How will the GTC work?
The GTC’s primary mirror will be 10.4 m in diameter and has been designed as a segmented mirror handling and moving a single mirror this big would be impossible. It will be made up of 36 hexagonal segments, which, when put together, will be equivalent in size to a single, circular mirror with a diameter of 10.4 m. As well as the primary mirror, the GTC will have a secondary and a tertiary mirror, to deflect light to the foci where scientific instruments can be mounted. The mount – the structure that supports the telescope and allows it to move will be of altazimuth type (in other words, it will allow the telescope to swing in two directions the horizontal and the vertical). The telescope will observe both the visible and the infrared light from celestial bodies.
