Dive Brief:

• Funding fell into place this week for construction of the world’s largest optical telescope in northern Chile.

• The Pasadena, CA,-based Giant Magellan Telescope Organization announced its international partners have come up with $500 million so that construction can begin. The final price tag will be approximately $1 billion.

• The telescope, which will be 10 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope, is designed to bring into focus more objects in space than have ever been seen. Scientists say it has the potential to discover planets similar to Earth.

Dive Insight:

Construction on another huge telescope stopped in April after native Hawaiians objected to its location on the Big Island’s Mauna Kea volcano, which they consider sacred ground. Hawaii Gov. David Ige has proposed that building resume only after one-quarter of the location’s 13 other telescopes are dismantled. Plus, he proposed, no further observatory sites will be permitted on Mauna Kea after the telescope is built.

But protesters, who blocked access to the site before construction was shut down, are not supporting the governor’s effort, saying they will continue to picket the job site.