Paris

THE European Southern Observatory (ESO) said on Thursday that it will go ahead with construction of the world's most powerful land-based telescope, a behemoth designed to locate planets in other solar systems.

Building work on the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) was authorised by ESO's governing body after funding pledges exceeded 90 per cent of the roughly one billion euro (S$1.6 billion) cost, the organisation said.