Extremely Large Telescope

UK involvement in the ELT

The Telescope  The Science

Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2010

2010 marked the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society. To celebrate, they hosted a special 10 day exhibition at the South Bank Centre, including 1 private VIP event, and 5 days open to school groups

The UK E-ELT project team were selected from 160 entrants to be one of 26 competitively selected exhibits of cutting edge research, exhibited by over 850 scientists and engineers from around the UK.

An estimated 46,000 members of the general public, 1932 students and 240 teachers attended the whole event. Approximately 1750 attended the private VIP event, including 5 members of the Royal Family.

Designing ‘A Giant Eye on the Sky’

Exhibition DesignA team made up from representatives of UK ATC, Oxford University and Durham University worked together with designer Chiara Bello to develop a concept for the exhibit.

Key aspects of the design included:

  • Open design of exhibit
  • 3D video demonstrating concept design for the E-ELT
  • Video displaying ‘Get The Hex’ dance inspired by E-ELT and the relating science
  • Prototype mirror segment
  • Lots of mirrors and hexagons
  • Telescope set up to display atmospheric challenges for ground based telescopes

Key Messages

Exhibition VisitorsThree Key Messages were determined

  1. What is the E-ELT – demonstrated through 3D video of telescope concept, prototype mirror segment and hexagonal theme of exhibit.
  2. Science goals of the E-ELT – focussed on exoplanets and searching for first light galaxies; demonstrated these through images on the exhibit and floor.
  3. Engineering challenges – atmospheric challenges were demonstrated with small telescope and hair dryer to show movement of atmosphere and to introduce Adaptive Optics technology; size and scale of telescope was shown through 3D video, hexagonal structure of exhibit and prototype segment.

The Exhibition

Exhibition Visitors26 staff participated as explainers on the exhibit from

  • UK Astronomy Technology Centre
  • University of Oxford
  • Durham University
  • Cranfield University
  • Optic
  • Portsmouth University

Webpage Hits

960 unique page views

Direct feedback received from participants and visitors:

  • ‘It was a pleasure; engaging with the public was fun’ – E-ELT team member
  • ‘The dance video was brilliant’ – Carlos Frenk (FRS)
  • ‘My daughter thought it was cool’ – E-ELT team member
  • ‘The exhibit was definitely in the top two best exhibits’ – A biologist

Funding

We are extremely grateful to the following organisations for financial and in kind support for the exhibition:

Exhibition Sponsors