Chile to host biggest telescope

Chile has won the right to host the world's largest telescope, the Munich-based European Southern Observatory said, calling the planned facility "the world's biggest eye in the sky".

The European Extremely Large Telescope is due to begin operation in 2018 and expected to cost an estimated US$1.3 billion ($1.8 billion).

The ESO, an intergovernmental astronomical research agency, already has three facilities operating in the Atacama desert, including the Very Large Telescope in the town of Paranal, Chile, currently considered the foremost European-operated observatory.