A wide sky coverage ferrofluid mercury telescope
1994; IOP Publishing; Volume: 424; Linguagem: Inglês
10.1086/187294
ISSN1538-4357
AutoresW. L. H. Shuter, Lorne Whitehead,
Tópico(s)Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing
Resumoview Abstract Citations (6) References (9) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS A Wide Sky Coverage Ferrofluid Mercury Telescope Shuter, William L. H. ; Whitehead, Lorne A. Abstract Liquid mirror optical telescopes use rotating mercury to form precise paraboloidal primary reflectors. These telescopes, which represent an inexpensive alternative to traditional telescopes, to date have been limited in their sky coverage to a small viewing area (typically 1/4 sq. deg) centered on the zenith. We propose to increase the sky coverage area of a mercury optical telescope by at least two orders of magnitude, using the same concept as that employed in the 305 m diameter radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, which has a spherical primary reflector. We have shown that it should be possible to deflect a 2.65 m diameter f/1.9 rotating mercury paraboloid into a precise spherical shape, by using ferrofluid mercury in a carefully tailored magnetic field. The 10 deg x 10 deg sky coverage of such a telescope could make it the instrument of choice in a number of astronomical observing programs. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: April 1994 DOI: 10.1086/187294 Bibcode: 1994ApJ...424L.139S Keywords: Optical Materials; Optical Measuring Instruments; Radio Astronomy; Ripples; Sky Surveys (Astronomy); Telescopes; Aberration; Diameters; Magnetic Fields; Stellar Magnitude; Zenith; Optics; TELESCOPES; INSTRUMENTATION: MISCELLANEOUS full text sources ADS |
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