SANTIAGO : Microsoft founder Bill Gates has donated ten million dollars to help build a US$400 million high-powered telescope in Chile, media here reported on Saturday.

Another Microsoft alumnus, Charles Simonyi, has donated US$20 million to the project, according to news reports.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which is expected to be operational as of 2015, is to be used by primarily by universities, laboratories and private groups.

The mountainside observatory in northern Chile, equipped with a high-power digital lens and built at an altitude of more than 2,500 meters above sea level, will be capable of taking detailed photos of supernovas, asteroids and other celestial bodies, and will be used to help create a map of the Milky Way. - AFP/ch