The Top 10 Views Of Earth From Space

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:48:32 GMT

clipped by: kidora
clipper's remarks: Great pictures of earth from space, starting from closest to farthest. Wow, what a ride Got to love that last picture!

Clip Source: www.space.com

Tags: earth, space, nasa

Telescope On The Moon

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 19:48:29 GMT

clipped by: kidora
clipper's remarks: Liquid telescopes are amazing technology. If used correctly they would be able to show us images from distant galaxies that were born only a billion years after the formation of the universe.
Cool.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

The idea of a moon-based liquid telescope is controversial, but it could help astronomers solve the central problem in constructing more powerful telescopes—the need for larger focusing mirrors. The Hubble Space Telescope has a 2.4-meter- (94-inch-) wide mirror, and its proposed successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, would have a 6.5-meter mirror. The largest mirrors, which reside in the twin telescopes of Hawaii's Keck Observatory, each measure 10 meters across.

But astronomers would need a mirror up to 100 meters wide, or the length of a football field, to observe galaxies born nearly 13 billion years ago, when the universe was only one billion years old. Getting such an object into space would be a monumental undertaking, Borra says. "With a liquid mirror," he notes, "basically you carry it in a jug." Spinning the liquid in a large dish causes it to curve like a crater and focus light to a sharp image.

Tags: moon, telescope, science, space, galaxies

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The Top 10 Views Of Earth From Space

Telescope On The Moon