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To: Strategerist

If they could put this telescope on the Moon just think about how far it could peer into the universe.


19 posted on 04/14/2013 9:06:38 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (IÂ’m not a Republican, IÂ’m a conservative! Pubbies haven't been conservative since before T.R.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
If they could put this telescope on the Moon just think about how far it could peer into the universe.

One problem with the moon is the temperature extremes. During the 15 day night it falls to hundreds of degrees below zero, during the 15 earth-day day, hundreds of degrees above. The Apollo missions were performed at local lunar twilight.

37 posted on 04/14/2013 11:23:49 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Doing the same thing and expecting different results is called software engineering.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
If they could put this telescope on the Moon just think about how far it could peer into the universe.

The moon is actually a very bad place for a telescope. Especially a large one.

Even though there is very little atmosphere, there is a huge day-night temperature variation: +100 Celsius in the day, as low as -173 Celsius at night.

The materials of the telescope have different thermal expansion rates, and this kills the precision of the telescope.

In the right orbit, a space-based telescope can be in constant sunlight, and the satellite designers can shade whatever parts they want to get any temperature they want.

Plus, it takes much more rocket energy to land something on the surface of the moon than to put it into orbit.

A very real issue is that launching a 100 meter primary mirror, even in pieces is well beyond our current capabilities.

Modern adaptive optics can take out a lot of atmospheric distortion.

38 posted on 04/14/2013 11:55:10 PM PDT by CurlyDave
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