The Atacama desert of Chile is the driest place on
earth. Blistering heat and strong winds make life untenable. The altitude makes
the air almost unbreathable. And yet, it
was the perfect location for what they had in mind: seeing farther into the universe
than any human had yet seen.
~
There is a simple rule in the world of optical
telescopes: bigger mirrors see farther. In May of 1998, largest mirrors ever
built were turned towards the night sky. Photons, from stars billions of light
years away, hit the mirror
