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Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Won't we always need some space-based just because of the atmosphere filtering out parts of the spectrum?
Won't we always need some space-based just because of the atmosphere filtering out parts of the spectrum?
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Its actually worse than that“It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man -
Even so, that seems like a sufficiently compelling reason on its own.Originally posted by pchang
Its actually worse than thatComment
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Unfolding
works great for collectors of long waves (radar, radio, etc.) - it is how the deathstars workedOriginally posted by DanS
That's good to know. I'm also interested in arrays of telescopes. For instance, the diameter of the Hubble mirror (~2 meters) was in part constrained by the payload bay of the Shuttle. I could imagine multiple mirrors unfold on orbit to create an array.
we don't have the technology to unfold optic collects and have them come together at the tolerances necessary.“It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of ManComment
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Yes.Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Won't we always need some space-based just because of the atmosphere filtering out parts of the spectrum?
And even in the parts of the spectrum where the atmosphere is relatively clear, DanS is being rather glib about the difficulties presented by corrective optics.
There are good reasons to believe that we are actually quite near the limit of how well you can do with ground-based instruments (well, except for some very specialised applications).
Space-based telescopes are far more attractive for everything but cost.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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OK. That's cool. It makes for easier comparisons if we disallow it.Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I don't think you have a real sense for just how difficult, if not impossible that would be.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Ha ha!! That's one of the reasons for balloon-based telescopes. They can get up to around 120,000 feet.Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Won't we always need some space-based just because of the atmosphere filtering out parts of the spectrum?
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AO. OA. We're talking interstellar probes here. Glib is part and parcel of this discussion.Originally posted by KrazyHorse
And even in the parts of the spectrum where the atmosphere is relatively clear, DanS is being rather glib about the difficulties presented by corrective optics.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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Balloon telescopes suck.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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balloons
are not very stable, nor are we building very large ones“It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of ManComment
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Every person I know who has worked on a balloon project has watched it end in tears...12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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Balloon telescopes suck for the same reasons that rockoons suck. They're much harder to handle than they appear and they aren't that stable.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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rockoons
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Look 'em up, bathroom boy.
Every person that I've heard about working on a rockoon project has watched it end in tears.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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NIMBY is not that big a problem... Find an acceptable place, such as the highlands in Chile, and then just keep on adding telescopes on the same spot. The astronomers can just get the data over the internet.
Oh, and... Bring back OWL!! I want to find other "Earths", and with that prospect the price of OWL is relatively small.http://www.hardware-wiki.com - A wiki about computers, with focus on Linux support.Comment
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DanS and KH
are DLs???“It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of ManComment
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