Telescopes of the World

Large telescopes are found all over the world. Most large telescopes are based on high mountaintops, where Earth's atmosphere is thinner and does not interfere as much with light from distant stars.

Telescope Name

Aperture
(m)

Year of Startup

Observatory

Large Binocular Telescope	equivalent to 11.8 m (uses two 8.4-m primary mirrors)	2007	Mount Graham International Observatory (Mount Graham, Arizona, United States)
Gran Telescopio Canarias	10.4	2006	Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain)
Southern African Large Telescope (SALT)	~10.0	2005	South African Astronomical Observatory (Sutherland, South Africa)
Keck I	10.0	1993	W.M. Keck Observatory (Mauna Kea, Hawaii, United States)
Keck II	10.0	1996	W.M. Keck Observatory (Mauna Kea, Hawaii, United States)
Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET)	9.2	1999	McDonald Observatory (Mt. Fowlkes, Texas, United States)
Subaru Telescope	8.2	1999	National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (Mauna Kea, Hawaii, United States)
Antu¹	8.2	1998	Very Large Telescope array (VLT) (Cerro Paranal, Chile)
Kueyen¹	8.2	1999	Very Large Telescope array (VLT) (Cerro Paranal, Chile)
Melipal¹	8.2	2000	Very Large Telescope array (VLT) (Cerro Paranal, Chile)
Yepun¹	8.2	2000	Very Large Telescope array (VLT) (Cerro Paranal, Chile)
Frederick C. Gillett/Gemini North	8.1	2000	Gemini Observatory (Mauna Kea, Hawaii, United States)
Gemini South	8.1	2001	Gemini Observatory (Cerra Pachon, Chile)
Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT)	6.5	2000	Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (Mount Hopkins, Arizona, United States)
Walter Baade/Magellan I	6.5	2000	Las Campanas Observatory (La Serena, Chile)
Landon Clay/Magellan II	6.5	2002	Las Campanas Observatory (La Serena, Chile)
Bolshoi Teleskop Azimutalnyi (Bolshoi Azimuthal Telescope)	6.0	1975	Special Astrophysical Observatory (Nizhnij Arkhyz, Russia)
Large Zenith Telescope (LZT)	6.0	2004	University of British Columbia (UBC) Liquid-Mirror Observatory (British Columbia, Canada)
Hale Telescope	5.1	1948	Palomar Observatory (Palomar Mountain, California, United States)
¹Each of these telescopes can be used separately or as part of the Very Large Telescope array.

Appears in these articles:

Observatory; Telescope; Astronomy

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