The Magellan Baade Telescope is one of the world’s largest optical telescopes. It is located at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The telescope has a primary mirror that is 6.5 meters in diameter and a secondary mirror that is 1.8 meters in diameter. The telescope is named after German-American astronomer Walter Baade and Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
The Magellan Baade Telescope was built in 2002 and began operating in 2003. Since then, it has been used to observe a variety of astronomical objects, including distant galaxies, supernovae, and quasars. In 2009, the telescope helped confirm the existence of dark matter by observing its effects on the light from distant galaxies. In 2012, the telescope was used to discover an extrasolar planet orbiting a nearby star.
The Magellan Baade Telescope is open to scientists from around the world who submit proposals for observational projects. A team of international astronomers operates the telescope and makes decisions about which projects to undertake based on scientific merit and feasibility.