Hubble Origins Probe: Better than a servicing mission

Post by **Canidae** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 5:53 am

http://www.pha.jhu.edu/hop/

How can they say no?
A brand new Hubble telescope launched for the price of the servicing mission on the old one without the problem of fast approaching window of repair or risks and using the parts they were going to use (or scrap) for the repair mission.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:01 am

They can easily say no. Doesn't the US congress need to approve the money?

Post by **Transient** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:55 am

Well if congress was going to approve the repair, why the hell not just put up a new one?

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:59 am

They plan to put a new one up Trans. It's just the delay between the Hubble's death and the new one that is the problem. I personally think there should be more optical space telescopes up there.

Post by **Transient** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 7:03 am

Have you heard of this new mirror being built for a huge earth-based telescope? It's going to work like a pair of binoculars, apparently, which will improve accuracy and clarity of picture. I hear the glass lenses are so polished and flat that their edges deviate by only 1/1000th the diameter of a human hair. That's pretty fucking flat.

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 7:18 am

http://medusa.as.arizona.edu/lbto/

You're thinking of this right? My computer crashed before I could post it.

Post by **dzjepp** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:14 am

This only gonna pick up the visible spectrum?

Post by **o'dium** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:39 am

Transient wrote:Have you heard of this new mirror being built for a huge earth-based telescope? It's going to work like a pair of binoculars, apparently, which will improve accuracy and clarity of picture. I hear the glass lenses are so polished and flat that their edges deviate by only 1/1000th the diameter of a human hair. That's pretty fucking flat.

Yeah but with it being on Earth won't that kinda spoil the photo?

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:46 am

o'dium wrote:
Transient wrote:Have you heard of this new mirror being built for a huge earth-based telescope? It's going to work like a pair of binoculars, apparently, which will improve accuracy and clarity of picture. I hear the glass lenses are so polished and flat that their edges deviate by only 1/1000th the diameter of a human hair. That's pretty fucking flat.
Yeah but with it being on Earth won't that kinda spoil the photo?

They can compensate for the atmospheric effects relatively well.

Post by **SplishSplash** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:03 am

What about that Darwin or Gaia space telescope or whatever it was called?

Those 5 huge discs in space? Is it going to be built or did they cancel it?

Supposedly it would have been the first telescope to directly see other planets. (without techniques such as transfer, wobble, etc.)

Post by **Massive Quasars** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:34 am

James Webb Space telescope? That's still many years away (scheduled for 2014).

Yes we will be able to directly see planets around other suns, but it may take a decade or more.

Post by **o'dium** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:36 am

I still want them to do that "ring" thing they was gonna do. Some kind of huge ring around the planet, it would serve as some kind of station?

Or was i just watching something on sci-fi again

Post by **Transient** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:17 pm

o'dium wrote:
Transient wrote:Have you heard of this new mirror being built for a huge earth-based telescope? It's going to work like a pair of binoculars, apparently, which will improve accuracy and clarity of picture. I hear the glass lenses are so polished and flat that their edges deviate by only 1/1000th the diameter of a human hair. That's pretty fucking flat.
Yeah but with it being on Earth won't that kinda spoil the photo?

Definitely not. This telescope is going to be many times stronger than even Hubble, not to mention there are ways to get around the interference from our atmosphere.

dzjepp wrote:This only gonna pick up the visible spectrum?

It will at least get infrared, but the degree of precision they can get from the visible spectrum is really incredible.