Meaning you could coat all 500 mirrors of a state-of-the-art telescope—like the planned Thirty Meter Telescope—in a matter of months. Drew Phillips, astronomer at University of California Observatories. To study the heavens, it's all about the photons. Santa Cruz, —is scaled up to coat mirror segments up to a meter in diameter. "The throughput, the actual number of photons that are detected in the end in a modern spectrograph, you're doing good if you get thirty percent. ], Scientific American Space & Physics is a roundup of the most important stories about the universe and beyond. It's subject to tarnish, and oxidation, and corrosion.". [The above text is a transcript of this podcast. And mirrors aren't perfectly reflective. The sheer size of the glass, the nanometer precision of its curves, its carefully calculated optics, and the adaptive software required to run it make this a task of herculean proportions. And that's where the optics problem comes in. [, When put to use, these better mirrors might allow astronomers to capture more photons… and shed more light. It starts to look like a telescope mirror :) The #400 grit is the finest size you will add with the teaspoon. Casting a $20 Million Mirror for the World’s Largest Telescope And unlike the small-scale atomic deposition used in the electronics industry, this new machine--recently installed in a lab at U.C. The above text is a transcript of this podcast. It was 40"x40" and 0.75" thick. —and do more science. The technique allows them to take a silver-coated mirror—and coat it with extremely uniform layers of transparent aluminum oxide, to protect against corrosion. We want every photon we can collect." So Phillips and his team have borrowed a trick from the computer industry, called atomic layer deposition. Observations, Data, and Conclusions. Take a plastic bottle (from drinks etc) 0.5 liters, add a few spoons of grit in the bottle and add 6-8 times the volume of water. Subscribers get more award-winning coverage of advances in science & technology. Like silver, which reflects 97 to 99 percent of visible and infrared light, respectively. More reflective telescope mirrors allow astronomers to capture more photons—and do more science. Christopher Intagliata reports. —and coat it with extremely uniform layers of transparent aluminum oxide, to protect against corrosion. When put to use, these better mirrors might allow astronomers to capture more photons… and shed more light—literally—on faraway galaxies and stars. "We in astronomy are always greedy. Meaning you could coat all 500 mirrors of a state-of-the-art telescope—like the planned Thirty Meter Telescope—in a matter of months. In this post, we’ll talk about the first one which is the most time consuming but also the most interesting. Santa Cruz—is scaled up to coat mirror segments up to a meter in diameter. 60-Second Science - 0 minute ago - By Christopher Intagliata, 60-Second Science - 20 hours ago - By Susanne Bard, 60-Second Science - November 18, 2020 - By Christopher Intagliata, 60-Second Science - November 17, 2020 - By Scott Hershberger, Divide and Conquer Could Be Good COVID Strategy, 60-Second Science - November 12, 2020 - By W. Wayt Gibbs, 60-Second Science - November 10, 2020 - By Mark Stratton, Funky Cheese Rinds Release an Influential Stench. Shake well before pouring the grit on the mirror. Bounce that light around a few times in a telescope, and you lose valuable photons. Finer than that, they need to be premixed with water. Here at the Mirror Lab, we finished making the first Giant Magellan Telescope segment in 2012. And unlike the small-scale atomic deposition used in the electronics industry, this new machine--recently installed in a lab at U.C. More photons, he says, basically means more science about incredibly faint, distant objects. After a pause for work on two other mirrors, the lab is in the process of grinding Segments 2 and 3. Because incoming light reflects off several mirrors before it comes out the business end of a telescope. "It is finicky. Homemade 12.5 Inch Dobsonian Telescope: How to build a 12.5 inch closed tube Dobsonian telescope. Its what I decided to use to make the mirror. —literally—on faraway galaxies and stars. Building a mirror for any giant telescope is no simple feat. ", So you want the most reflective material for your mirrors. The traditional mirror coating, aluminum, reflects only about 90 percent of light. To compute the power or magnification (M) of your telescope, you will use the focal lengths computed in the experiment named, "Focusing Light With a Lens," page 49 in the Educator Guide: Optics - Light, Color and their Uses.Insert the number for each previously computed focal length into the following equation: [Journal of SPIE]. But the recent castings of the 15-metric ton, off-axis mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope forced engineers to push the design and manufacturing process beyond all previous limits.Read more: https://spectrum.ieee.org/video/aerospace/astrophysics/casting-a-20-million-mirror-for-the-worlds-largest-telescope
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