Related papers: A cryogenic liquid-mirror telescope on the moon to…
Liquid mirror telescopes are of interest to Astronomy because of their very low capital and operating costs. Low cost has a potentially revolutionary impact since it allows one to dedicate a large telescope to a narrowly focused project…
The surface of a spinning liquid takes the shape of a paraboloid that can be used as a reflecting mirror. This very old and nearly forgotten concept has recently been revived and I review its present status. Extensive interferometric tests…
The lightweighting and surface accuracy targeted for NGST's 8 m primary mirror has been demonstrated in a 0.5 m prototype. Now a second, 2 m prototype weighing 40 kg in total is being fabricated at the University of Arizona under the NGST…
I argue that there is a crisis in optical Astronomy due to a paucity of telescopes and thus the need for a paradigm shift in telescope technology. Large increases in collecting areas and observing time/astronomer are only possible if we…
I discuss the modalities of zenith observing with LMTs, their limitations and advantages. The main limitation comes from the relatively small regions of the sky that LMTs can access. The main advantage comes from low cost, for inexpensive…
We review the present status of liquid mirror telescopes. Interferometric tests of liquid mirrors (the largest one having a diameter of 2.5 meters ) show excellent optical qualities. The basic technology is now sufficiently reliable that it…
I review the present status of liquid mirror telescopes. In a nutshell: LMTs do work and several have been built and used. Extensive interferometric tests of liquid mirrors (the largest one having a diameter of 2.5 meters) show diffraction…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared space telescope that has recently started its science program which will enable breakthroughs in astrophysics and planetary science. Notably, JWST will provide the very first…
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will enable observations of galaxies at redshifts z > 10 and hence allow to test our current understanding of structure formation at very early times. Previous work has shown that the very first…
Large aperture telescopes are pivotal for exploring the universe, yet even with state-of-the-art manufacturing and launch technology, their size is limited to several meters. As we aim to build larger telescopes - extending tens of meters -…
We discuss a new technology that promises large inexpensive mirrors. We argue that it should be possible to tilt a rotating viscous liquid by perhaps as much as a few tens of degrees. The tilted liquid parabolic surface is used as the…
Water ice is thought to be trapped in large permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) in the Moon's polar regions, due to their extremely low temperatures. Here, we show that many unmapped cold traps exist on small spatial scales, substantially…
Space weathering is an important surface process occurring on the Moon and other airless bodies, especially those that have no magnetic field. The optical effects of the Moon's space weathering have been largely investigated in the…
A proof of concept for a frost detection imager using reflected starlight is presented; the limitations of this technique are explored experimentally. An ice-covered lunar surface is simulated inside a vacuum chamber, which is then…
The Moon is our future. It may seem like a chimera with a projected cost in excess of 100 billion\$, and counting, dispensed on ARTEMIS with little to show to date. However it is the ideal site for the largest telescopes that we can dream…
In this document, we summarize the main capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) for performing observations of Mars. The distinctive vantage point of JWST at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2) will allow sampling the full…
The observed presence of water molecules in the dayside lunar regolith was an unexpected discovery and remains poorly understood. Standard thermophysical models predict temperatures that are too high for adsorbed water to be stable. We…
We report the first scientific results from the NELIOTA (NEO Lunar Impacts and Optical TrAnsients) project, which has recently begun lunar monitoring observations with the 1.2-m Kryoneri telescope. NELIOTA aims to detect faint impact…
We present preliminary results of observations made, during the spring of 1996, with the 3-m liquid mirror telescope of the NASA Orbital Debris Observatory. A 20-arcmin-wide strip of sky was observed at latitude of 32deg56 N using 10…
We report the successful development and operation of a large astronomical liquid-mirror telescope. Employing a rotating 2.7-meter diameter mirror with a surface of liquid mercury, the telescope images a half-degree diameter field centered…