The current buildings housing the four main telescope of the Paranal Observatory located on the Atacama plateau of southern Chile

Controversy continues over the cost and schedule of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Congress seems supportive even in this environment of budget cutting mania. But some NASA scientists are split over whether JWST is worth it or not:

But the astronomy community as a whole isn’t sure this is good news. Some now fear that the behemoth telescope, which is 7 years late and vastly over budget, will end up devouring money allocated to other planetary science and solar physics projects. When JWST, the heir apparent to the Hubble Space Telescope, was named a top priority for NASA astrophysics in 2001, it was supposed to cost $1 billion and launch by the end of this year. It is now expected to cost at least $8.7 billion for launch and operations and to launch no earlier than 2018, a dramatic overrun that prompted Congress to propose axing the telescope.

Meanwhile, a new addition planned for Paranal Observatory in Chile already housing the sharpest optical telescopes on earth could rival the JWST in resolving power and undercut the cost of the space based telescope by billions of dollars:

When it is completed in 10 years, it will be the most powerful eye on the sky anywhere in the world. The size of a football stadium, its main mirror will be 138 feet wide. That is four times bigger than the mirrors on any existing telescopes anywhere. … The telescope will cost about $1.5 billion, weigh over 5,000 tons and will be made to withstand major earthquakes, a serious consideration in Chile. Astronomers say the images it produces will be 15 times sharper than those sent to earth by the Hubble.

Of course in a sane nation we’d be willing to pay what it costs us to fund Bush’s asinine Iraq War for a few days to put a next generation infrared telescope into space. But given our budget priorities and the argument raging today about whether or not teachers and police officers should pay a higher tax rate than billionaires, it’s pretty clear we do not live in a sane nation. Fortunately this addition to the Paranal should be able to do some of the same science JWST would be capable of, and for a fraction of the cost.