Launching in the 2030s, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be the world’s most powerful optical telescope. By producing images 10 times clearer than the Hubble Space Telescope, GMT will explore the distant universe, including the search for signs of life. Pictured is a nighttime interior rendering of the telescope. Image credit: Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation.
The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), an enormous ground-based telescope currently under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert, is one vital step closer toward completion.
Earlier this month, the National Science Foundation (NSF) confirmed the massive observatory will advance to its Major Facilities Design Phase, one of the final steps before becoming eligible for federal construction funding. Announced in December, Northwestern University is a founding partner of the GMT. Now, this critical milestone affirms the GMT’s scientific merit, construction progress and alignment with U.S. priorities in science and technology.
“This milestone reflects not just national recognition, but a shared global commitment to advancing discovery,” said Northwestern’s Vicky Kalogera, a key scientific leader of Northwestern’s GMT initiative. “With this visionary facility, Northwestern researchers will be at the forefront of unlocking the universe’s deepest mysteries.”
Leaders gather to celebrate the start of manufacturing and assembly of the Giant Magellan Telescope mount at Ingersoll Machine Tools facility in Rockford, Illinois. From left to right: Ingersoll Machine Tools Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Kimberly, University of Chicago Professor Ka Yee Lee, Northwestern Professor Vicky Kalogera, Illinois State Senator Steve Stadelman, Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara, Giant Magellan Telescope President Robert Shelton. Photo by Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation
Launching in the 2030s, GMT will be the world’s most powerful optical telescope. By producing images 10 times clearer than the Hubble Space Telescope, GMT will explore the distant universe, including the search for signs of life. Unique among the new class of “extremely large telescopes,” GMT will feature the widest field of view with adaptive optics to correct for blur caused by Earth’s atmosphere.
As a partner, Northwestern will contribute its expertise in astrophysics, artificial intelligence (AI) and engineering. Specifically, Northwestern scientists will develop and apply AI tools to enhance GMT’s abilities to search for Earth-like planets across the Milky Way, probe the universe’s most energetic explosions and explore the relationship between galaxies and black holes.
Backed by nearly $1 billion in private funding — the largest private investment ever made in ground-based astronomy — the Giant Magellan is built by an international consortium of 15 universities and research institutions. Along with Northwestern, other partners include the University of Arizona, Carnegie Institution for Science, The University of Texas at Austin, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, University of Chicago, São Paulo Research Foundation, Texas A&M University, Harvard University, Astronomy Australia Ltd., Australian National University, Smithsonian Institution, Weizmann Institute of Science, Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Arizona State University.
Faculty will contribute expertise in astrophysics, engineering and artificial intelligence
About 40% of the Giant Magellan is already under construction, with major components manufactured and tested in facilities across 36 states in the U.S., including advanced optics and primary mirrors in Arizona, science instruments in multiple states including Texas and the telescope mount structure in Illinois. At the observatory’s privately owned site in Chile, major infrastructure progress includes utilities, roads, support structures and a fully excavated foundation for the enclosure.
“The Giant Magellan Telescope represents a bold vision for the future of astrophysics,” Kalogera said. “Northwestern is proud to help shape this vision and to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers who will use this telescope to answer some of the universe’s biggest questions.”
