Many French astronomers had hoped for an optical telescope larger than the two approximately 2m telescopes at the Haute-Provence observatory and the Pic du Midi observatory.  This dream saw the light of day thanks to an international collaboration, and took the form of a 3.6m telescope in an exceptional site: the top of the extinct Mauna Kea volcano, at an altitude of 4,200m, on the island of Hawaii. Today, it is mainly used for wide field, visible and infrared high resolution imagery.

caption : The Franco-Canadian telescope - credits : CFHT