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World's Largest Telescope Begins Production
JohnnyNapalm writes "The Aggie Daily News is reporting today that the first mirrors have been cast for the world's largest telescope. The result of cooperation from some of the foremost institutions in education and science in the nation, the Giant Magellan Telescope stands to operate at a resolution 10 times larger than the Hubble. The project, set to be constructed in Chile, is slated for completion in 2016."
and not the US Gov't, then THEY get to choose when to pull the plug.
Not some accountant.
My mom says I'm cool.
Largest ptical telescope, perhaps. Arecibo Observatory is still the biggest single telescope, though there are even larger arrays.
After all, I am strangely colored.
The Hubble will be providing scientific insight long past its stamped expiration date. To quote from TFA:
The telescope will have four-and-one-half times the collecting area of any current optical telescope and the resolving power of a 25.6-meter (84-foot) diameter telescope - or 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.
I don't know about you, but given the immense scientific value of the Hubble, investing in further pursuits like this seems a worthwhile and worthy investment.
The problem with Hubble is that you have to send the space shuttle each time there is a problem with it. So this is quite a little constraint...
If this is possible to do telescopes on earth that can have the same quality as Hubble(I mean, the quality that would have the successor of the Hubble...), then it's pretty interesting because it will be cheaper at the end (maintenance, upgrading, etc). Even if they need huge mirrors for it.
Just for some perspective, a silicon arom has a radius of 1.46 angstroms or .146 nanometers. giving it a .292 nanometers, so were looking at a mirror that is within 50 atoms of perfection.
Heck, the optic technology alone is enough to have real world impacts. So yea I think the investment is well worth it.
Storm
yes, but with adaptive optics and reprocessing the difference is not as big, and the operating costs are nowhere close, and if they add enough additional capabilities (can't do ir/uv in atmosphere, but some radio could help) it might be useful. Few earth telescopes will ever rival hubble however, the enormous field of view coupled with the amazing contrast allowed by its orbit really can't be matched on earth, at least not without additional processing.
for actual scientific purposes, and not pretty pictures it should be as useful.
The first rule of USENET is you do not talk about USENET.
nope, many small mirrors are easier to manufacture by far (large mirrors have too many defects to be useful, or cheap), and adaptive optics requires that the mirrors have a modifiable geometry to properly compensate for the atmospheric interference. the break in the mirrors do not reflect light, so as long as the angles are correct it is not noticable.
The first rule of USENET is you do not talk about USENET.
Price of putting the 2.5-meter Hubble Space Telescope in orbit, and installing its corrective glasses:
:)
Somewhere on the order of $2-4 Billion.
Price of building both 10-meter Keck Telescopes on Mauna Kea:
About $200 Million.
Soooo... for the cost of one orbiting telescope (and that wasn't even counting the later servicing missions), you could build 20-40 terrestrial telescopes, each with four times the diameter.
Oh, and as a data point... expected price of building the 30-meter Telescope:
About $1 Billion.
Launching stuff is way more expensive than getting it places on boats or trucks.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
Speaking of using it to its fullest potential; what are the chances of somebody turning that puppy towards the moon to see if some imagery of the Apollo landings can be had? Would that not be awesome to actually see Tranquility base, with Armstrong and Aldrin's footprints intermingled with all the Moontian footprints left since they came back? (lol) Or even get a shot of the space station coming over the horizon, or the shuttle lifting off (if and when, if and when). I mean why does it have to just be used for outer space stuff? (probably a technical explanation headed my way, but what the heck, it would be cool if it could be used like that)
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