Religious and cultural issues. The ability to construct the LBT results from advances in mirror manufacturing. The LBT is on Mount Graham, in Arizona, a unique mountain ecosystem. Mount Graham is a sacred site of the traditional Apache religion. When it comes to making telescope mirrors, wider is better.
Bigger aperture means more light-gathering power .
The number of photons gathered in a given time is proportional to the AREA of the telescope's mirror. Bigger aperture means more resolving power . Historically, whenever bigger telescopes have been built, new discoveries have been made. This new generation of telescopes will enable us to see fainter and smaller objects than ever before. At very great distances, they will detect the first galaxies to form.