1st Photos from New Discovery Channel Telescope (53 million dollas) Unveiled

One of the first images captured by the Discovery Channel Telescope in Arizona shows the barred spiral galaxy M109. The privately funded observatory took its first photos in May 2012.
The $53 million Discovery Channel Telescope is the fifth largest telescope in the continental United States, and was paid for without any federal or state funding. The observatory snapped its inaugural pictures — including views of the famous Whirlpool and Sombrero galaxies, as well as the M109 barred spiral galaxy — in May using its 16-million-pixel camera.
Though the telescope's eyes are now open to the universe, it will undergo a testing phase for about 18 months, with its first scientific data gathering expected to begin in 2013 or 2014. Its location, in the Coconino National Forest about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south-southeast of Flagstaff, is in a dark-sky site, one of the darkest, best places from which to view the night sky in the United States.

The process of planning and building the telescope is due to be featured in a one-hour Discovery Channel documentary set to air in September 2012.