This story is good , and deserves to be posted on every science and astrology website. An earth based telescope, the "World's Most Powerful Single Telescope" has just taken its first images of a distant galaxy, clearer and with more detail than any other optical telescope. In the weeks and months ahead, this telescope is expected to view and photograph planets in other solar systems.
From Spaceref and Large Binocular Telescope:
(Tucson, Arizona) --- The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) partners in the U.S.A., Italy and Germany are pleased to announce that they chieved "First Light" on Oct. 12, 2005. These exceptional images were obtained with one of the telescope's two primary mirrors in place and are being released today on the World Wide Web, .
This milestone marks the dawn of a new era in observing the Universe. Upon completion the LBT will peer deeper into space than ever before, and with ten times the clarity of the Hubble Space Telescope. With unparalleled observational capability, astronomers will be able to view planets in distant solar systems, and detect and measure objects dating back to the beginning of time (14 billion years ago).
Located on Mount Graham in southeastern Arizona, the $120 million (USD) LBT is a marvel of modern technology. It uses two massive 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) diameter primary mirrors mounted side-by-side to produce a collecting area equivalent to an 11.8-meter (39 foot) circular aperture. Furthermore, the interferometric combination of the light paths of the two primary mirrors will provide a resolution of a 22.8-meter telescope.
The "honeycomb" structured primary mirrors are unique in that they are lighter in weight than conventional solid-glass mirrors. The second primary mirror was recently transported from the University of Arizona to Mount Graham and has been installed. By fall 2006, the LBT will be fully operational with both of its enormous eyes wide open.
The LBT's first light images were taken on 12 October 2005. The target was an edge-on spiral galaxy (type Sb) in the constellation of Andromeda known as NGC891. This galaxy lies at a distance of 24 million light years. NGC891 is of particular interest because the galaxy-wide burst of star formation inferred from X-ray emission is stirring up the gas and dust in its disk, resulting in filaments of obscuring dust extending vertically for hundreds of light-years.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
I want one of these for my own personal use. I'll share, sometimes. ;-)
2 - The Countess (Trish Wilson)
That picture is awesome. I saw some of the first photos from Hubble at a science fiction convention years ago. There were panels about Hubble and NASA, as well as a special booth where they gave out 8x10s of the Hubble shots for free. I still have my photos.
Have you ever seen Astronomy Picture of the Day? I use it as my home page for Explorer. I get a new nifty space shot every morning when I log on and drink my coffee. That's a great web site.
Oh, and just for kicks, my husband and I have SETI At Home as screen savers on our computers. No aliens yet. Ah, well, maybe someday. ;)
3 - Bennett
Trish! Wow, please post the link to the "picture of the day". One thing about SETI, they know that it's going to take some time. It's a damn big sky up there!
Salut!
4 - The Countess (Trish Wilson)
Bennett, here's the URL for Astronomy Picture Of The Day
There's a great picture up today. It's of Mars when it was closest to the earth. I remember that well. I dragged my husband into the backyard so he could see it. He was amazed.
I love SETI At Home. There were a couple of interesting findings that they've catalogued at their web site. I agree with you. It's going to take some time. It would be really cool if SETI found evidence of extraterrestrial life. I still think the first extraterrestrial life we find will be microscopic, but it's still life.