Top 10 More Awe-inspiring Waterfalls

10. Detian Falls

Big wholesome waterfalls serve as great separation landmarks in forming borders between countries, think Iguazu between Argentina and Brazil, Victoria between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and Niagara between USA and Canada; all three waterfalls covered in the first edition of this list. Detian Falls is not as big as those massive cataracts, but this splendid waterfall is impressive enough to crack open a place for itself in this list. It forms a part of the border between China and Vietnam. It falls 50m down in three steps, which somewhat mucks its holistic potential, but Detian Falls also comes with an 80m width which greatly enhances the whole spectacle. It’s located on the Guising River between the provinces of the two nations respectively, and it probably has the lushest surroundings of any waterfall in this list, a common scenic feature surrounding cascades in that region. It must be quite an experience to stand back at the midst of lime-green rice paddy fields of Vietnam, and then glance up and witness the contrast of the whitish blue plunging water.

 

 

9. The Sutherland Falls

The beautiful fiords of New Zealand have been featured before in this site, but as gorgeous as the fiords are, the water is not limited to the inlets. Just south of Milford Sound lies Sutherland, arguably New Zealand’s most famous waterfall. Usually tall cascades don’t provide a good representation of what a powerful waterfall should look like. There are exceptions of course, and the first edition featured a couple. So, keeping up with that tradition, the Sutherland Falls is an unbelievably tall waterfall at 580m, and is thankfully not too narrow, nor imperfectly vertical as with non-plunge falls; both common faults with tall waterfalls. Also the water flow certainly isn’t weak and being reduced to a trickle as is the case with some of tallest waterfalls of the world. The thundering Sutherland Falls reminds us how height can be such a plus with enough water flow. Tourists say that the noise is more deafening than some of that of the other more popular falls they have been too. Now, that is power.

 

 

8. Jim Jim Falls

With Jim Jim falls, we slowly venture into that territory of the classic rectangular waterfall with a robust sheet of water falling in one single plunge. That, to me, is the perfect kind of falls, and I try to promote that in the previous edition as well as this one. Jim Jim Falls suits this purpose very well as it plunges 150m down from the straight cliffs at Kakadu National Park, located in Australia’s Northern Territory. It is seen best during the wet season, which runs from December to March in the southern hemisphere. So, with the desired copious amount of rain, the falls emerge straight out of the upper plateau with fantastic force. Sadly, in the dry season the water ceases to flow completely, but this makes for a remarkable transformation as the seasons change, and Jim Jim Falls delivers a very aqueous outcome.

 

 

7. Rhine Falls

Rhine Falls presents itself as one big blur of rushing water. It takes some time for the eye to make out where the waterfall starts and ends as the deluge of water just camouflages with river Rhine, and there is no visible terrain present at the top as the sheer volume of the water covers it all. It is a lowly 23m tall, but boasts a large width of 150m, and together with the enormity of its water flow, Rhine Falls seizes the no.7 spot. In fact it always makes high appearances on waterfall charts ranking flow rates. And due to the fact that it doesn’t carry any rapids and is large enough to have a distinctive appearance, it can be easily counted as one of the elite pure waterfalls. There are also a few viewing platforms which let you observe the falls from up close, adding to the feverish excitement.

 

 

6. Montmorency Falls

USA and Canada have many things in common. One of them is that both nations are hosts to fantastic waterfalls. Montmorency Falls can be argued to be Canada’s best waterfall, after Niagara, with its awesome dimensions of 275 feet in height and 150 feet in width. It certainly accounts for a grandiose display of falling water on the Montmorency River, in Quebec. Fortunately or unfortunately, as per one’s own taste, they have made the falls easier to access by making a park around it, complete with facilities to make the viewing easier. These include a footbridge across the falls and a cable car to transport you up and down the cascading waters. This tourist-friendly approach might detract some visitors preferring the thrill of a nearly inaccessible beauty left alone and hidden in its remote location, but then again, the number of possible views from varied angles would be limited without the constructions. Either way, Montmorency Falls is sheer greatness.

 5. Tis Issat Falls

Normally, when asked about Ethiopia you might shout out in name of its famous coffee bean varieties, but you know it is a safe bet to bank on a state’s natural wonders if that country happens to be on the Dark Continent. The Ethiopian Tis Issat Falls is also known as the Blue Nile Falls and it is an example of the power of the river Nile, which happens to be the longest river in planet Earth. Due to the building of a hydroelectric dam, the water flow really dries up during the dry seasons providing only a meek sight – a fairly common phenomenon around the world where dams are built. But come rainy season, the water really barrages down and can transform to a 400m wide, full blown waterfall. The height of the Falls ranges from 37 to 45m and there are some wedges of terrain breaking the sheet of falling water. But despite that, Tis Issat continues to amaze, fully deserving an entry at no.5.

 

 

4. Skogafoss Falls

Iceland had been established as a minefield for big staggering waterfalls in the previous edition, a list which featured two waterfalls from the Nordic nation. So I can’t believe that Skogafoss Falls got away the first time, as it merits the same attention given to its other two counterparts. It is probably the smoothest waterfall in this list, as the water falls down immaculately in a perfectly edged out rectangle of dimensions of 25m width and 60m height. There are no rocks or ridges in between to separate the flow or result in sprouting different water flows which ultimately are close enough to mix and give the illusion of one single large plunge. While this is the usual case for some of the biggest falls out there, it isn’t for Skogafoss as there is one large sheet of streamlined descent of water, giving the waterfall a very potent appearance. With Skogafoss included, the Icelandic big three are now officially covered.

 

 

3. Gokak Falls

Continuing another trend from the previous list, India’s state of Karnataka seems to have churned out yet another ravishing waterfall, and there were many more strong candidates from that region when doing the research. Undoubtedly, Karnataka is South Asia’s best waterfall province with its multitude of waterfalls, and it gives us Gokak Falls at no.3. Now we really kick into beast mode, with the water barraging down from gorges and creating tremendous amounts of mist below. The water of Gokak is of a brownish color which sets it apart from other large waterfalls, and it definitely has the proportions which command respect – a height of 50m, but more importantly a width of 177m. The construction of a hydroelectric dam has curbed the water flow to some extent, but come monsoon season this fearsome waterfall hits top gear.

 

 

2. Kalandula Falls

When it comes to Kalandula Falls, stats speak for themselves. It is 104m tall and can be 400 to 600m wide depending on the water flow. This Angolan treasure can look similar in appearance to the Tis Issat Falls with its flow consisting of long stringy plunges coming together to form a creditable sheet of cascading water, revealing brown ridges in between. But it’s over twice the height of Tis Issat, and thus, naturally, makes an appearance in this list. It is, by far, Africa’s second biggest waterfall after Victoria Falls, not counting the many rapid containing falls across the river Congo, which should not be technically classified as waterfalls, as they look nothing like them. It’s a funny thought that nature goes uninterrupted in spite of all man-made conflicts. The former Portuguese colony took a long time to pull out of a civil war after its independence and is recently working on developing its tourism industry. Kalandula Falls will definitely boost this effort.

 

 

1. Kaieteur Falls

Kaieteur Falls was the reason for writing 10 More Awe-inspiring Waterfalls. This was the one cascade closest to making the cut in the first edition, and so I justify its previous exclusion by rewarding it the no.1 spot in this list. Located in Guyana, Kaieteur Falls is blessed with the measurements of 221m in height and nearly 100m in width. Its flow is as planate as you can get without any breaks, it produces more than generous amounts of mist, and no other waterfall at over 200m is as voluminous as Kaieteur Falls. Altogether, it is one of the best exemplary waterfalls out there. The top three waterfalls in the previous edition are dwarfed in height by this wonder, and it still manages to have an extraordinarily heavy water flow. In the previous edition, we showed that Iguazu Falls had Niagara Falls beat in all fairness. Kaieteur Falls similarly has got the features to hog your attention, and it should be mentioned more often when speaking of the world’s most awe-inspiring waterfalls.

Top 10 Amazing Natural Wonders

10. Lake Turkana National Parks Kenya

Southern Island National Park has been added to Kenya’s Lake Turkana National Parks World Heritage site. The most saline of Africa’s large lakes, Turkana is an outstanding laboratory for the study of plant and animal communities. The three National Parks are a stopover point for migrant waterbirds and are important breeding grounds for Nile crocodile, hippopotamus and a range of venomous snakes. The Koobi Fora deposits, rich in mammalian, molluscan and other fossil remains, have contributed more to understanding paleoenvironments than any other site on the continent.



9. Yellowstone Wyoming, Montana, Idaho (USA)

Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,472 square miles (8,987 km²), comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. Half of the world’s geothermal features are in Yellowstone, fueled by this ongoing volcanism. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining, nearly-intact ecosystem in the Earth’s northern temperate zone. Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Grizzlies, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in the park.


8. The Grand Canyon Arizona (USA)

The canyon, created by the Colorado River over a period of 6 million years, is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 29 km) and attains a depth of more than a mile (1.6 km). Nearly two billion years of the Earth’s history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.

7. Columbia Ice Fields Alberta, Canada

The Columbia Ice field is located in the Canadian Rockies, astride the Continental Divide of North America. The ice field lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff and the southern end of Jasper National Park. It is about 325 km² in area, 100 to 365 metres (328′ to 1,197′) in depth and receives up to seven meters (23 feet) of snowfall per year. The ice field feeds eight major glaciers, including: Athabasca Glacier, Castleguard Glacier, Columbia Glacier, Dome Glacier, Stutfield Glacier, and the Saskatchewan Glacier.


6. The Great Barrier Reef Australia

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s Largest coral reef system. It is composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for 2,600 kilometers (1,616 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometers (132,974 sq mi). The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from orbit and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. The Great Barrier Reef supports a wide diversity of life, and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.


5. Angel Falls Venezuela

Angel Falls is the world’s highest free-falling, freshwater waterfall at 979 m (3,212 ft), with a clear drop of 807 m (2,648 ft). It is located in the Canaima National Park, in the Gran Sabana region of Bolivar State, Venezuela. The height of the falls is so great that before getting anywhere near the ground the water is buffeted by the strong winds and turned into mist. The base of the falls feeds into the Churun River, a tributary of the Carrao River.

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4. Vredefort Dome Johannesburg, South Africa

Two billion years ago a meteorite 10km in diameter hit the earth about 100km southwest of Johannesburg, creating an enormous impact crater. This area, near Vredefort in the Free State, is now known as the Vredefort Dome. It was voted South Africa’s seventh World Heritage site at Unesco’s 29th World Heritage Committee meeting in Durban in July 2005. The meteorite, larger than Table Mountain, caused a thousand-megaton blast of energy that is now considered the largest meteor impact sight on Earth.


3. Aurora Borealis Northern Hemisphere

Auroras are natural different colored light displays, which are usually observed in the night sky, particularly in the polar zone. In northern latitudes, it is known as the aurora borealis, named after the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas. It often appears as a greenish glow (or sometimes a faint red), as if the sun were rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis is also called the ‘northern lights’, as it is only visible in the North sky from the Northern Hemisphere. The aurora borealis most often occurs from September to October and from March to April.


2. The Amazon Rainforest South America

The Amazon Rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon Basin of South America. The area is also known as Amazonia or the Amazon Basin, and encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.2 billion acres), though the forest itself occupies some 5.5 million square kilometers, located within nine nations: Brazil (with 60 percent of the rainforest), Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. The Amazon represents over half of the planet’s remaining tropical rainforest in the world.


1. Milford Sound New Zealand

Milford Sound is located in the south west of New Zealand’s South Island. Although called a sound, it is more accurately classified as a fjord. Milford Sound, the most famous tourist site of New Zealand, has also been called an eighth Wonder of the World by Rudyard Kipling. It is situated within the Fiordland National Park which is in turn part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. Milford Sound runs 15 kilometres inland from the Tasman Sea and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1200 metres or more on either side. Among the peaks are The Elephant at 1517 m (4977 ft), said to resemble an elephant’s head, and Lion Mountain, 1302 m (4271 ft), in the shape of a crouching lion. Lush rain forests cling precariously to these cliffs, while seals, penguins, and dolphins frequent the waters. The drive to Milford Sound itself passes through unspoiled mountain landscapes before entering the 1.2 km Homer Tunnel which emerges into rain-forest carpeted canyons that descend to the sound. Near Milford Sound are also locations used to film some of the scenes of the Argonath in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Chicken Tagine With Olives Recipe

Photo: Chicken Tagine With Olives Recipe

The Hummus Recipes Kitchen (The Home of Middle Eastern Food Recipes) invites you to try Chicken Tagine With Olives recipe.  Enjoy the good taste of Middle Eastern Food and learn how to make Chicken Tagine With Olives.

Add a Mediterranean twist to a boring chicken dinner with this healthy chicken recipe. It's low-calorie while still rich in protein and costs less than $3 to make.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1/4 cup coarsely chopped pitted kalamata olives

1/3 cup raisins

10 ounces cooked chicken breast, diced (2 cups)

1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, ginger, cumin and cinnamon; cook, stirring frequently, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth, peas, olives and raisins; simmer 7 to 8 minutes. Add the chicken and chickpeas; cook 3 to 4 minutes, until chicken is heated through.

Adopted from Fitness Magazine

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Chicken and chickpea tabouli salad recipe
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Grilled Eggplant Rolls with Feta and Olives Recipe  

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Top 10 Depressions with the Lowest Dry Land on Earth

1) Dead Sea Depression - The lowest point on Earth Elevation: 413 meters below sea level (approximate and fluctuating) Country: Israel, Jordan, Syria Latitude/Longitude: 31°32′N 35°29′E The Dead Sea Depression is an extensive area of land that is below sea level. It contains the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, a portion of the Jordan River, large areas of cultivated land and many communities. The shoreline of the Dead Sea is the lowest dry land on Earth. It is approximately 413 meters below sea level. However, this elevation is constantly changing. The surface of the Dead Sea rises and falls as precipitation, evaporation, irrigation, salt production and other natural and human activities consume the water of the Jordan River, the Dead Sea and its tributaries.
2) Lake Assal (in the Afar Depression) Elevation: 155 meters below sea level (approximate and fluctuating) Country: Djibouti Latitude/Longitude: 11°39′N 42°25′E The shoreline of Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa and the second lowest location on Earth. Lake Assal is located in the Afar Depression which is formed at a triple junction of tectonic plates (Indian, African and Arabian). The relative motion of these plates produces a divergence that results in a lowering of Earth's surface. Lake Assal's water emerges from springs which are believed to be fed by ground water flow from the Gulf of Tadjoura. This water evaporates rapidly because the climate there is one of the hottest and driest on Earth. This high evaporation rate makes Lake Assal the saltiest body of water on Earth.
3) Turfan Depression Elevation: 154 meters below sea level (approximate and fluctuating) Country: China Latitude/Longitude: 42°40′N 89°14′E The Turfan Basin is a below sea level area in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of western China. The lowest part of the basin is occupied by Aydingkol Lake. The shoreline of Aydingkol Lake is the third lowest location on Earth. The area is very hot and very dry (it is referred to as one of the "Furnaces of China") and the potential for evaporation far exceeds the amount of annual precipitation. (The shoreline of Aydingkol Lake and the shoreline of Lake Assal are very close to the same elevation and they are both constantly changing. These areas are in close contention for the second and third lowest areas below sea level.)
4) Qattara Depression Elevation: 133 meters below sea level (approximate) Country: Egypt Latitude/Longitude: 29°32′N 27°07′E The Qattara Depression is located in the Libyan Desert of northwestern Egypt. At 133 meters below sea level it is the second lowest point in Africa. The depression has no settlements and other than nomadic herders it supports no commercial activity.
5) Karagiye Depression Elevation: 132 meters below sea level (approximate) Country: Kazakhstan Latitude/Longitude: 43°27′N 51°45′E The Karagiye Depression is located in southwestern Kazakhstan. It has an elevation of approximately 132 meters below sea level.
6) Denakil Depression (in the Afar Depression) Elevation: 125 meters below sea level Country: Ethiopia Latitude/Longitude: 13°16′N 40°54′E The Denakil Depression is a low area within the Afar Depression of Ethiopia. The Afar Depression is formed at a triple junction of tectonic plates (Indian, African and Arabian). The relative motions of the plates produce a divergence that results in the Denakil Depression.
7) San Julían's Great Depression Elevation: 105 meters below sea level Country: Argentina Latitude/Longitude: 49°35′S 68°20′W San Julian's Great Depression is located in southeastern Argentina. It is the lowest land location in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres. The deepest part is Laguna del Carbón, at approximately 105 meters below sea level. The area has abundant salt marshes.
8) Death Valley Elevation: 86 meters below sea level Country: USA Latitude/Longitude: 36°51′N 117°17′W Death Valley is the location of the lowest land elevation in the United States. It is a north-south trending valley between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west. Death Valley is part of the Basin and Range Physiographic Province where north-south trending valleys are bounded on both sides by normal faults. The north and south ends of the valley are formed by the Sylvania Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains. The valley is one of the hottest locations in the United States. The record high temperature for the United States was measured there in 1913 at 134 °F (56.7 °C). Death Valley gets very little rain and the deepest part of the valley is generally dry. However, heavy rains can cause flash floods that produce a large lake in the bottom of the valley.
9) Akdzhakaya Depression Elevation: 81 meters below sea level Country: Turkmenistan Latitude/Longitude: 41°02′N 58°18′E The Akdzhakaya Depression is located in north central Turkmenistan. It is a very arid area located in the Karakum Desert.
10) Salton Trough Elevation: 69 meters below sea level Country: USA, Mexico Latitude/Longitude: 33°19′N 115°50′W The Salton Trough is the second lowest depression in the United States. The lowest land in the Salton Trough is along the shoreline of the Salton Sea. The lake level is approximately 69 meters below sea level; however, the lake rises and falls in response to runoff from the New, Whitewater and Alamo Rivers plus some agricultural runoff. The bottom of the Salton Sea is about two meters higher than the bottom of Death Valley.

Top 10 Largest Islands in the world

 

10. Ellesmere Island

This Canadian island reaches to the northernmost part of the country and has only 146 residents.

 

9. Great Britain

Also known as Britain, it is the third most populous island in the world (after Java and Honshu) and the largest island in Europe.

 

8. Victoria Island

Only slightly larger than Great Britain, this island in northern Canada is home to barely 1,000 inhabitants.

 

7. Honshu

Typically the first island that comes to mind when people think of Japan Honshu is home to over 100 million people, a vast majority of which live in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

 

6. Sumatra

The largest island located entirely in Indonesia, Sumatra is home to approximately 50 million people.

 

5. Baffin Island

Located in the far north of Canada, this island only has about 10,000 inhabitants and its largest community consists of only 6,000 people.

 

4. Madagascar

Located in the Indian Ocean of the eastern coast of southern Africa, this isolated island has some of the most interesting flora and fauna in the world.

 

3. Borneo

The third largest island in the world, Borneo is divided among three countries – Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The mountain in the picture is Mount Kinabalu, the island’s highest point.

 

2. New Guinea

The planet’s second largest island is home to the world’s greatest concentration of languages (over 1000), a vast number of uncontacted tribal groups, and a large amount of unexplored terrain.

 

1. Greenland

Although some scientists believe that beneath Greenland’s icy surface it could actually be three separate islands, most people accept Greenland as the world’s largest non-continental landmass.

Top10 Largest Telescopes on Earth

 

 10. Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)

 

Credit: LSSTA new ground-based observatory that would scan the entire available sky every three nights from Chile could see first light by 2014. The $465-million Large Synoptic Survey Telescope would give astronomers their best view ever of how billions of faint starry-sky objects change over time. It could also tackle questions relating to the nature of dark energy, and perhaps track space rocks that might collide with Earth in the future.
The optical telescope would image each region of the sky 1,000 times over 10 years with an almost 28-foot (8.4-meter) aperture. It represented a top priority among ground projects slated for the next 10 years in the Astro2010 Decadal Survey by the National Academy of Sciences

09. South African Large Telescope (SALT)

Credit: SALT/Southern African Large Telescope consortiumThis 30-foot (9.2-meter) telescope represents the largest ground-based optical instrument in the southern hemisphere, and concentrates on spectroscopic surveys. A main mirror consists of 91 hexagonal mirrors that join together to form the larger hexagonal primary —not unlike the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) in Fort Davis, Texas.

Like HET, SALT also has a fixed-angle design that has complicated observations since it began operation in 2005. But the instrument can still view about 70 percent of the sky observable from Sutherland, South Africa.

08. Keck I and II Telescopes

 

Credit: nullThe twin 33-foot (10-meter) telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory represent the second largest optical telescopes on Earth, located close to the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea. Each instrument's main mirror consists of 36 hexagonal segments that work together.

Keck I became operational in 1993, followed just a few years later by Keck II in 1996. The combined observatory has helped astronomers examine events such as last year's impact on Jupiter. It also deployed the first laser guide star adaptive optics system on a large telescope in 2004, which creates an artificial star spot as a reference point to correct for atmospheric distortions when viewing the sky.

 

07. Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC)

Credit: Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC)A 34-foot (10.4-meter) telescope located on La Palma of Spain's Canary Islands seized the top spot as the world's biggest ground-based optical telescope in 2009. A main mirror that consists of 36 hexagonal segments contains some of the smoothest surfaces ever made.

The telescope also has several support instruments such as CanariCam, a camera capable of examining mid-range infrared light emitted by stars and planets. The CanariCam also has the unique ability to figure out the direction of polarized light and use coronagraphy to block out bright starlight and make fainter planets more visible.

06. Aricebo Observatory

 

Credit: NAIC - Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSFOne of the world's most recognizable ground-based telescopes has resided as a huge 1000-foot (305-meter) radio reflector dish near Aricebo, Puerto Rico since 1963. The Aricebo radio telescope still represents the largest single-aperture telescope ever constructed, with its spherical reflector consisting of 40,000 aluminum panels each 3 feet by 6 feet.

The huge reflector helps make Aricebo an incredibly sensitive radio telescope, capable of homing in on a faint radio source within just several minutes of observation. Such radio sources include distant quasars and galaxies that emit radio waves which only reach Earth 100 million years later.

05. Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)

 

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/W. Garnier (ALMA)One of the largest ground-based astronomy tools comes in the form of the 39-foot (12-meter) radio antennas that will total 66 by 2012, to make up ALMA's main array. Each antenna weighs more than 100 tons each and requires huge crawler vehicles to move it to Chile's Chajnantor plain at an altitude 3 miles up. This will ultimately help make ALMA the largest and most sensitive radio telescope ever, at least until a new contender emerges.

The antenna array can also undergo different configurations by moving individual antennas around. A compact configuration would place all the antennas within an area less than 1,000 feet across, or within an extended configuration with a maximum distance of separation between the antennas of almost 10 miles. This will allow the array to study everything from the cosmic "dark ages" billions of years ago to the processes of star and planet formation.

04. Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)

 

Credit: Giant Magellan Telescope ObservatoryOne of the next ground-based optical telescopes will take the form of the $1.1-billion Giant Magellan Telescope with an 80-foot (24.5-meter) main mirror that consists of seven segments. One 8.4-meter segment would sit in the middle, surrounded by the other six segments that have a unique curved shape not unlike that of a potato chip.

The large main mirror would dwarf the current generation of 26 to 33-foot (8 to 10-meter) telescopes and produce images about 10 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope. If fully funded, the telescope could find a home at the Las Campanas Observatory in La Serena, Chile and begin full operations by 2024.

 

03. Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)

Credit: Thirty Meter TelescopeAnother of the next-gen contenders for biggest optical telescope on Earth is the Thirty Meter Telescope. The $1.4-billion telescope's 98-foot (30-meter) aperture would allow for more than 9 times the collecting area of the largest optical telescopes such as the Keck Telescopes, and could provide 12 times sharper resolution than the Hubble Space Telescope.

But TMT and other extremely large optical telescopes would not replace space telescopes. Hubble's successor, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, would find targets for Earth-based giants such as TMT to study in more detail. The Thirty Meter Telescope is slated to join the Keck Telescopes and other instruments on Mauna Kea in Hawaii and commence full operations by 2025-2030.

02. Square Kilometer Array (SKA)

 

Credit: SPDO/TDP/DRAO/Swinburne Astronomy Productions.A follow-up to radio telescopes such as ALMA is a telescope capable of collecting data over one square kilometer. The aptly-named Square Kilometer Array would become the clear king of radio telescopes, with 50 times the sensitivity of any radio telescope ever built. Such power could examine signals from the younger universe of 12 billion years ago.

Current plans call for either 30 stations with a collecting area of 656 feet (200 meters) each, or 150 stations each equivalent to a 295-foot (90-meter) telescope. South Africa and Australia have already begun jostling in a bid to play host to the $2 billion behemoth, scheduled for completion around 2020. It co-ranked as the highest priority project in the European Astronet Decadal Survey, along with the European Extremely Large Telescope.

 

01. European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT)

Credit: ESONo ground-based optical telescope contender can currently match the design proposal for the European Extremely Large Telescope. Its 138-foot (42-meter) mirror would put it easily beyond the Thirty Meter Telescope and Giant Magellan Telescope, with a length reaching almost half a soccer field. Five mirrors consisting of almost 1,000 hexagonal segments would make up the primary mirror, and give Earth-bound astronomers the sharpest view ever of the cosmos in the visual-light spectrum.

Cerro Armazones in Chile will be the future home of the world's largest optical telescope. The $1.3-billion E-ELT would see first light around the same time as its smaller next-gen cousins in 2018.