Watch as engineers take the first step in constructing the Giant
Magellan Telescope by leveling the top of Cerro Las Campanas, a
mountain in Chile, with explosives. Live streaming of the event
will begin at 9 a.m. PDT on March 23. The Giant Magellan
Telescope – one of a new generation of enormous telescopes —
will consist of seven 27-foot-diameter mirrors arranged like the
petals of a flower, giving it the resolving power of an 80-foot-
diameter mirror. Along with the Thirty Meter Telescope and the
European Extremely Large Telescope, it will dwarf the current
generation of 30-foot telescopes such as the U.S. Keck
Observatory and European Very Large Telescope. Cerro Las
Campanas is in Chile at the southern end of the extremely dry
Atacama Desert. The arid location makes for exceptionally clear
nighttime skies, which will be a great benefit for astronomers.
The mountaintop will be leveled to provide a large platform for
the GMT. The Las Campanas range is already the site of the
21-foot Magellan Telescopes. The G