Engineers complete Large Sized Telescope array in Spain

About 250 scientists and officials attended a ceremony on October 15, 2026, to mark the completion of a telescope complex in La Palma, Spain, Physics World reported. The Large-Sized Telescope array consists of four 23 metre diameter telescopes located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory. The instruments are designed to study high energy phenomena in the early universe. [1]

The telescopes operate by detecting faint flashes of Cherenkov light, which occur when very high energy gamma rays collide with molecules in the Earth atmosphere. According to Physics World, these instruments are the most sensitive in the world for detecting gamma rays at energy levels ranging from roughly 20 gigaelectronvolts to 3 teraelectronvolts. The first instrument in the array, designated LST-1, was built in 2020. [1]

The observatory sits on La Palma, which is the fifth largest of the Canary Islands with a surface area of 708.32 square kilometres. The highest peak on the island is the Roque de los Muchachos, which reaches an elevation of 2,426 metres above sea level. The volcanic island is an autonomous community of Spain located in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwestern coast of Africa. [2][4]