00:05:54,000 --> 00:06:01,000 It is located roughly 20 km away from Cerro Paranal, home of the Very Large Telescope, 74 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:06,000 and another exceptional site for astronomical observations. 75 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Finding the best site for an astronomical telescope is an exciting and demanding task. 76 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,000 Thanks to the enduring efforts of all the staff involved, 77 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,000 and with the help of the latest high tech equipment, 78 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,000 a trully outstanding site has been found for the world's future biggest eye on the sky. 79 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,000 This is Dr J signing off for the ESOcast. 80 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,000 Join me again next time for another cosmic adventure. 81 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,000 ESOcast is produced by ESO, the European Southern Observatory. 82 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,000 ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy 83 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,000 designing, constructing and operating the world’s most advanced ground-based telescopes. 84 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,000 Transcription by ESO ; translation by — 85 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,000 Now that you've caught up with ESO, 86 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:54,000 head 'out of this world' with Hubble. 87 00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:03,000 The Hubblecast highlights the latest discoveries of the world's most recognized and prized space observatory, 88 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:09,000 the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope