Giant telescope starts scouring space
Offline This is some pretty exciting astronomy news, certainly space telescopes are exciting and very effective, especially because of being above the atmosphere which can distort images, but terrestrial telescopes are very useful. This mammoth telescope will be helpful in the study of the universe and will be a great additional tool for astronomers.
Giant telescope starts scouring spaceTENERIFE, Canary Islands (AP) — One of the world's largest and most powerful telescopes opened its shutters turned its 34-foot wide mirror toward the skies and captured its first light at a mountaintop on one of Spain's Canary Islands on Saturday.
The $179 million Great Canary Telescope, designed to take advantage of pristine, clear skies at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory atop the Atlantic island of La Palma, should be fully operational by May 2008.
On a crystal-clear night, Spain's Crown Prince Felipe keyed in the computer codes which brought the observatory's complex machinery to life.
Slowly, 12 of the telescope's eventual 36 mirrors aimed at a twin star close to the Earth's northern axis, near the North Star. Twelve images merged into one as the telescope focused.
Among those in La Palma for the opening was Brian May, lead guitarist of pop group Queen, who studied part of his doctorate in astrophysics at the Canary Island institute.
May, who recently published "BANG! The Complete History of the Universe" with astronomers Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, said he was adding the finishing touches to a musical score which will be played at the telescope's inauguration next summer.
"The GTC will be able to reach the weakest and most distant celestial objects of the universe," the institute said.
Planning for the GTC began as long ago as 1987, when the nearby William Herschel telescope with a 13.8 feet diameter mirror became operational. Construction work took seven years and involved more than 1,000 people from nearly 100 companies.
"With this (telescope) it will possible to capture the birth of new stars, to study more profoundly the characteristics of black holes or to decipher the chemical components generated by the Big Bang," the institute said.
Large reflecting telescopes entered a new era in January 1949 when Edwin Hubble began capturing photographic exposures of space with the then massive 200-inch mirror at Mount Palomar Observatory, in north San Diego County, California.
The GCT is among the world's largest telescopes like the newly opened Southern African Large Telescope — Salt — which has a 36-foot mirror and has been described the southern hemisphere's largest single optical telescope and the Hobby-Eberly telescope on Mount Fowlkes, Texas, which also has an 36-foot mirror.
The Canary institute is considered one of the world's centers of excellence in astrophysics owing to the special geographical situation of the islands, off the northwest coast of Africa, which offers unusually transparent skies.
The cost of building the GTC was borne by Spain's Education and Science Ministry, the regional government of the Canary Islands and several overseas partners, including astronomical institutes in Mexico and the University of Florida.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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Crike!
Brian May has a PhD in Astrophysics??!!
I think I've just decided he's my hero.
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I know, I heard the same thing a couple years ago and was a little surprised.
Very cool.
Some guys are so successful at so many things it is hard not to be a bit jealous.
Here is his bio from his website"
BRIAN MAY
Official Biography
With a musical career spanning 3 decades, Queen founding member BRIAN MAY is a world-renowned guitarist, songwriter, producer and performer.
Brian has penned 22 top 20 hits worldwide, among them the anthemic 'We Will Rock You', 'The Show Must Go On', 'I Want It All', 'Fat Bottomed Girls' and powerful ballads including 'Who Wants To Live Forever', 'No-One But You', and 'Save Me'.
As an accomplished solo artist, Brian has recorded 2 highly successful solo albums - 1991's Back To The Light, including 'Too Much Love Will Kill You' and 'Driven By You', both Ivor Novello Award winners, and 1998's Another World.
Brian's songs continue to influence many different genres of musicians, with versions recorded by such diverse artists as Def Leppard, George Michael, Ted Nugent, Elaine Paige, 5ive, Shirley Bassey, Metallica, Claire Sweeney, Macy Gray and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Tolga Kashif. Brian has collaborated with numerous artists including Robbie Williams, The Foo Fighters, Guns’n’Roses, Zucchero and The Yardbirds, as well as making guest appearances at a number of charitable concerts where he has performed solo and, amongst others, with Bryan Adams and Luciano Pavarotti. Brian was proud to play feature guitar on the Winter Olympics 2002 Opening music for his good friend, composer the late Michael Kamen.
Two thousand and two was also the year in which Brian provided one of the defining images of the celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee - when he opened 'The Party at the Palace Jubilee Concert' performing his own arrangement of God Save the Queen' live from the roof of Buckingham Palace. Seen by 1.2 million people outside the palace and on millions of televisions across the world, it will long remain one of those historical moments indelibly printed in time.
Brian developed an interest in film scoring when Queen became the first rock group to score a major film, 'Flash Gordon'. Definitive music for 'Highlander' followed, then an Opera for Steve Baron's 1996 'Pinnochio' and in 1999 Brian created a complete film soundtrack for the French art film 'Furia’.
Brian is, of course, no stranger to the theatrical world. As well as his contributions to his wife Anita Dobson’s live performance work, he wrote and performed the music for the Red and Gold Theatre Company's 'Macbeth', at London's Riverside Theatre in 1987. The enormously successful and long awaited Queen rock theatrical ‘We Will Rock You’ at London’s Dominion Theatre has received standing ovations since opening in May 2002. Remaining the UK’s best selling show acclaimed by over one million theatregoers, productions have since been opened in Melbourne and Madrid in 2003. Brian’s role as producer and musical director extends to overseas productions, which sees shows opening in Perth, Brisbane, Las Vegas, Sydney, Moscow and Cologne in 2004 with further overseas productions planned for 2005.
In October 2002, Queen were honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, joining the Beatles as one of the few non-US bands to earn this accolade. This followed just 4 months after Queen were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, enrolled for "Queen's million selling achievements over three decades and in particular for having achieved the distinction of being the only group in which each of its members have achieved No.1 songs". Brian's ‘We Will Rock You’ was particularly singled out for being one of the USA's most played songs as well as a sports anthem to hundreds of organisations and teams throughout the US.
Brian’s ongoing commitment to Aids awareness led to Queen becoming a driving force in the '46664' campaign in collaboration with The Nelson Mandela Foundation, which culminated in a concert in November 2003. The concert, performed by leading African artists and a host of top international artists in front of an audience of 40,000 at Green Point Stadium, Cape Town, was simultaneously broadcast to a worldwide audience via TV, webcast and radio becoming the most widely distributed media event in history with an audience of over 2 billion in 166 countries.
More recently, Brian has joined an impressive list of world-famous talent with whom PepsiCo International has worked. During filming in Rome in September 2003, Brian recorded a unique version of his timeless track ‘We Will Rock You’ with Beyonce, Pink and Britney Spears to accompany the epic Pepsi advertisement, which also features Enrique Inglesias.
Other credits include designing a planetarium show currently showing in Germany, re-mixing Queen recordings in 5.1 Surround Sound, and writing themes for several TV shows. He has also enjoyed lending his inspirational skills to the 3 top selling volumes of ‘The Best Air Guitar in the World Ever!’.
Brian also retains his keen interest in astronomy - a regular contributor to Sir Patrick Moore's 'Sky at Night' - and is currently working on a book on T R Williams, a prominent stereo photographer of the 1850's. He is patron to a number of charities including The Mercury Phoenix Trust and The British Bone Marrow Donor Association. Brian can also be addressed as Dr May, since being awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Hertfordshire. Brian enjoys interacting with his fans who can contact him and enjoy updates on his work and thoughts via his website at www.brianmay.com.