12/13/2015

Anewgianttelescopeaimstoanswerthequestion:Isthereanybodyoutthere?|GlobalPost

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A new giant telescope aims to answer the question: Is there anybody out there?
Simeon Tegel
Dec 2, 2015 @ 11:30 AM

http://www.globalpost.com/article/6696647/2015/11/30/chilegianttelescope

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Anewgianttelescopeaimstoanswerthequestion:Isthereanybodyoutthere?|GlobalPost

The Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile is expected to be complete in 2021.

(GMTO Corporation/ Courtesy)

LIMA, Peru On a remote hilltop 8,000 feet above sea level in Chiles Atacama Desert, scientists hope to answer one of
the most fundamental questions facing humankind: Is there life elsewhere in the universe?
Thats one of various goals of the Giant Magellan Telescope, or GMT, now in the early stages of construction and
scheduled to startscanning outer space in2021. Once it does, it's expected to offerviews of the farthest depths of the
universe ever achieved.
With seven curved mirrors giving it a record optical surface80 feet in diameter, the GMTwill have the sharpest images of
any telescope ever built. Its resolution will be 10 times better than that of the Hubble Space Telescope.
That will allow scientists to peer not just to the edge of the universebillions of light years away, but also effectively back
in time.

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Anewgianttelescopeaimstoanswerthequestion:Isthereanybodyoutthere?|GlobalPost

In particular, they hope to focus on the period between 50 million and 100 million years after the Big Bang. Thats the
period when most stars, galaxies and black holes began to form and when the conditions for the start of life on many
other planets were most optimal.
But if that sounds challenging, then bear in mind that the telescope will be seeking out planets in the habitable zone
similar to ours, with water, moderate temperature fluctuations and a stable atmosphere. In most cases, those planets are
outshone billions of times by the neighboring stars around which they orbit.
Are we alone? That is a fundamental question that every human being is interested in answering, says Patrick McCarthy,
GMT president and a Carnegie astronomer.We are very lucky to be living at a time when we can begin attempting to
answer it.
Even when I was a graduate student, in the 80s and 90s, there was a certain degree of pessimism. It was that we are
either on our own in this universe, or else extremely rare. That has changed very quickly, with various breakthroughs in
the science, he adds.
Even if just one star in a billion has a planet in the habitable zone, McCarthy saysthat still leads to significant odds of life
developing elsewhere in the universe.There are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, one of just 100 billion galaxies. He says
there couldbeas many as 10 to the 15th habitable planets out there.
If the telescope issuccessful in picking up the first signs of extraterrestrial life even if it's just a few microbes rather
than intelligent beings it would be one of the most sensational discoveries in the history of science.
It would also silence the doubters, who still remaina significant minority of experts on the subject.
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Anewgianttelescopeaimstoanswerthequestion:Isthereanybodyoutthere?|GlobalPost

The consortium behind the GMT is made up of a host of colleges and research centers from Australia, Brazil, Korea and
the United States, including Harvard, Texas A&M, the Universities of Arizona, Chicagoand Texas at Austin, as well as the
Carnegie and Smithsonian Institutions. So far, they have already raised $500 million of the projects total $1 billion cost,
enough for them to decide to move ahead with breaking ground in Chile in November.
The site they have chosen in the Atacama desert is one of the driest areas on Earth.Itsideal not just because there are
roughly 300 days a year without clouds, or because of the altitude. The area also lackshumansettlements nearby that
give off the kind of ambient light that makes it harder to view the stars, a problem that's lessened the effectiveness of
some other large telescopes around the world. The Chilean site is so remote that the projects planners believe that even
in 50 years, there will still be no people residingor emitting light from their homes and businessesanywhere near the
GMT.
That has also allowed themto invest in some truly astonishing technology.

The telescopes secondary mirrors will be made from honey-combed glass. That makesthemunusually light, but also
lets themflex and bend, to compensate for atmospheric turbulence distorting light from distant galaxies.
Its that kind of turbulence that causes stars to twinkle, but which also presents a headache for astronomers. By flexing
tiny portions of their reflecting surface up to 500 times a second, the GMTs mirrors will give scientists a clearer, stable
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image.
Glass has this wonderful property that when you bend it so long as you dont break it unlike metal it has no
memory of being bent and returns to its original shape, McCarthy says. Glass is pretty stiff. You dont have to bend it
very much.
But now, as the GMT team reaches for the skies, the first step towardputting the telescope in place is building its
foundations by digging a huge hole on that Atacama hilltop.
Correction: A previous version of this article misrepresented the period which scientists hope to focus on as more than
50 billion years after the Big Bang.The story has been corrected to read 50 million to 100 million years.

2015 GlobalPost - International News

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