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Unbelievably Large Telescopes On the Moon?
Matt_dk writes "A team of internationally renowned astronomers and opticians may have found a way to make "unbelievably large" telescopes on the Moon.
'It's so simple,' says Ermanno F. Borra, physics professor at the Optics Laboratory of Laval University in Quebec, Canada. 'Isaac Newton knew that any liquid, if put into a shallow container and set spinning, naturally assumes a parabolic shape, the same shape needed by a telescope mirror to bring starlight to a focus. This could be the key to making a giant lunar observatory.'"
There is no dark side of the moon,
as a matter of fact, it's all dark...
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. -- Wernher von Braun
There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark.
The story would be more believable if they did not get certain basic facts wrong. Mercury has a very low vapor pressure, it's not going to evaporate very quickly. That's why you don't see mercury fog inside a mercury switch or thermometer. The cost and weight of the mercury are inconsequential compared to the cost of the rocket to lift the telescope up there.
THe whole thing's dark, really . . .
.... Matter of fact its all dark. :)