The Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco house the largest glass mirror reflector telescope in the world. The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is owned and operated primarily by Spain. The surface of its concave focusing mirror eschews the parabolic glass bowl design of traditional telescopes. The reflector is actually 36 small hexagonal German glass mirrors tiled together in the shape of a single large hexagon with a missing tile in the center. This design is very similar to the slightly smaller Keck telescopes in Hawaii. GTC also employs adaptive optics to constantly fix the distortion of incoming starlight caused by its passage through atmospheric turbulence. Larger glass telescopes have been proposed, but none will be open for at least several more years.
<!– //OAS_AD("Block"); GA_googleFillSlot("RC_300_by_250_top"); //–>
