World’s Largest Optical Telescope

Explore Research at the University of Florida: Eric Ford, an Associate Professor of Astronomy at the University of Florida, explains how UF researchers worked with the countries of Spain and Mexico to build the Gran Telescopio Canaries (GTC), the world largest optical telescope. It is located in the Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, one of the best sites in the world for optical astronomy due to the clear, dark sky. This allows researchers to study stars in unprecedented detail.