Image Credit: Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation
Northwestern University is a founding partner of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), an enormous ground-based telescope currently under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
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 outside Earth’s solar system.
GMT Leadership at CIERA
Prof. Vicky Kalogera is a member of the Giant Magellan Telescope’s Directors Board
Prof. Adam Miller is a member of the Giant Magellan Telescope’s Science Advisory Council
GMT Science at CIERA
As a partner, Northwestern contributes its expertise in astrophysics, artificial intelligence (AI) and engineering. Specifically, Northwestern researchers will use their expertise 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.
The international consortium comprises 15 distinguished institutions from 7 different countries, including Harvard University, Carnegie Science, University of Chicago, Smithsonian Institution, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of Texas, Texas A&M University, the Weizman Institute for Science in Israel and Australian National University.
