Giant Mexican telescope launched

a gigantic satellite dish, sits high in the mountains of central Puebla

state.

It will pick up radio waves that have been travelling through space for
some 13 billion years.

The telescope`s antenna has a diameter of 50m (164ft) and is the largest
of its kind in the world.

"This telescope will allow us to make fundamental discoveries about the formation and
evolution of galaxies, about the formation and evolution of stars, and about the origin
of the Universe itself," National Astrophysics Institute Director Jose Guichard said
during the inauguration.

Scientists say it is the most important scientific and technological project in the
country`s history.

The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT), which cost $120m, was partly funded by the US.
As its name suggests, it will be sensitive to electromagnetic radiation at millimetric
wavelengths - about 0.85mm to 4mm.

This will give it the ability to see through the dust in the interstellar medium that
obscures the view of many other astronomical facilities.

President Fox said it would "put Mexico in the scientific and investigative vanguard in
this field".

The telescope is built on the 4,580m (15,026ft) summit of an extinct volcano called
Sierra Negra - the fifth highest peak in Mexico.

The air on the peak is so thin that scientists working at the site have to have bottled
oxygen to hand in case they faint.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6175446.stm

/Siyavash
2006-11-25 07:52
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