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Telescope Will Have Images 10X Sharper Than Hubble

Posted by timothy on from the projections-of-grandeur dept.

jangobongo writes "After a 20 year struggle, the University of Arizona's $120 million Large Binocular Telescope was dedicated last week. This unique telescope will have twin 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) mirrors that sit on a single mount. Using methods similar to a medical CAT scan, a technique of "tomographic" image reconstruction will be used to produce pictures 10 times sharper (example) than the Hubble Space Telescope for a fraction of its $2 billion dollar cost."

2 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hubble Comparison? by drudd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why not? The point of Hubble is to be diffraction limited rather than seeing limited (due to being above the atmosphere).

    Adaptive optics makes putting telescopes above the atmosphere unnecessary (or less necessary, AO is still in it's infancy).

    If you can build a superior instrument for the cost of a single Hubble reservicing mission, why is it unfair to compare the price/performance to Hubble? No it doesn't have the same "coolness" factor that Hubble has, but as an astronomer, I don't really care about that.

    Doug

    --
    Venn ist das nurnstuck git und Slotermeyer? Ya! Beigerhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
  2. Re:Hubble Comparison? by Almost-Retired · · Score: 5, Insightful

    it doesn't really count as a plus if the earthside telescope can beat it(quite the opposite).

    Sorry, you are missing the point about the HST. It is doing things that no earth based scope can ever do. Because its above the atmosphere, there are NO artifacts of atmospheric band limiting it has to deal with. That effectively continuous broadband spectrum, extending from the near ultraviolet to the far infrared allows it to take in and process light that is 100% absorbed by the moisture and other contaminants in our atmosphere.

    All things considered, that effect alone is worth, and I'm making a SWAG here, at least half an F-Stop over the whole operating bandwidth, and many F-Stops of increased sensitivity at some frequencies.

    No, the HST is not doing what the Webb can do when and if it gets up, but then the Webb cannot do much of the HST's job either, each being designed for completely different objectives.

    And if your congress critter doesn't understand that difference, work to elect one that does, its all valuable science.

    Cheers, Gene