When a telescope needs an upgrade, it seems you don't need to have big words to call it.

European scientists, in an effort to find out more about the universe and the origins of life, have proposed a significant upgrade from current telescopes in use. The European Southern Observatory (ESO), based at the Cerro Paranal observatory in Chile, has a group of specialists to help create a design for the future of telescopic research, dubbed the Extremely Large Telescope or ELT. This telescope, once the design is finalized, is expected to cost 1,000,000,000 Euro (approximately $1.3B) and do things unheard of with current technology.

The ESO also manages the current titleholder for powerful telescopes. The Very Large Telescope, or VLT, is an array of four 8-meter diameter telescopes placed on the peak of the Cerro Paranal. These scopes have seen planets beyond our solar system and observed black holes, but have reached their limits, allowing only the smallest glimpse of the edge of the universe. The ELT, it is hoped, will be able to overcome these limitations with a 42-meter diameter lens, allowing it to produce information on objects the VLT was unable to cover, such as small planets, stars in distant galaxies, and other galaxies in their infancy.

With a lot of backing, scientists expect to get this extremely powerful telescope up and running for the world's benefit in 2016. Let's just hope we don't see a giant eye floating in space when we reach the edge of infinity.

  

What happens when a galaxy crash into a neighboring intergalactic gas at 372 miles/sec (600km/sec)? Two things: new stars are born and the galaxy itself is ripped apart. This was revealed by images from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) array in Chile.

NGC 1427A (left) a small galaxy with an unusual arrowhead shape lies 60 million light years from Earth in a group of galaxies known as called the Fornax (the Furnace) cluster. As it crashes through intergalactic gas at high speed new new stars are spawned. But in the end the gravitational force of the other galaxies in Fornax cluster is expected to rip NGC 1427A apart.

Meanwhile, galaxy NGC 908 (right) sports a bent left spiral arm that is curved upwards. Also called as a starburst galaxy for its prolific ability to produce new stars, NGC 908's left arm is thought to have been caused by a near collision course with another galaxy a long time ago. This same collision is believed to have given NGC 908 its intense star-forming phase. NGC 908 is 65 million light years from Earth and is 75,000 light years across.

The Very Large Telescope Array (VLT) caught some dramatic deep-space action last month as it captured this image of a supernova exploding after being ejected from one of a pair of "violently interacting galaxies". (Click on the image for a more detailed look.)

This supernova was spotted near two galaxies located 87 million light years from Earth in the constellation Libra. The "mangled-looking" one in the lower right is known as  MCG-01-39-003. The  long stream of matter trailing away from it was most likely pulled out by the other, identified as NGC 5917 as it grazed the former.

At first, the supernova appeared to be part of the stream of matter coming from the lower galaxy. This higher resolution view from the European Southern Observatory's VLT in Chile - released today - showed something else.

"The supernova appears to be outside of the tidal tail," according to ESO astronomer Ferdinando Patat, who carried out the observations. "The progenitor system was probably stripped out of one of the two galaxies and exploded far away from the place where it was born."

Scientists classify this kind of a supernova "type Ia."  They occur in binary star systems, in which a white dwarf steals gas from its companion star. The rising pressure and temperature of the white dwarf trigger a nuclear reaction which destroys the star in a cataclysmic detonation.