The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is an optical telescope located on Mount Graham at an altitude of 3,200 meters in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona. Its design was inspired by the more modest optical equipment we usually carry around the neck. The Large Binocular Telescope has two identical 8.4 m telescopes mounted side-by-side on a common base that has the same light gathering ability as an 11.8 m wide single circular telescope and the resolving power of a 22.8 m wide one. The binocular design, combined with advanced adaptive optics, gives the telescope exceptional sensitivity for the detection of faint objects. The LBT is currently one of the world’s highest resolution and most technologically advanced optical telescopes.
Photo credit: NASA/Wikimedia Commons
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