Annonce
All Eyes on E-ELT in UK Exhibition
28 juin 2010
During the summer, in the UK, an exhibition including two innovative videos is showcasing inspirational plans to build the largest visible-light telescope in the world — the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT).
“Designing a Giant Eye on the Sky” is an exhibit at the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition, part of See Further: The Festival of Science + Arts at the Southbank Centre in London. The exhibit features an innovative dance video “Get the Hex”. The film project involves students from The Royal High School in Edinburgh working with filmmaker and dance choreographer team Craig and Joanne Thomson to create a piece representing the science behind the mirror in the giant telescope. Tom Bacciarelli, who teaches at The Royal High School, says: “In the film, 60 of our students dance with silver hexagonal umbrellas to portray the giant mirror, Earth-like planets and galaxies. I hope other schools will be inspired the way we are.” The project used dance to explore science in line with Scotland's new Curriculum for Excellence and will feature on Glow, the education intranet for Scottish schools. The project was coordinated by City of Edinburgh Council’s Creative Links team and funded by the Scottish Arts Council.
A second video at the exhibit is a 3D film animation about the telescope that shows that its giant dome is nearly as big as the London Eye, which is outside the exhibition venue on the South Bank.
The giant telescope is in an advanced stage of design by astronomers and industry across Europe, led by ESO. The E-ELT, with a main mirror 42 metres in diameter, is expected to revolutionise our understanding of the Universe and its origins.
Professor Colin Cunningham of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, which is leading the partners involved in the UK part of this international project, explains: “The European Extremely Large Telescope will be the world’s largest optical telescope. It will enable us to track down Earth-like planets around other stars in the ‘habitable zones’ where life could exist, and study the earliest, most distant galaxies in the Universe. It will provide vital inspiration for young scientists and engineers and could bring contracts worth 200 million Euro to UK industry.”
Phil Harris, of OpTIC at Glyndwr University, which is developing technology to precision-polish mirrors for the telescope, says: “The telescope’s giant 42m diameter mirror will be made from nearly one thousand 1.4m hexagonal segments. The detail it will see in the night sky is equivalent to spotting a bumble bee at John O’Groats from Land’s End.”
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition showcases cutting edge research in science and engineering from across the UK. The Exhibition runs from Friday 25 June to Sunday 4 July 2010. The event is free and open to the public.
More information
The partners and funders for the “Designing a Giant Eye on the Sky” exhibit are: Chiara Bello Design, Design London, Durham University, the European Southern Observatory, Oxford University, OPTICON, OpTIC/Glyndwr University, the Royal Academy of Engineering, The Royal Astronomical Society, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA), UPS2 Cranfield, the UK Astronomy Technology Centre.
Dance video project partners:
- The Royal High School in Edinburgh is a state comprehensive school where many eminent scientists, artists and academics have been educated, including Alexander Graham Bell and Sir Walter Scott.
- Craig Thomson has worked over the last twenty years as an established artist, designer, photographer and film-maker.
- Joanne Thomson — Freelance Cultural Co-ordinator for Dance (Midlothian Council) and dance development artist.
- City of Edinburgh Creative Links Team is part of Arts and Learning, Children and Families, City of Edinburgh Council
Liens
Contacts
Professor Colin Cunningham
UK Astronomy Technology Centre, STFC
Cell: +44 131 668 8223
Tel: +44 7718 737171
Email: colin.cunningham@stfc.ac.uk
Dr. Isobel Hook
Oxford University
Tel: +44 7739 174455
Email: imh@astro.ox.ac.uk
Dan Hillier
UK Astronomy Technology Centre, STFC
Cell: +44 131 668 8406
Tel: +44 7821 800356
Email: dan.hillier@stfc.ac.uk
Henri Boffin
ESO, La Silla, Paranal and E-ELT Press Officer
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6222
Cell: +49 174 515 43 24
Email: hboffin@eso.org
Our use of Cookies
We use cookies that are essential for accessing our websites and using our services. We also use cookies to analyse, measure and improve our websites’ performance, to enable content sharing via social media and to display media content hosted on third-party platforms.
ESO Cookies Policy
The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy. It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy.
This Cookies Policy is intended to provide clarity by outlining the cookies used on the ESO public websites, their functions, the options you have for controlling them, and the ways you can contact us for additional details.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device by websites you visit. They serve various purposes, such as remembering login credentials and preferences and enhance your browsing experience.
Categories of cookies we use
Essential cookies (always active): These cookies are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our website. Without these cookies, the website cannot operate correctly, and certain services, such as logging in or accessing secure areas, may not be available; because they are essential for the website’s operation, they cannot be disabled.
Functional Cookies: These cookies enhance your browsing experience by enabling additional features and personalization, such as remembering your preferences and settings. While not strictly necessary for the website to function, they improve usability and convenience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent.
Analytics cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors interact with our website, such as which pages are visited most often and how users navigate the site. This data helps us improve website performance, optimize content, and enhance the user experience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent. We use the following analytics cookies.
Matomo Cookies:
This website uses Matomo (formerly Piwik), an open source software which enables the statistical analysis of website visits. Matomo uses cookies (text files) which are saved on your computer and which allow us to analyze how you use our website. The website user information generated by the cookies will only be saved on the servers of our IT Department. We use this information to analyze www.eso.org visits and to prepare reports on website activities. These data will not be disclosed to third parties.
On behalf of ESO, Matomo will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
Matomo cookies settings:
Additional Third-party cookies on ESO websites: some of our pages display content from external providers, e.g. YouTube.
Such third-party services are outside of ESO control and may, at any time, change their terms of service, use of cookies, etc.
YouTube: Some videos on the ESO website are embedded from ESO’s official YouTube channel. We have enabled YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, meaning that no cookies are set unless the user actively clicks on the video to play it. Additionally, in this mode, YouTube does not store any personally identifiable cookie data for embedded video playbacks. For more details, please refer to YouTube’s embedding videos information page.
Cookies can also be classified based on the following elements.
Regarding the domain, there are:
- First-party cookies, set by the website you are currently visiting. They are stored by the same domain that you are browsing and are used to enhance your experience on that site;
- Third-party cookies, set by a domain other than the one you are currently visiting.
As for their duration, cookies can be:
- Browser-session cookies, which are deleted when the user closes the browser;
- Stored cookies, which stay on the user's device for a predetermined period of time.
How to manage cookies
Cookie settings: You can modify your cookie choices for the ESO webpages at any time by clicking on the link Cookie settings at the bottom of any page.
In your browser: If you wish to delete cookies or instruct your browser to delete or block cookies by default, please visit the help pages of your browser:
Please be aware that if you delete or decline cookies, certain functionalities of our website may be not be available and your browsing experience may be affected.
You can set most browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g. profile logging-in, shop check out).
Updates to the ESO Cookies Policy
The ESO Cookies Policy may be subject to future updates, which will be made available on this page.
Additional information
For any queries related to cookies, please contact: pdprATesoDOTorg.
As ESO public webpages are managed by our Department of Communication, your questions will be dealt with the support of the said Department.