First images at the end of 2025

Telescope to capture the oldest light in the universe

The Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope in Chile

(Bild: CCAT Observatory Inc.)

Researchers and engineers have built a huge telescope on the Lower Rhine that will provide a view of the birth of the first galaxies after the Big Bang. After eight years of development, the high-tech telescope is now being transported by ship to Chile. It is the second highest telescope in the world! 

Researchers in the Atacama Desert will put the telescope into operation at an altitude of 5600 meters. This will make it the second highest telescope in the world, said project engineer Ron Higgins from the University of Cologne.

The telescope is intended to show areas in space from which no visible light reaches the earth. At its heart are two six-meter mirrors. Scientists want to use them to image radiation in the so-called sub-millimeter wavelength range.

Images of the telescope's construction were shared on Platform X: 

Hoping for new insights into the time after the Big Bang
The submillimeter radiation comes, for example, from clouds of dust and molecules surrounding distant black holes and star-rich galaxies, explains Dominik Riechers, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Cologne, who is providing scientific support for the project. The researchers involved hope to be able to observe the oldest light in the universe and thus provide crucial information about the Big Bang.

Only a few telescopes in the world can observe such wavelength ranges. In order for the observations to be successful, the telescope needs a very high and very dry location, said Riechers. The conditions on the Cerro Chajnantor mountain in Chile are therefore ideal.

Working conditions at an altitude of 5600 meters are difficult
The Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) was planned by an international consortium involving the Universities of Cologne and Bonn. It was built by a company in Duisburg.

The device, which is as tall as a three-storey house, was last set up for testing in Xanten on the Lower Rhine. "The effort involved was enormous," said project manager Klaus Willmeroth. However, the working conditions in Chile at an altitude of 5,600 meters are extremely difficult - which is why it was important to identify and rectify potential problems in advance in Germany.

The telescope is due to arrive in Chile in March. The parts will then be transported by truck along an unpaved serpentine road to their final location in the desert. The first images from the depths of space should be available at the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026.