where are the best observatories in the world

attashay · Aug 2, 2005

where are they?

Saiph · Aug 2, 2005

Mauna Kea Hawaii, and the Chilean Andes (Gemini South is on Cerro Pachón). These are considered the prime observing locations of modern astronomy, and are home of the best (biggest, newest, etc) telescopes. The Kecks, Subaru, and Gemini North are at Mauna Kea, CTIO and Gemini South are in Chile. Kitt Peak in Arizona is another major site, though it is past it's prime due to encroaching light pollution. All three sites have a pretty large variety of scopes. Other sites tend to have a telescope or two, but these are the big three. If you ever get a chance, visit the Mauna Kea site, it is absolutely incredible. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

tfwthom · Aug 3, 2005

Don't forget Mt Graham home of the LBT (two 8.4 meter mirrors) (when it's finished) or the Discovery Channel Telescope 4.2 meters making Arizona one of the best places for world class astronomy <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> www.siriuslookers.org </div>

majornature · Aug 3, 2005

Is it true that there is another observatory being built and that they're using a new type of material to build the lenses for a huge telescope to improving clear view of space? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> We are born. We live. We experiment. We rot. We die. and the whole process starts all over again! Imagine That! <img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /> </div>

jcdenton · Aug 3, 2005

Aside from what's been mentioned, there's also some great observatories in the Canary Islands, Spain. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

Saiph · Aug 3, 2005

yes, but dollar for dollar, the Kecks may beat hubble (now that they have adaptive optics anyway). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

tfwthom · Aug 3, 2005

Being cast right now is the World's Largest Telescope the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT). The completed GMT telescope primary mirror will consist of six 8.4-meter off-axis mirrors surrounding a seventh, on-axis central mirror. (An off-axis mirror focuses light at an angle away from its axis, unlike a symmetrical mirror that focuses light along its axis.) This arrangement will give the GMT four-and-one-half times the collecting area of any current optical telescope and the resolving power of a 25.6-meter (84-foot) diameter telescope, or 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope. The GMT is slated for completion in 2016 at a site in northern Chile. With its powerful resolution and enormous collecting area, it will be able to probe the most important questions in astronomy, including the birth of stars and planetary systems in our Milky Way, the mysteries of black holes, and the genesis of galaxies. For more: http://uanews.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/UANews.woa/2/wa/SRStoryDetails?ArticleID=11355 <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> www.siriuslookers.org </div>

Saiph · Aug 3, 2005

I'm assuming they're throwing in one hell of an adaptive optics system to break the atmospheric resolution limit. Any words on interferometry? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

tfwthom · Aug 3, 2005

GMT Technical Overview Telescope: The GMT is a segmented mirror telescope that employs today's largest stiff monolith mirrors as segments. Six off-axis 8.4m segments surround a central on-axis segment to form a single optical surface with an 18m focal length. The mechanical stiffness and short thermal time constants of the honeycomb borosilicate mirrors produce outstanding images on the Magellan telescopes in Chile, the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) and soon the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona. The GMT secondary mirror is composed of seven thin adaptive shells, with each segment mapping to a single primary mirror segment. The adaptive secondary will provide diffraction-limited performance over modest fields of view and ground-layer adaptive optics over a field of ten to twenty arcminutes in diameter. The final focal ratio at the straight Gregorian focus will be f/8.4 with an image scale of one arcsecond per millimeter. The telescope mount is based on two C-rings connected with a series of K-braces. The mount has high stiffness with a lowest resonance of 5.1Hz. The secondary mirror is supported by a hybrid hexapod support system that is composed of carbon fiber members attached to stiff steel legs. The secondary support is light weight yet stiff. The structure of the secondary support and the primary mirror geometery ensures that there will be no extraneous sources of diffraction or thermal emission within the aperture of the six outer segments. For this reason the telescope will have both an exceptionally clean point-spread function and low emissivity in the thermal infrared. The moving mass of the telescope is just over 1000 tons. Enclosure: The baseline GMT dome is cylindrical in shape and allows for maximum ventilation. A series of lourvers can be opened or closed to allow maximum airflow while shielding the telescope from wind-loading. The dome shutters open in two pieces, one below and one above the aperture. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> www.siriuslookers.org </div>

Saiph · Aug 4, 2005

correct. Though I do like to point out that advances in adaptive optics and optical interferometry can make great improvements in groundbased resolution that can match (or even surpace) hubble's resolution. However the applications are often limited by various other factors, that are slowly being worked around. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

Saiph · Aug 4, 2005

Okay, steve, find me the resolution of the hubble, and the resolution of the Keck telescopes (before and after adaptive optics, and before and after interferometry). I'd love to, but I'm off to go adopt a cat. Hopefully. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> --------------------SaiphMOD@gmail.com -------------------"This is my Timey Wimey Detector. Goes "bing" when there's stuff. It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually. I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

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