Scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Didcot have been working with Oxford University researchers to help create the world’s largest ground-based telescope.

The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is set to be built by the European Southern Observatory in South America’s Atacama Desert, in northern Chile.

The 39m-diameter telescope will be able to collect at least 12 times more light than the current largest optical telescopes.

The governing council of the European Southern Observatory approved the programme on Monday, pending an agreement on funding.

Prof Isobel Hook, the UK E-ELT project scientist at Oxford University, said: “The telescope is set to revolutionise optical and infra-red astronomy.

“Its unique combination of sharp imaging and its huge light collecting area will allow us to observe some of the most exciting phenomena in the universe in much better detail.

“For example, we will be able to observe distant galaxies in the process of formation, see the effects of massive black holes on their environment, and even search for planets in ‘habitable zones’ beyond our solar system, where life could exist.”

Lucy Stone, a spokesman for the Harwell science campus, the home of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, said space staff at the laboratory were working on the project with the university experts.

UK contributions to the project are being coordinated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh.