Massive Construction Effort Begins For World's Largest Telescope

An anonymous reader writes with this selection from a press release issued by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics: "Astronomers have begun to blast 3 million cubic feet of rock from a mountaintop in the Chilean Andes to make room for what will be the world's largest telescope when completed near the end of the decade. The telescope will be located at the Carnegie Institution's Las Campanas Observatory-one of the world's premier astronomical sites, known for its pristine conditions and clear, dark skies. Over the next few months, more than 70 controlled blasts will break up the rock while leaving a solid bedrock foundation for the telescope and its precision scientific instruments."

uhm

[Real_Reddox]

Astronomers have begun to blast 3 million cubic feet of rock

I think you'll find that the people blasting rock aren't astronomers...

Job safety

[gtirloni]

Besides knowing the depths of the space, they are also construction workers.

more than 70 controlled blasts

[MichaelSmith]

And here's me thinking they were going to blow stuff up at random in the hope a telescope would come out of it.

Science!

[Anonymous Coward]

As we have learned from Mythbusters, it just isn't science unless you blow something up at some point!

"Ludicrous Speed"

[zrbyte]

I just love the naming convention of these telescopes. The guys in the organizational committee must have been watching too much Spaceballs

There's the Very Large Optical Telescope [wikipedia.org], then there's the Overwhelmingly Large Telescope [wikipedia.org] and the European Extremely Large Telescope [wikipedia.org]. What's next? Ridiculously Large Telescope?

Re:"Ludicrous Speed"

[Anonymous Coward]

They've gone to PLAID! (Particularly Large Array of Independent Dishes)