Large Binocular Telescope
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| Organisation | LBT Consortium |
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| Location(s) | Mount Graham International Observatory, Arizona, United States |
| Coordinates | 32°42′04.71″N 109°53′20.63″W / 32.7013083°N 109.8890639°WCoordinates: 32°42′04.71″N 109°53′20.63″W / 32.7013083°N 109.8890639°W |
| Altitude | 3,221 m (10,568 ft) |
| Wavelength | visible to near infrared |
| Built | 1996–2004 by Ansaldo |
| First light | October 12, 2005 (1st primary mirror). September 18, 2006 (2nd primary mirror). January 11 – January 12, 2008 (1st & 2nd together) |
| Telescope style | Gregorian binocular |
| Diameter | 8.4 m per mirror |
| Collecting area | 111 m2 (1,190 sq ft) |
| Focal length | 9.6 m (f/1.142) |
| Mounting | elevation/azimuth |
| Enclosure | co-rotating building, dual parting slits |
| Website | Large Binocular Telescope |
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The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is an optical telescope for astronomy located on 10,700-foot (3,300 m) Mount Graham, in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona, United States. It is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. The LBT is currently one of the world's most advanced optical telescopes; using two 8.4 m (27 ft) wide mirrors, with centres 14.4 m apart, it has the same light-gathering ability as an 11.8 m (39 ft) wide single circular telescope and detail of a 22.8 m (75 ft) wide one. Its mirrors individually are the joint second-largest optical telescope in continental North America, behind the Hobby–Eberly Telescope in West Texas; it is also the largest monolithic, or non-segmented mirror, in an optical telescope. Strehl ratios of 60–90% in the infrared H band and 95% in the infrared M band have been achieved by the LBT.
The LBT was originally named the "Columbus Project". It is a joint project of these members: the Italian astronomical community represented by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, the University of Arizona, University of Minnesota,University of Notre Dame,University of Virginia, the LBT Beteiligungsgesellschaft in Germany (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Landessternwarte in Heidelberg, Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Munich and Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn); The Ohio State University; Research Corporation in Tucson, and the University of Chicago.
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