When was the gran telescopio canarias built

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Sign In. For all large telescopes the earth's atmosphere disturbes the light and degrades the image quality drastically, but thanks to adaptive optics this negative effect can be counteracted by applying very fast corrections in real time some times per second making use of a deformable mirror.

This is a very demanding technique, but the improvements in image quality and thus for science, are important. The telescope itself is enclosed by a dome that protects it from the elements.

At the same time the dome is designed to minimize the turbulence of the air close to the telescope. When an observing night commences than first the dome is opened, allowing the light from the stars to strike the telescope. Control of the telescope and the instruments is done remotely from the control room and highly automated. The available observing time is a valuable commodity.

To optimize its use, the observations are scheduled in a way that optimizes the use of the telescope according to the prevailing sky conditions. This so-call queue-schedule observing implies that many programs are simultaneously active and executed according to their scientific priority and taking into account their requirements in terms of observing conditions.

The GTC also makes use of an advanced control system and has a high reliability of operation through a preventive maintenance program designed to locate potential malfunctions before they occur, ensuring that downtime caused by these failures in the system are kept to a minimum. Part of the preventive maintenance is to ensure that the mirrors remain clean so that they optimally reflect the light. This in practice is not as simple as its sound!

The telescope mirrors are regularly cleaned by spraying CO2 snow over its surface. But about every two years each mirror segment comes out of the telescope to put a new reflective aluminium coating on its surface. The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory ORM is one of the prime observatory sites in the world, and without doubt the best site in Europe for ground-based optical and infra-red astronomical observations.

It is for that reason GTC was built on this location. More facts about the ORM can be found here. The ORM is characterized by its overall stable and good climatic conditions that make it favorable for astronomical observations.

Being located usually above the inversion layer where clouds tend to form, implies that often the observatory enjoys cloudless skies. But equally important are the low atmospheric turbulence which allows taking advantage of the very good image quality of the telescope with minimum disturbance by the atmosphere. Large telescopes like the GTC are built in order to study the faintest objects in the sky.

Obviously ambient light from cars and street lights hamper the telescopes in their work. Therefore, in order to protect the night skies from light pollution, a sky protection law was established several years ago that has helped ensuring that the ORM will remain a top-quality astronomical observatory for the years to come. Over the years several telescopes have been constructed at the ORM, and many countries have helped to shape the observatory and its astronomical excellence.

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