The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), currently under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert, is poised to become the most powerful optical telescope ever built. At the core of this groundbreaking scientific instrument is a major achievement of Italian engineering: the M4 adaptive mirror, designed and produced by Microgate, a high-tech company based in Bolzano, Italy.

The M4 mirror is a cutting-edge component—2.5 meters in diameter and just under 2 millimeters thick—composed of six flexible, petal-shaped segments. It is the largest adaptive mirror ever made, and it is entirely Made in Italy.