Powerful Optical Telescope Captures First Binocular Images

The Large Binocular Telescope consists of two 8.4-meter mirrors which function in tandem to provide resolution greater than that of the Hubble Telescope. The LBT's first "binocular" images were captured recently, marking the end to a long and laborious construction process. We previously discussed the LBT when images were captured from the first mirror to be installed. Quoting: "The LBT ... will combine light to produce the image sharpness equivalent to a single 22.8-meter (75-foot) telescope. 'To have a fully functioning binocular telescope is not only a time for celebration here at LBT, but also for the entire astronomy community,' UA Steward Observatory Director, Regents' Professor and LBT Corp. President Peter A. Strittmatter said. 'The images that this telescope will produce will be like none seen before. The power and clarity of this machine is in a class of its own. It will provide unmatched ability to peer into history, seeing the birth of the universe.'"

Re:Doesn't seem that large.

[megaditto]

A single 840 cm mirror is like 9 yards across. Big, but not huge.

Re:This might be a stupid question...

[the_other_chewey]

If two telescopes are good, wouldn't three be even better?
It's not like two is some arbitrary limit... right?
Right. VLT [wikipedia.org] has four.

Re:This might be a stupid question...

[Elrond, Duke of URL]

No, there's no physical limit to how many you can have. But, of course, cost is a factor. The construction of the LBT was very expensive. Each of the 7.5m mirrors alone cost a fortune to construct.

On another mountain outside of Tucson (Mt. Hopkins) is the MMTO (Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory). As the name suggests, this was a large telescope made from six smaller mirror segments. It has since been converted into a telescope with a single 6.5m mirror. There's a group at the University of Arizona which does adaptive optics experiments with it (MMTAO).

Re:Doesn't seem that large.

[Elrond, Duke of URL]

The telescope is a ways outside of town on top of Mount Graham. I've not see it personally, but I've seen the building for the MMT (a much smaller telescope) on Mt. Hopkins and it is quite impressive.

The large building behind the football stadium on campus is the mirror lab where they cast and finish the individual mirrors. Even that building isn't so small.

Perhaps you are thinking of the small white domed building (Old Steward Observatory) that sits behind the current Steward Observatory? That's mostly graduate student offices now. There's a telescope in there, but it's very old and quite small.

Re:Question

[BigDaddyOttawa]

No, they look really, REALLY far away.

That's quite right - And the future of astronomy.

[Esteanil]

In 2015 the European Space Agency is planning to launch Darwin. 4 spacecraft. 3 light collectors (based on the Herschel design) and one hub where the light is collected. If it works out (the telescopes and the hub must stay in formation with millimetre precision), we'll have a space telescope with an effective mirror size of several hundred meters.

The objective is the study of extrasolar planets, and the telescope will record in IR for purposes of recording signs of life.
Multiple mirror telescopes in space are probably the only way we will get to the point where we'll have close up pictures of extrasolar planets the size of earth.
And we're getting there.

Re:Obviation of space borne telescopes?

[arse maker]

Huge portions of the electromagnetic spectrum are absorbed by our atmosphere, for instance infra-red. These spectra are totally unobservable from earth and space based telescopes will always be needed. Other technical issues include how long you can sit observing a target, the earth is constantly rotating and while earth based telescopes can track an object it can only do it for a small portion of the day. A space based telescope can (depending on its location) observe a target uninterrupted for days, weeks, months or as long as needed. Now binocular telescopes with a few huge telescopes on earth and a few huge ones on the moon... or even Mars. Now that id like to see... but not so much fund :)

Re:life ain't fair

[siddesu]

make one yourself. some [foothill.net] people [stargazing.net] do [binoscope.co.nz] ;)

Re:That's quite right - And the future of astronom

[Trapezium Artist]

Not true, I'm afraid: Darwin was not picked by ESA as one of the missions to be studied for the so-called L (large) slot for launch in 2017-2018 during the recent Cosmic Vision selection exercise. Large missions in the running for that slot are XEUS (large X-ray telescope), LISA (gravitational wave observatory), and TANDEM/LAPLACE (missions to the outer planets, Titan and Jupiter, respectively, only one of which would happen). All of these would be collaborations with other space agencies.

It was felt that the precision formation-flying and interferometric beam combination techniques needed to make Darwin work were not mature enough for implementation yet. The science it's aiming at is of very great importance and such a project will undoubtedly return for consideration in future rounds of Cosmic Vision, but I'd say there's little chance of something like Darwin flying prior to 2022-2025.

In passing, you're right that Darwin would have the angular resolution of telescope several hundred metres in diameter, but it wouldn't have the collecting area of such a telescope. For direct detection of terrestrial-mass exoplanets close to their bright parent stars, that's fine; for other science such as studying galaxies forming just after the Big Bang, a larger collecting area would also be required. Comparison of the parts of parameter space covered by projects as disparate as Darwin, LBT, JWST, and future ELTs (ground-based extremely large telescopes, diameters and collecting areas of 30-40m diameter, under development for 2015-2020) is non-trivial.

Re:Holographic Telescope?

[Doc Ruby]

Stereographic imagery is certainly possible. A few hundred thousand miles (opposite points on a geosynchronous orbit) is enough parallax. Even a few centimeters would be enough parallax if the optics were good enough, which nanoscale optics will evenually offer. Our radio (high frequency light) instruments already capture fairly precise and accurate light from 13.72B light years away (and years ago). That is just a matter of technology, not basic science. It can be done.

Since you can't figure out stereoscopic telescopics I'm not sure you're ready to tackle holographic telescopics.

Re:What are the advantages of a binocular telescop

[dsvilko2]

As an amateur astronomer I can say that what you wrote is absolutely true. It's something very different and wonderful to be able to observe with both your eyes even if the image they are getting is completely the same. Still, it has nothing to do with why people build large binocular observatories such as this. One reason is that it is probably cheaper to build two 8.4m mirrors that won't distort under their weight then one large mirror of the same surface area. The other is the resolution gain that is possible with the binocular setup through interferometry.