The ELT is expected to make significant contributions to various fields of astronomy, including:
- Exoplanet hunting: The ELT will be able to detect and characterize exoplanets, including those that are similar in size and composition to Earth.
- Black hole research: The ELT will be able to study the properties of black holes, including their mass, spin, and accretion rates.
- Galaxy evolution: The ELT will be able to study the formation and evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way.
- Cosmology: The ELT will be able to study the properties of the universe on large scales, including the distribution of galaxies and the nature of dark matter and dark energy.
The ELT is expected to begin operations in the mid-2020s and will be located at the ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile.