Canary, candidate for the giant telescope

Canary increse their possibilities to take the 30-meter telescope. A delegation of American scientists has spent three days on the island of La Palma to study the conditions of the observatory and they recognize that Canary is economically the most profitable option.The director os the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, Rafael Rebolo, after the work of technical committee of the telescope TMT agree that Canary have a very serious option to ensure the success of this project. These specialists collectes information to consider the Canary candidacy as an alternative to build this telescope.

This enourous project of 1,400 million of investment in cutting-edge science is blocked since 2014. The idea was to raise the telescope TMT in Hawaii, but legal issues have been an impediment to the construction: the courts have recognized that not met requirements to build it in Mauna Kea, a sacred mountain  according to the native religion of Hawaiians and it  has special environmental and cultural protection.The chief operating officer of TMT, Christophe Dumas, recognize that they can't wait any longer. Hawaii is the favorite place to build and thei are going to gove them a few months but if finally they can't carry out the project in Hawaii they have to choose an alternative place. "Time is money" say Dumas.

A team of five people in the TMT has been studying the feasibility of La Palma: geophysical conditions of the island, the quality of the sky to know the percentage of nights that can make science and the infrastructure of the observatory, which are very good and has been hosting telescopes from several countries during decades.

Dumas also admit that in Canarias the cost of operation is less than elsewhere because the fact that the physical and digital communication infrastructures are already built would save many investments. The team was serching for potential sites for the giant telescope, which aims to observe points unseen of the universe, and now by an informatic analyze they want see what would be the optimal point depending on the winds and orography.