The Large Telescope of the Canary Islands (Gran Telescopio Canarias), featuring a primary mirror with a diameter of 10.4 m, is currently the largest optical-infrared telescope in the world. It is located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in the municipality of Garafía, on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands.
It was developed by the Astrophysics Institute of the Canary Islands and is owned by the public company GRANTECAN of the General State Administration and the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, which is responsible for its operation and future development, in collaboration with the following international partners:
- the Institute of Astronomy of the National Autonomous University of Mexico,
- the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics of Mexico,
- the University of Florida.
The telescope has 36 hexagonal segments, which, thanks to their extremely precise optical alignment, provide a light-collecting area equivalent to that of a monolithic mirror 10.4 m in diameter.
