QUEEN guitarist Brian May's website has been updated with the following message:

"Prince Felipe of Spain will attend an historic event, celebrating the start of commissioning of the Grand Telescopio Canarias on La Palma, along with Queen's Brian May tomorrow - Friday, July 13th.

On the summit of the 'Roque de los Muchachos' on the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands, at a height of 2,400 metres above sea level, construction of (in friendly terms) the 'GranTeCan' (Gran Telescopio Canarias), with it's 10.4m primary mirror - the latest, greatest and most powerful among the amazing telescopes across the world - is on the verge of completion.

Photo opposite: Ion Ortega

This is a principally Spanish project (with some small collaboration from Mexico and Florida institutes). After seven years of work, four more than the originally predicted timescale for the project, astronomers worldwide hope to discover new stars, planets and galaxies when this spectacular scientific equipment is put into operation in 2008.

Friday's ceremony marks "First Light" (the 'official baptism') of the Telescope - "First Light' being the initial test where the scientific effectiveness of its instruments will be tried out. Commissioning then usually takes quite some time, normal operation starting only after many tests and adjustments to ensure optimum performance.

Brian May has maintained a close interest in the entire project and visited the site several times.

This is an ideal location as "The Canaries" enjoy clear, virtually 'light pollution-free' skies, and are regarded as an "Astronomy heaven", along with such as the Chilean Andes and the Hawaiian Islands.

Readers might like to check out this brilliantly informative web site about the GTC (Grantecan) telescope in La Palma.

(Thanks to Carlos Mayo for the link). The site shows diaigrams, photos and new films covering the constructoin of this huge structure... in Spanish - but still interesting nonrtheless.

http://www.elmundo.es/especiales/2007/07/ciencia/telescopio/index.html

Also - some recent images displayed here and Webcam."