MOTHRA has its eyes

Source: https://astronomy.yale.edu/news/mothra-has-its-eyes-all-1140-them-focused-cosmic-web Parent: https://astronomy.yale.edu/

Wed, 03/11/2026

The new telescope, under construction in Chile, may help astronomers observe the “web” of dark matter and gas connecting galaxies.

Make way for MOTHRA, the world’s largest all-lens telescope, which intends to detect some of the faintest light in the universe.

Co-created by Yale astronomer Pieter van Dokkum and University of Toronto astronomer Roberto Abraham, the new telescope is now under construction at the Obstech/El Sauce Observatory in Chile’s Rio Hurtado Valley and builds upon design concepts from van Dokkum and Abraham’s groundbreaking Dragonfly Telescope. That telescope, located in the mountains of New Mexico, combines images from multiple lenses to detect the dim glow of faint stars and galaxies.

MOTHRA will have a different mission. Its array of 1,140 telephoto lenses — the equivalent of a single 4.7-meter diameter lens — will look for diffuse ionized gas located in-between galaxies.