Press Releases:
March 15, 2012
Large Binocular Telescope brings the Universe into Sharper Focus
World’s Most Powerful Optical Telescope
Uses New Technology to
Make Groundbreaking Discoveries
Tucson, Ariz. – Today astronomers from the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) released the first series of scientific results showing its best-in-the-world performance in canceling the blur of the Earth’s atmosphere. Included in these first findings are previously impossible discoveries about extrasolar planets and their environments and new insights into how stars are formed.
The LBT is the first in the new generation of extraordinary large ground-based telescopes that uses advanced adaptive secondary mirrors to see more clearly than ever before. The LBT utilizes two giant 8.4 meter mirrors (27.5 feet) and is located on Mt. Graham in southeastern Arizona.
“With this unrivaled new technology, we can now probe the close-in environments of nearby stars with a clarity that was previously not possible,” said Richard Green, Director of the LBT. “We expect these to be the first of many amazing new discoveries as we are now able to observe in unique detail the formation of stars and their systems of planets.”
- Exoplanets observed close to their host star: LBT has measured in unprecedented detail the fourth, innermost planet in the HR8799 planetary system, located more than 128 light-years from Earth. These LBT observations significantly revise previous understanding of the atmospheres of the four planets.
- A better look at star formation: LBT observations of the Trapezium region in Orion were able to determine the positions of young stars in their orbits around each other with seven times greater accuracy than any previous study. These results confirm a long-suspected theory about the nature of star formation.
- A new view of an intriguing debris disk: The LBT was able for the first time to probe more deeply into the interior of the debris disk surrounding the star HD 15115, revealing a symmetrical structure quite different from previous observations by other telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope.
June 15, 2010
Large Binocular Telescope Achieves First Binocular Light
New Technology Brings Space Telescope Image Quality Down to Earth, Offering Astronomical Image Clarity Never Seen Before
(Tucson, Arizona)
--- The next generation of adaptive optics has arrived at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona, providing astronomers with a new level of image sharpness never before seen. Developed in a collaboration between Italy's Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) and the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. Until relatively recently, ground-based telescopes had to live with wavefront distortion caused by the Earth's atmosphere that significantly blurred the images of distant objects (this is why stars appear to twinkle to the human eye). While there have been advancements in adaptive optics technology to correct atmospheric blurring, the LBT's innovative system truly takes this concept to a whole new level.
(Full Press Release)
(PDF)
March 6, 2008
Large Binocular Telescope Achieves First Binocular Light
Milestone Means World’s Most Powerful Telescope Now Viewing with Both Eyes Wide Open
(Tucson, Arizona)
--- After more than one decade of preparation, the world’s most powerful telescope
is now looking skyward with both of its massive eyes wide open. The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT)
partners in the U.S.A., Italy and Germany are pleased to announce that the LBT has successfully achieved
first binocular light.
With this latest milestone, the LBT will provide new and more powerful views of
deep space, including potentially answering fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and
mysterious worlds in other planetary systems.
(Full Press Release)
(Word Document)
September 14, 2007
Why is the Hercules Dwarf Galaxy so flat?
First accepted refereed publication based on observations with the new Large Binocular Telescope
Through some of the very first scientific observations with the brand-new Large Binocular Telescope
(LBT) in Arizona, an international team of astronomers has found that a recently discovered tiny
companion galaxy to our Milky Way, named the Hercules Dwarf Galaxy, has truly exceptional properties:
while basically all of its known peers in the realm of these tiny dwarf galaxies are rather round,
this galaxy at a distance of 430000 Light Years appears highly flattened, either the shape of a disk
or of a cigar.
(Full Press Release)
October 26, 2005
LBT successfully achieves “FIRST LIGHT”
(Tucson, Arizona) --- The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) partners in the U.S.A.,
Italy and Germany are pleased to announce that they achieved “First Light”
on Oct. 12, 2005. These exceptional images were obtained with one of the
telescope’s two primary mirrors in place and are being released today on the
World Wide Web, http://www.lbto.org.
(Full Press Release)
April 7, 2004
8.4-meter Mirror Successfully Installed in LBT
The University of Arizona today announced that the first 8.4-meter (27-foot)
primary mirror for the world’s most powerful telescope, the Large Binocular
Telescope (LBT), has successfully been installed in the telescope structure at
Arizona’s Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO).
(Full Press Release)
November 3, 2003
World's Largest Telescope Mirror Moves to the LBT
The world’s most powerful optical telescope, which will allow astronomers to
see planets around nearby stars in our galaxy, took a giant step closer to
completion late last week when the first of its huge 27-foot diameter mirrors
inched up a tortuous mountain road to its new home at Arizona’s Mount Graham
International Observatory. For more, see Full Press Release