Credit: Giant Magellan Telescope - Carnegie Observatories
Posted on 12/28/2008 3:13:03 PM PST by SunkenCiv
With a resolving power ten times sharper than Hubble and five times sharper than its replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, the GMT is a big step up in terms of power. Composed of an array of seven mirrors, each 8.4 m in diameter (some of the largest ground-based telescopes currently have a diameter of 10 m), it will have the capacity of a telescope with a diameter of 24.5 m -- far larger than any telescope built so far... "We are confident that it will have a great impact on our understanding of extrasolar planets, black holes and early star and galaxy formation," says astrophysicist Pat McCarthy, from the Observatories of the Carnegie Institute in Washington. "The great advantage offered by the next generation of telescopes is the combination of enormous collecting area and great angular resolution. Current infrared space telescopes, such as the Spitzer Telescope, are limited by the poor angular resolution in the infrared," he adds. With its large diameter, the GMT will have the high angular resolution needed to probe the structure of dense star-forming regions in the infrared and see directly into regions of massive star formation."
(Excerpt) Read more at cosmosmagazine.com ...
Credit: Giant Magellan Telescope - Carnegie Observatories
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Won’t be ready until about 2016 but I sure am looking forward to it.
What is its carbon foot print??? If large, it must be destroyed.
--- a resolving power ten times sharper than Hubble and five times sharper than its replacement.
:’D
Even bigger than Obama’s inflated sense of self-esteem.
“Help me, help meeeee....”
The article says it will be built in Chile - so you better learn how to speak spanish ...
They tried combining the two into a more powerful Webb Hubbell telescope ...
...but it kept rolling over.
what happened to him? did commit arkancide?
:’D
He's alive and living ignominiously, at last count selling life insurance for dopers.
I understand he still gets Father's Day cards from Chelsea.
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