Yerkes Observatory future to be discussed Feb. 25 at Williams Bay High School
WILLIAMS BAY — Future plans for Yerkes Observatory could be presented later this month at a public meeting at Williams Bay High School.
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For the Telescopes category
Schmitt-Cassegrain Collimation Made Easy Using a Duncan Mask | Alpha Lyrae
By Earl on 23 Aug 2019 No CommentsSchmitt-Cassegrain Collimation Made Easy Using a Duncan Mask | Alpha Lyrae
Very simple method of achieving excellent collimation of a Schmitt-Cassegrain using a home made Duncan Mask.
Source: alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2013/12/31/schmitt-cassegrain-collimation-made-easy-using-a-duncan-mask/
Thirty Meter Telescope forges ahead with Canary Islands site – Physics World
By Earl on 09 Aug 2019 No CommentsThirty Meter Telescope forges ahead with Canary Islands site – Physics World
Officials at the protest-hit telescope seek a construction permit for the island of La Palma
Source: physicsworld.com/a/thirty-meter-telescope-forges-ahead-with-canary-islands-site/
Goodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem
By Earl on 09 Jul 2019 No CommentsGoodbye Aberration: Physicist Solves 2,000-Year-Old Optical Problem
When you look through your viewfinder and things seem a little bit blurry or lacking definition, it’s probably because you are using an “el cheapo” lens.
Source: petapixel.com/2019/07/05/goodbye-aberration-physicist-solves-2000-year-old-optical-problem/
Unwilling to to go quietly into that good night, the Kepler Space Telescope is once again gathering scientific data — despite a malfunctioning thruster and painfully low levels of fuel….
Source: www.gizmodo.com.au/2018/09/deteriorating-kepler-space-telescope-refuses-to-die/
A $1 billion telescope that will take pictures 10 times sharper than Hubble’s is now officially under construction
By Earl on 19 Aug 2018 No CommentsThey’ve started building the GMT!!!
A $1 billion telescope that will take pictures 10 times sharper than Hubble’s is now officially under construction
In astronomy, cutting-edge technology often begins with a bunch of bulldozers, busted rocks, and dump trucks.
Source: www.businessinsider.com.au/giant-magellan-telescope-gmt-construction-2024-completion-2018-8?r=US
World’s Next Largest Telescope Hopes to Answer Question of Life Beyond Earth
By Earl on 03 Aug 2018 No CommentsWorld’s Next Largest Telescope Hopes to Answer Question of Life Beyond Earth
There’s a telescope under construction in Chile, and it’s slated to be the world’s largest – if it’s completed in time.
Supersharp Images from New VLT Adaptive Optics
ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has achieved first light with a new adaptive optics mode called laser tomography — and has captured remarkably sharp test images of the planet Neptune, star clusters and other objects. The pioneering MUSE instrument in Narrow-Field Mode, working with the GALACSI adaptive optics module, can now use this new technique to correct for turbulence at different altitudes in the atmosphere. It is now possible to capture images from the ground at visible wavelengths that are sharper than those from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The combination of exquisite image sharpness and the spectroscopic capabilities of MUSE will enable astronomers to study the properties of astronomical objects in much greater detail than was possible before.
Source: www.eso.org/public/news/eso1824/
Sandia Labs apply design for additive manufacturing to build precision telescope
By Earl on 31 May 2018 No CommentsSandia Labs apply design for additive manufacturing to build precision telescope
Sandia Labs apply design for additive manufacturing to build precision telescope
Usng sub-par materials and inaccurate dimensions does not sound like the appropriate start to a precision engineering project. However, a team at Sandia National Laboratories has done just that.
Schmitt-Cassegrain Collimation Made Easy Using a Duncan Mask | Alpha Lyrae
By Earl on 05 May 2018 No CommentsPossibly one of the best and easiest ways to collimate an SCT!
Schmitt-Cassegrain Collimation Made Easy Using a Duncan Mask | Alpha Lyrae
Very simple method of achieving excellent collimation of a Schmitt-Cassegrain using a home made Duncan Mask.
Source: alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2013/12/31/schmitt-cassegrain-collimation-made-easy-using-a-duncan-mask/
340,000 stars’ DNA interrogated in search for Sun’s lost siblings | Australian Astronomical Observatory
By Earl on 18 Apr 2018 No Comments
Using the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), an Australian-led group of astronomers working with European collaborators has revealed the “DNA” of more than 340,000 stars in the Milky Way, which should help them find the siblings of the Sun, now scattered across the sky.
This is a major announcement from an ambitious Galactic Archaeology survey, called GALAH, launched in late 2013 as part of a quest to uncover the formulation and evolution of galaxies. When complete, GALAH will investigate more than a million stars.
The GALAH survey used the HERMES spectrograph at the Australian Astronomical Observatory’s (AAO) 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope near Coonabarabran, NSW, to collect spectra for the 340,000 stars.
Full release and more details here:
Sharper Focus -Part 1- The Why and How of Adaptive Optics
The Atmospheric Lens TMT’s unprecedented ability to peer into the depths of the Universe means it will have a phenomenal impact on many areas of astronomy. But in this age of space-based telescopes, you may have wondered how a ground-based observatory like TMT (or some of the other next-generation large terrestrial telescopes) will get past the challenges of being on the ground instead of up in orbit. One of the major challenges is contending with the way Earth’s atmosphere changes the appearance of light that reaches us from objects in the sky.
Every level of the Earth’s atmosphere has winds that constantly shift, churn, and gust. Even high on a mountaintop, where many ground-based telescopes are already or will be located (including TMT), and the air is relatively thin, those winds are still present, and they interfere with the light we see. In fact, atmospheric winds are one reason why stars twinkle: as the winds toss about, they create small distortions that change moment by moment, and as the light traverses those distortions, it gets slightly distorted too. When ground-based telescopes look at a celestial object, what they see has to come through those small distortions, so ground-based telescopes see the twinkling just as we do. But however charming a twinkling point of light may be to our eyes, as an image for study, it’s slightly blurred or unstable and therefore not ideal. To be able to study an object, we have to be able to see it without distortion.
Source: www.tmt.org/blog/tmt20180411
Watch – people react to looking at the moon through a telescope
Watch – people react to looking at the moon through a telescope
Source: boingboing.net/2018/03/15/watch-people-react-to-lookin.html
Repairs completed on Lowell Observatory’s Pluto telescope
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — An observatory telescope in Arizona used to discover the distant Pluto nearly 90 years ago will reopen for business on Saturday after a year of extensive