Gravitational lens

[kg]

<p>The post about black holes reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask.</p><p>How well would a black hole (assuming you had access to one which wasn't obscured by a dazzlingly bright accretion disk) work as a primary lens for a telescope?&nbsp; It seems to me that you could have a very large aperture with very little distortion because the light would not actually be passing through or reflecting off anything.&nbsp; Could you get a decent image?&nbsp; If not the what distortions might you get?</p>

 

[MeteorWayne]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>The post about black holes reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask.How well would a black hole (assuming you had access to one which wasn't obscured by a dazzlingly bright accretion disk) work as a primary lens for a telescope?&nbsp; It seems to me that you could have a very large aperture with very little distortion because the light would not actually be passing through or reflecting off anything.&nbsp; Could you get a decent image?&nbsp; If not the what distortions might you get? <br />Posted by kg</DIV><br /><br />Gravitational lenses have very high distortions due to the alignment not being perfect between the lens and the target object. Often there are multiple smeared images around the lens.</p><p>Now if you could move the black hole wherever you wanted.... <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" /></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[DrRocket]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>...Now if you could move the black hole wherever you wanted.... <br />Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV></p><p>That is an intriguing idea.&nbsp; How about we put one (another one) under the Capitol dome in Washington, D.C. ?&nbsp; It couldn't do any harm.&nbsp; <br /></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[kg]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>That is an intriguing idea.&nbsp; How about we put one (another one) under the Capitol dome in Washington, D.C. ?&nbsp; It couldn't do any harm.&nbsp; <br />Posted by DrRocket</DIV><br /><br />They might have a few to spare as soon as they work the bugs out of that accelerator.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm sure&nbsp;they can&nbsp;ship some over from Switzerland if they can figure out how to keep the Fed-X van from imploding!</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>