Large Binocular Telescope

Palomar · 2004-09-18 07:00:45

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.htm … Dedication 10/2004

*Ceremony in Tucson. $120 million project, located on Mt. Graham near Safford, AZ (I've seen Mt. Graham; my husband has relatives in the area...was in Safford just last year in fact).

"When fully operational in 2005, it will be the most technologically advanced ground-based telescope in the world. The LBT is unlike any other telescope because it utilizes twin 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) "honeycomb" mirrors that sit on a single mount. The mirrors are more rigid and lighter weight than conventional solid-glass mirrors and together will collect more light than any existing single telescope...

...will yield images of faint celestial objects that are ten times sharper than those from the Hubble Space Telescope (Hubble...the great 'scope by which all others are measured!)...

The Mirror Lab has completed the first LBT mirror and is currently polishing the second to an accuracy of 30 nanometers, or 3,000 times thinner than a human hair..."

*Hmmmmm. Looks like it'll soon be time to visit Safford again!

--Cindy

Mad Grad Student · 2004-09-18 15:34:57

Cool, this is kind of a relief for me, the last I heard of LBT it was in a three sentence article on page A17 of the paper saying that Mt. Graham was in imminent danger of being burned to the ground by the wildfires blazing around it. Of course nobody cared very much about it, so I wasn't able to find any more info about LBT, but it seems like it survived well enough. It's cool to be living only a few dozen miles away from what will become the most capible telescope this side of LEO.

Euler · 2004-09-19 02:27:05

It is nice, but you have to remember that with just 2 mirrors, it only gets the extra good resolution in one dimention.

Palomar · 2004-09-19 07:24:16

Cool, this is kind of a relief for me, the last I heard of LBT it was in a three sentence article on page A17 of the paper saying that Mt. Graham was in imminent danger of being burned to the ground by the wildfires blazing around it. Of course nobody cared very much about it, so I wasn't able to find any more info about LBT, but it seems like it survived well enough. It's cool to be living only a few dozen miles away from what will become the most capible telescope this side of LEO.

*Yes, I recall news of those wildfires; one of my husband's relatives mentioned it to him over the telephone (didn't discuss the telescope however). Well...Mt. Graham is a mighty big chunk of rock (but beautiful, at least from the Safford- and Wilcox-facing sides, which is all I've seen of it) and I've not yet seen a topographical map of it, nor precisely where the scope is located. I didn't see reference to a visitor's center. There's something extra compelling about "twin 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) 'honeycomb; mirrors that sit on a single mount"...I would really like to see that.

--Cindy

Earthfirst · 2004-09-21 21:55:51

Mt. Graham also has great fishing too, and a nice fir spurce forest. I want to back up their and see what surved the fires, one good thing about the fires is the that the forest was dying of bark beetles infections that are also killing entire forest all over the southwest US. Know that the evering been burned down sussional plants will take over. In 10 years the old burnt fir spure forest will have aspens coming up, and 50 years the top will be covered in a aspen forest. It will look great in the fall. In 100 years spurce and fir trees will crowed out aspen and it will be back to the old fir spurce forest that was their before the fire. Lower down in the ponderosa forest oak and junpers and grass will take over, then in 200 years the old growth pines forest will return.
Its neat thing to study, man stop the fire cycles, now because of the drought we get very larg bad crown fires that total destory the forest instead of low intence fire that only born off shurb. It takes big event to wake people up to the natural cycles of nature!
I hear that the LBT will be able to detect smaller plantes than neptune, In a few years the first earth massed planet will be discovered. It will in my view almost as important as landing on the moon was. At least to a few folks out their!

SpaceNut · 2004-12-14 08:07:23

Work Begins on Magellan Giant Telescope

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be the world's largest observatory it is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

The GMT will have ten times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.
With its powerful resolution and enormous collecting area, the GMT will be able to probe the secrets of planets that have formed around other stars in the Milky Way, peer back in time toward the Big Bang with unprecedented clarity, delve into the nature of dark matter and dark energy, and explore the formation of black holes—the most important questions in astronomy today.

MarsDog · 2004-12-14 10:41:59

It is nice, but you have to remember that with just 2 mirrors, it only gets the extra good resolution in one dimention.

What more information can be extracted from having an extra point to create interference patterns at different frequencies ? Will have to look up image processing out of curiosity.

GraemeSkinner · 2004-12-14 11:07:24

It is nice, but you have to remember that with just 2 mirrors, it only gets the extra good resolution in one dimention.
What more information can be extracted from having an extra point to create interference patterns at different frequencies ? Will have to look up image processing out of curiosity.

Not quite OT but hey, you mentioned interference patterns, http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/mci … .html]this page has quite a nice applet for interference patterns on.

But in regards to this scope 2 mirrors of 8.4 meter diameter is quite impressive, especially the design of the mirrors themselves.

Graeme

Palomar · 2005-10-28 05:51:23

First light!

*LBT obtained "First Light" on October 12. It obtained an image of NCG 891 (a galaxy in the constellation of Andromeda).

As mentioned before, this telescopic system has the ability to peer deeper into space than ever before, even into 14 billion light years distance (the beginning of time, of course). It has 10 times Hubble's clarity.

Here's hoping for a long and rewarding life for LBT.

--Cindy

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#1 2004-09-18 07:00:45

Re: Large Binocular Telescope

#2 2004-09-18 15:34:57

Re: Large Binocular Telescope

#3 2004-09-19 02:27:05

Re: Large Binocular Telescope

#4 2004-09-19 07:24:16

Re: Large Binocular Telescope

#5 2004-09-21 21:55:51

Re: Large Binocular Telescope

#6 2004-12-14 08:07:23

Re: Large Binocular Telescope

#7 2004-12-14 10:41:59

Re: Large Binocular Telescope

#8 2004-12-14 11:07:24

Re: Large Binocular Telescope

#9 2005-10-28 05:51:23

Re: Large Binocular Telescope

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