World's largest telescope to be set up in Canary Islands by Russian government

The telescope, which will be 60 metres in diameter, will be even larger than the existing Great Canarian model, which is 10.4 metres across, or the Giant Telescope of Magallanes, in Chile, at 24.5 metres wide.

Dean of Moscow University Viktor Sadovnicheva was the spokesman for the project and has signed an agreement on behalf of the Russian government with that of the Canary Islands in a bid to increase scientific knowledge in two continents.

More details will be revealed at the international Starmus congress in September, a festival which combines sciences – particularly astronomy - with art, music and entertainment and which will include spokespersons from the top of the scientific investigation hierarchy, including world-renowned researchers, two of whom have Nobel Prizes.

The first edition of the festival, in 2011, was held on the island of Tenerife to mark the 50^th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight into space, and was attended by the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong and Russian astronaut Alexei Leonov.

This September, from 22 to 27 will be the second edition and among those expected to attend are Nobel Prize-winning chemistry expert Harold Kroto, who won his award for research into carbon molecules, and Nobel Prize for Physics winner Robert Wilson, who discovered cosmic radiation from microwaves.