James Webb Telescope

 Launched on December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope is the largest, most powerful space telescope ever built. It will allow scientists to look at what our universe was like about 200 million years after the universe first began. Cost to date $10-billion.

  Launched in 1990 Hubble is orbiting about 350 miles above the Earth, the Hubble Space Telescope has a clear view of the universe free from the blurring and absorbing effects of the atmosphere.  The telescope has beamed over 1-millions celestial images back to Earth during its time in space. Cost to date $16-billion.

  Launched in 2003, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope was the fourth and final addition to NASA’s Great Observatory program. Spitzer’s mission was to become NASA’s premier infrared light observatory.  Operations ended on 30 January 2020.   Cost $720-million.

   FAST is the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope, with a diameter of 500 meters (1640'.  Dubbed "China Sky Eye," FAST is about 2.5 times as sensitive as the second-largest telescope in the world and capable of receiving a maximum of 38 gigabytes of information per second. 

    ALMA uses 66 high-precision dish antennas of two sizes: 54 of them are 12 meters (39 feet) across and 12 of them are 7 meters (23 feet) across which observe electromagnetic radiation at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths.  Cost $1.5 billion. Weight 100 tons each (Total 6,600 tons). 

    The VLA radio telescopes comprises 27 independent antennas in use at a given time plus one spare, each of which has a dish diameter of 25 meters (82 feet) and weighs 230 short tons each. (Total 6,480 tones) Cost $78.5 million.

  The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is an astronomical observatory currently under construction. When completed, it will be the world's largest optical / near-infrared extremely large telescope and is project to see first light in 2028. Projected cost $1.4 Billion. Weight 2,700 tons.

   Unlike the James Webb Telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope is a land-based system constructed amongst Chile's dark skies. It will consist of the largest mirrors ever built, with ten times the light gathering ability of James Webb  project to see first light in 2025. Projected cost $1.0 Billion. Weight 2,100 tons.

 ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) is a flagship facility for European ground-based astronomy. It is one of the world's most advanced optical telescopes, consisting of four Unit Telescopes with main mirrors of 8.2m diameter and four movable 1.8m diameter Auxiliary Telescopes.  Cost $1.59 Billion.

  When using both 8.4 m (330 inch) wide mirrors, with center's 14.4 m apart, the LBT has the same light-gathering ability as a 11.8 m (464 inch) wide single circular telescope and the resolution of a 22.8 m (897 inch) wide one. Cost $110-million.  

  GTC) is a 10.4 m (410 in) reflecting telescope.  It is the world's largest single-aperture optical telescope.  The GTC began its preliminary observations on 13 July 2007. Cost $180-million. Weight 400 tons.

 (HET) With its 11-meter (433-inch) mirror, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) is one of the world's largest optical telescopes. It was designed specifically for spectroscopy, decoding of light from stars and galaxies to study their properties.  It is ideal in searching for planets around other stars   Cost $13.5-million

   The W. M. Keck Observatory is an astronomical observatory with two telescopes at an elevation of 4,145 meters (13,600 ft) near the summit of Mauna Kea in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Both telescopes have 10 m (33 ft) aperture primary mirrors.   Cost $140-million.  Weight 300 tons each.

    The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is a 9.2-metre optical telescope designed mainly for spectroscopy. It consists of 91 hexagonal mirror segments each with a 1-metre inscribed diameter, resulting in a total hexagonal mirror of 11.1 by 9.8 m. Cost $43-million. Weight 30 tons.

    The Subaru Telescope is located on the summit of Maunakea, a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. The summit of Maunakea is an isolated peak that protrudes above most of the Earth's weather systems. Primary mirror  size 8.2 m (27 ft). Cost $377 million.  Weight 612 ton, and 2,205 total tons. 

   The Gemini Observatory's telescopes can collectively access the entire sky. The suite of capabilities at Gemini includes a wide-field laser adaptive optics system that complements other current ground- and space-based telescopes. Aperture size 8.1 m (319 in) ea. Cost $184-million. Weight 342 tons ea.  

    The MMTO is the home of the MMT (formerly Multiple Mirror Telescope), which has a primary mirror 6.5 m in diameter. The name comes from the six smaller mirrors originally used before the single primary mirror was installed in 1998. Cost unknown.

   The Magellan Telescopes are a pair of 6.5-metre-diameter (21 ft) optical telescope. These telescopes are both equipped with instruments to take images and spectra of light from a wide variety of astronomical sources, including exoplanet systems, star-forming regions, supernova remnants, and interacting galaxies.

   The SPT is a 10-meter diameter microwave / millimeter / sub-millimeter telescope located at the NSF Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, which is the best currently operational site on Earth for mm-wave survey observations due to its stable, dry atmosphere.  Cost $19-million. Weight 280 tons. 

    Based only on uncertain descriptions of the first practical telescope which Hans Lippershey tried to patent in the Netherlands in 1608, Galileo, in the following year, made a telescope with about 3x magnification. Cost a few  lira. Weight maybe 5lbs.

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