Gran Telescopio Canarias Canary Islands, Spain

The Gran Telescopio Canarias (meaning Canaries Great Telescope), also known as GranTeCan or GTC, is a 10.4 m (410 in) reflecting telescope undertaking commissioning observations at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands in Spain, as of July 2009.

Construction of the telescope, sited on a volcanic peak 2,267 meters above sea level, took seven years and cost €130 million (£112 million). Its installation had been hampered by weather conditions and the logistical difficulties of transporting equipment to such a remote location. The GTC Project is a partnership formed by several institutions from Spain and Mexico, the University of Florida, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). Planning for the construction of the telescope, which started in 1987, involved more than 1,000 people from 100 companies. As of 2009, it is the world's largest single-aperture optical telescope. The distribution of the availability of time to use the telescope meets its financial structure: 90% Spain, 5% Mexico and 5% the University of Florida. The GTC began its preliminary observations on 13 July 2007, using 12 segments of its primary mirror, made of Zerodur glass-ceramic by the German company Schott AG. Later the number of segments was increased to a total of 36 hexagonal segments fully controlled by an active optics control system, working together as a reflective unit. Its Day One instrumentation was OSIRIS. Scientific observations began properly in May 2009. The Gran Telescopio Canarias formally opened its shutters on July 24, 2009, inaugurated by King Juan Carlos I of Spain. More than 500 astronomers, government officials and journalists from Europe and the Americas attended the ceremony.

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