
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 20, 1990                   TAG: 9007200136
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TELESCOPE RIVALS PERFECT HUBBLE

While the space agency tries to overcome a crippling flaw in the Hubble Space Telescope, European scientists have developed a new type of ground-based telescope that promises to work as well as a perfectly functioning space-based instrument at a small fraction of the Hubble's cost.

A consortium of eight European governments, the European Southern Observatory, has already begun operating a prototype telescope using a corrective system that compensates for the atmosphere's distorting effects.

In a telephone interview from the consortium's headquarters in Garching, West Germany, Dr. Harry van der Laan, director of the consortium, said Thursday that the instrument, which is substantially larger than the Hubble telescope, has begun producing images that rival the quality of those that had been expected from the Hubble.

The new ground-based telescope is part of an observatory complex operated by the consortium at La Silla in Chile.

"Technically, we're still testing the system," van der Laan said. "But the sharpness of images we're getting is equal to the sharpness you would expect to obtain in space. Beginning in August, the telescope will be put to work on its first major research programs. It works."

by CNB