![]() ![]() ![]() The Keck paved the way for the current generation of extremely large telescopes now on the drawing boards and under construction. The idea was conceived by Jerry Nelson and first demonstrated in the Keck telescope, which used laser sensors and computer-controlled actuators to align 36, 1.8 meter hexagonal mirrors forming, in essence, a ten meter aperture primary mirror. While it has been possible to cast 8 meter class telescopes, mirrors much larger than that cannot practically be made by modern fabrication methods.įortunately, Liu explained, the limitations can be overcome by segmented mirror telescopes, in which multiple relatively small mirrors are so perfectly aligned that they act together in effect as a single monolithic mirror. In particular he noted that building the Hale telescope demonstrated that there are insurmountable problems of casting and polishing single monolithic mirror telescopes beyond a certain size and that the maximum size was being reached by the Hale's mirror. The speaker the discussed the history of telescope building. He said that the next generation of 30-meter class telescopes promise to bring about dramatic new discoveries as well. He noted that each increase in size and light-gathering power have enabled new discoveries about increasingly distant objects. Liu began by discussing how telescopes have progressed in size over the last 400 years, from the earliest instruments just a few centimeters in diameter, to today’s largest ten meter-class telescopes. His lecture was titled, “Twelve Times Hubble and Halfway to Space.” Recording Secretary James Heelan then read the minutes of the previous meeting and the lecture by Olivier Guyon on adaptive optics.Īfter soliciting comments, announcing that the minutes would be posted to website and thanking the Secretary, President Millstein introduced the speaker for the evening, Fengchuan Liu, Project Manager of the Thirty Meter Telescope Project. He welcomed everyone, thanked sponsors and announced new members. On October 22nd, 2021, by Zoom webinar broadcast on the PSW Science YouTube channel, President Larry Millstein called the 2,447th meeting of the Society to order at 8:02 p.m. And the EELT will be the subject of a lecture at a meeting next year. In addition to this lecture on the TMT, Jim Fanson presented on the GMT at PSW’s 2,436th meeting on March 5, 2020. Because of their size, light gathering abilities and advances in adaptive optics, the light gathering ability and resolution of each of these observatories will exceed those of the Hubble Space Telescope by very wide margins. The third is a European led project – the European Extremely Large Telescope (EELT). Two of these are US led projects: the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). TMT is one of the three very large ground based optical telescope projects currently underway in the world. ![]() This lecture will discuss the technology, engineering, and challenges of building the TMT. With state-of-the-art adaptive optics, TMT will advance the frontier of science in the study of the earliest stars and galaxies, exoplanets and the search for extraterrestrial life, the growth of galaxies, extreme gravity and supermassive black holes, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), is an extremely large optical-infrared telescope with diffraction-limited performance that will shape the landscape of astronomy for the next 50 years from its vantage point in the northern hemisphere. ![]()
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