The European Extremely Large Telescope will be a ground-based astronomical observatory with a 42-meter diameter segmented mirror. The design features a filled aperture mirror with an area of 1,300 m². The telescope’s “eye” will be almost half the length of a soccer pitch in diameter and will gather 15 times more light than the largest optical telescopes operating today. If completed it will become the largest of a new generation of Extremely Large Telescopes.