back to article KA-BOOOM! Boffins blow up mountain to make way for telescope

Work has commenced on the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), the 40-metre-class 'scope that will sit atop Chile's Cerro Armazones mountain and collect thirteen times more light than any comparable instrument. The project almost started with a bang: this video starts with plenty of tedious speeches before, at about the …

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  1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    1.4 Instagrams

    This is a price worth paying.

    Meanwhile, prepare for and additional 30-40 instagrams to be dropped on ISIS while Ahmed Chalabi (yes, the guy with the fake WMD) is again in the run for Iraqi top dog.

    1. Robert Helpmann??
      Childcatcher

      1.4 Instagrams

      Is that a new Register UoM?

  2. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
    Alien

    Marvin would be happy

    Always good to see an earth-shattering kaboom as part of telescope construction.

  3. TheOtherHobbes

    This is going to be awesome.

  4. Dave Bell

    Remember the wow-factor in even the first, flawed, Hubble images. I'm not sure that the "16-times-sharper" is the only important factor, but wow!

  5. Mr C

    damn hollywood

    i was bracing myself for a earthshattering explosion, even turned down the speakers and subwoofer in case i'd wake up the dog.

    After all, in the movies (which is almost a perfect reflection of reality) they have bigg-ass explosions.

    ..poof.. realitycheck

  6. Tom 64

    wot?

    No video?

    I thought the whole thing was going to be filmed?

    1. DuncanL

      Re: wot?

      No video? Apart from the one linked from the article you mean?....

      http://new.livestream.com/ESOAstronomy/eeltgroundbreaking/videos/54317715

      1. JaitcH
        Thumb Down

        Re: wot?

        VERY DISAPPOINTING VIDEO.

        No decent bang; video cut prematurely. Hardly worth sitting through.

  7. DriveBy

    A tiger?

    In Africa?

    1. DropBear
      Joke

      I think I saw El Chupacabra run past the camera at around 01:00...

  8. Hardcastle the ancient

    did they need to?

    Was this absolutely essential? or just an unmissable opportunity to blow shit up?

    1. jnffarrell1

      Re: did they need to?

      Funny you mentioned shit. Ammonium Nitrate fertiliser smell like shit. When AN is mixed with Fuel Oil, it becomes the least explosive (ANFO) for blowing the tops off mountains (ask WV). I expect that many more tank trucks, loaded with ANFO (maybe 10M pounds of liquid) will make the run up the switch backs to the top, before they are done.

  9. James Boag

    1.4 Instagrams

    It better be one hell of a selfie !

  10. Denarius Silver badge
    Coat

    good stuff

    An excellent bit of kit for research giving serious bang for buck. My coats the one with clear sticky stains that burn easily while giving severe headaches.

  11. jesterscup

    Seriously? you give Scientists a bunch of instagrams to build a super-villian style mountain top lair, let them blow the top of the mountain away, and all we get to see is a little whisp of cloud?

    Dammit as an outraged tax payer I'd expect the governments mad-science budget to [i]at least[/i] give us a decent explosion once in a while.....

  12. johnnymotel

    better still

    a small tactical nuke buried at suitable depth, create a nice compacted plateau, complete with glassified foundations.

    1. DJO Silver badge

      Re: better still

      Just what you need for a mountain top observatory, lot's of radioactive rocks to cut down on the heating & lighting bills.

      1. smartypants

        Re: better still

        No need for the nukes. Rock is radioactive anyway.

        Argh! Think of the childerun!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: better still

        It's just radioactivity would interfere with the sensors attached to the telescope...

  13. Tom 7

    Will they test it on ants?

    Just wondering.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mountain removal

    Picture postcards of the mountain suddenly became immensely valuable.

  15. Johnny Canuck

    So some lucky contractor just scored a 10 year supply of Euro-gov money.

  16. Rathkennamike

    Actually it was engineers and technicians who blew the mountain up; not boffins

    The 'boffins' won't show up till it is all done and cleaned up but that's fine, engineers love all the muck and dirt flying around

    1. Stoneshop
      Mushroom

      Re: Actually it was engineers and technicians who blew the mountain up; not boffins

      Boffin: We'd like to have an Extremely Large Telescope on top of <points at map> this mountain. Can you do that?

      Engineer: How large?

      B: Umm, 285.71429 linguini

      E: That's just the 'scope, right? So the building would be <scribbles on fag packet>, hmm, and you want a bit of space to walk around it, park the Landy, so, say, <scribbles some more, whips out slide rule> 18.270745 by 32.54149 doubledecker buses.

      B: Extrapolating from the size of my shed, yes, sounds right to me.

      E: Now, mountain tops are rather pointy, although this one's not as pointy as quite a few others. Of course we could build an Extremely Large Platform for your telescope, but there's another way. Mind if we simply lop off <scribbles again> about onepointthree brontosauruses, to flatten the top?

      B: That's 0.17949511166 percent more air between us and space, but I think we can manage. Okay.

      E: Right, I'll be off now. If you need me, you'll want to call my Iridium number; I don' think we have GSM coverage there yet. <pulls out phone, speed-dials the Dyno Nobel representative>

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