Celebrating the telescope of the future

This wonderful arial image shows Asiago Astrophysical Observatory, part of the University of Padua near Asiago, Italy. Clearly visible is the final result of a game to produce a 1:1 scale model of the 39 metre primary mirror of the Extremely Large Telescope. Around the edge of the model mirror a ring of children celebrate their success at having constructed it.

The game was originally played during the 2011 Open House Day at the ESO headquarters in Garching, Germany and uses 800 hexagonal pieces of card — each 1.4 metres in diameter — to represent each of the mirrors that together make up the huge primary mirror.