Boston.com: Within the next decade or so, a new generation of Earth- and space-based telescopes should be probing the farthest, faintest regions of the heavens, putting sharp focus on the formation of the first stars and galaxies. These monsters, many times more powerful than today's telescopes, should also bolster the hunt for habitable - or, indeed, inhabited - planets beyond the solar system and even beyond our Milky Way galaxy.

"We're reaching a wall on what we can learn with existing telescopes," said Wendy Freedman, director of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution, one of the research bodies involved in development of the Giant Magellan. "It's time to take the leap to the next generation."

The Boston Globe's Colin Nickerson surveys some of the designs for these upcoming telescopes.