[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Originally Posted by astroron

Try this for a visual comparoo (or see attached):
http://www.extremetech.com/wp-conten...rrors.svg_.png
[...]
telescopes, "
So they didn't forget Hubble at all,
It was not considered as it fly's around the earth at about 400kms High.

End

Okay, fair enough my opening remark was asking for it given the caption to the linked image.

But my point is that in the public eye Hubble is synonymous with pro telescopes and astronomy research, whereas most ordinary folk would not be able to relate to VLT, LBT, etc. For most people to see the ELT next to Hubble would be more inspiring than any of those other comparisons.

And that's really the point of this sort of promotional material: to get the message out to the public and get them excited about the project. The pros don't need them; they already know what it's all about and how much bigger a 39m scope is than a 6m etc.