GMT Brazil | GMT Brasil

- Giant Magellan Telescope-

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be part of the next generation of giant ground-based telescopes that promise to revolutionize our vision and understanding of the Universe. It´s being built at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The telescope is scheduled to start operating in 2029.

The State of São Paulo takes part in the project through financial support from FAPESP - São Paulo State Research Support Foundation.

bloco para a página fascínio do universo

"Every new generation of telescopes pushes the boundaries of scientific knowledge and leads to major new insights."

- Giant Magellan Telescope Organization

GMT has a unique design that offers several advantages. It is a segmented mirror telescope that employs seven of the largest rigid monolith mirrors of the present as segments. Six off-axis segments, plus a central one - all 8.4 meters in diameter - form a single optical surface of 25.4 meters in diameter. With its collecting area of 368 square meters, the GMT has a hundred times greater area and ten times better sharpness than the Hubble Space Telescope. The GMT project is the effort of an international consortium involving important universities and scientific institutions in four continents.