WASHINGTON — A telescope arms race is taking shape. Astronomers are drawing up plans for the most powerful instruments ever constructed, capable of peering far deeper into the universe, and further back in time, than ever before.
The building boom, expected to play out over the next decade and cost billions of dollars, is being driven by technological advances that afford unprecedented clarity and magnification.
When scientists look at a faraway celestial object, they are seeing it as it existed millions and millions of years ago, because it takes so long for light from the object to reach Earth.
Current telescopes are able to look back only about 1 billion years in time. But the new telescopes will be so powerful that they should be able to gaze back to a couple of hundred million years after the Big Bang, which scientists believe happened 13.7 billion years ago. That’s where all the action is.
