GTCdigital

Words can sometimes say a lot and mean very little. Whereas a picture, like the recent one of the GTC's completed primary mirror, can mean a great deal. At last the Universe has a mirror big enough to look at itself in; but it's the shape, not the size that we're going to think about today. Building a mirror over ten metres in diameter meant dividing it up into 36 hexagonal segments. Does that make you think of something else? Read this article

On the 23rd November their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Asturias, Don Felipe and Doña Leticia, made a private visit to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), at La Laguna in Tenerife, to see for themselves how work at the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) is progressing. Read this article

To the man in the street the idea of a telescope conjures up romantic images of someone peering through a thick tube at all the wonders of the Universe: the moon’s craters, our nearest planets in the Solar System, planetary nebulas... Read this article

Precision encoders analyse movement and turn it into electrical signals. At the GTC we will use them to determine the position of the telescope and its components. The encoders have now been installed...and some are more than 50 metres long. Read this article

In the world of cinema, "supporting" actors tend to be those with less prominent parts than the main protagonists. However, we often remember the supporting actor because he or she played a major role in building up the story. Just like in life itself. Read this article