This new uber-telescope, called the Great Canary Telescope (Gran Telescopio Canarias or GTC), was built on the peak of a mountain in La Palma in the Canary Islands to take advantage of the unusually clear weather in the area.

The mountain is 2,400 meters (7,900 feet) high which helps setting the telescope's sights to heaven. Unfortunately it didn't help any in constructing the monster telescope. Construction took seven years and more than 1,000 people to build. The mirror used in the telescope is made of 36 hexagonal mirror segments and measures 10.4 meters (34.1 feet) in diameter.

Based at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, the telescope was funded by Spain's Education and Science Ministry, the regional government of the Canary Islands and several overseas partners, including astronomical institutes in Mexico and the University of Florida. Lead guitarist of Queen, Brian May, is to grace the opening of the telescope, who studied Astrophysics as part of his doctorate at the Canary Island Institute. He is currently organizing the musical score to be played at the inauguration next summer.

What sets it apart from the other uber-telescopes is the advantage of having the largest optical infrared mirror. With this, scientists will be able to characterize planet atmospheres instead of just speculating, and be able to "reach the weakest and most distant celestial objects of the universe."

"We'll actually be able to take a much better look at them. We'll be able to throw back the curtains that shroud the early Universe, revealing many of its mysteries," said project director Pedro Alvarez.

Last year, three much much smaller telescopes have worked together to find a planet 500 light years away. We can be sure to expect a lot from a super telescope on top of a mountain. One of the hopes of the observatory is to find a planet much like ours.