Comments on: Nano-Engineered Liquid Mirror Telescopes

By: vidyardhi nanduri

vidyardhi nanduri — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:59:43 +0000

Sub:Nano-Engineered Liquid Mirror Telescopes
Excellent concept that can be used in many developing countries.Further research may yield outstanding configurations. I have some more simple ideas that can be implemented as well
Vidyardhi Nanduri
Cosmology world peace

By: Astrophysician

Astrophysician — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:46:49 +0000

"like Peter mentioned about freezing it on the moonâ€¦how about freezing it on earth then tilting it. It seems so obvious it must not work for some reasonâ€¦"

I think they can't freeze it and use it on the moon because, when it crystallizes, it'll distort the image of whatever you train the mirror on. It'd be like spraying this stuff on super fine-grit sandpaper and trying to use that as a mirror, I think.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:13:01 +0000

Why not inflate a mylar mirror and spray it with silver on the moon? Tired of waiting for a 1000 meter space telescope…

By: enediyne

enediyne — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:06:16 +0000

It sounds to me like the organic support needs to be polymerized once coated and assembled so the surface will stay in place. Diacetylenes are readily polymerizable and low molecular weight. They could be polymerized by shining UV light from underside of the mirror. Although diacetlyenes are hydrophylic they may form bilayers if teathered to ethylene glycol or glycerine.

By: Keith A

Keith A — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:27:09 +0000

I'm sure they've thought of this, but…

What about creating something that tracks the sky like a telescope, but simply redirects the light, optically intact, to this stationary mirror pointing straight up? Seems, to me, both difficult, and possible.

By: Dark Gnat

Dark Gnat — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:49:43 +0000

What about using metals that are solid a room tempurature, but heating them until they melt, then forming the structers, and then letting it cool.

Under controlled conditions, this would make a very nice mirror. Aluminum, maybe? It's reflective, and light-weight.

By: joe

joe — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:59:58 +0000

like Peter mentioned about freezing it on the moon…how about freezing it on earth then tilting it. It seems so obvious it must not work for some reason…

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:56:41 +0000

Interesting stuff, donâ€™t know much about, wonder if they incase the liquid in some flexible polymer bag, transparent or sprayed, would it resist wind turbulence better or easier to deploy in moon or even space?

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:59:12 +0000

Can a system rotating at the end of a rotating boom (or several on the frustum of a rotating cone) be combined to produce a tilted system? It would describe a circular viewing arc, seeing the same target area every few seconds. It might not produce a tilted parabola. My math skills are a little rusty.

By: john

john — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:58:26 +0000

Looks like somebody has a dream which is progressing to hardware. Good luck and lots of success.

By: jwhiting

jwhiting — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:06:42 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpI4EiGACo8

By: laimingas

laimingas — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:37:30 +0000

Could someone just ban comments like logan posted? It's not his first time writing stuff like that here, you know…

By: Haplo

Haplo — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:00:18 +0000

Now that's just silly, everyone knows that kiddie pools have blue walls. You'll have to paint them silver and hydrophobic paint is expensive

By: Peter K

Peter K — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:16:41 +0000

Now THAT's exciting stuff!
Why not spin your liquids on the moon and then LET them freeze?
Then you could coat it with whatever! Or build several hundred for the price of one solid big one, and scatter them over the earth so that whatever you want to see in the heavens, there's a telescope aiming at your target. (I suppose they still need to tilt to track, but at least 10 degrees would do it then.) They could be connected by computer so that when your target leaves one's field of vision, it is caught on the next. Could I use my 4 metre kiddie pool in my backyard to help out?