Nearby galaxy NGC 2770, as seen by the Large Binocular Telescope. Credit: LARGE BINOCULAR CAMERA TEAM, ROME OBSERV.

The Large Binocular Telescope, situated atop Mount Graham in Arizona, has opened both its eyes.

With two primary mirrors, each of which has a diameter of 8.4 metres, the Large Binocular Telescope is now the world's largest telescope on a single mount. It has a light-collecting area that is equivalent to 11.8 metres. Each mirror can gather light from a different part of the spectrum, or the mirrors can work together to produce sharp images.

The first light pictures gathered by both mirrors, released on 6 March, show a nearby spiral galaxy. The US$120-million telescope is a joint effort by three Arizona universities; Ohio State University in Columbus; Research Corporation, a private foundation based in Tucson, Arizona; and Italian and German partners. Astronomers are now planning even bigger telescopes (see page 142 ).