Finding a home
An extraordinary telescope calls for an exceptional site. Much care
is thus taken to ensure that the future home of the E-ELT will be the
most adequate possible. This generally means a high, dry site, so as
to have as little hindrance to the observations. The E-ELT Site
Selection Advisory Committee has been investigating in great detail
several possible sites, in Argentina, in Chile, in Morocco, and in
Spain. Similar efforts are being carried out by the Thirty-Meter
Telescope (TMT) site selection team. For the sake of efficiency, the
TMT pre-selected sites (all in North and South America) are not
included in the E-ELT study, but data are shared.
On 2–3 March 2010, the E-ELT Site Selection Advisory Committee presented a report to the ESO Council, confirming that all sites examined in the final short list (Armazones, Ventarrones, Tolonchar and Vizcachas in Chile, and La Palma in Spain) have very good conditions for astronomical observing, each one with its particular strengths. The technical report concludes that Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, stands out as the clearly preferred site, because it has the best balance of sky quality across all aspects and it can be operated in an integrated fashion with the existing ESO Paranal Observatory.
Council will convene in Spring 2010 to make a decision on the E-ELT baseline site, taking into account the recommendations of the Site Selection Advisory Committee and all other relevant aspects.