Liquid Telescope Mirrors | Space

#shorts |
Large standard reflection telescopes with spherical mirrors are costly to produce. Furthermore, they suffer from spherical aberration, decreasing the image's sharpness. Using a primary mirror with a parabolic profile negated the latter issue, but the manufacturing cost is even higher. For solid mirrors at least. Any vessel with a liquid in it, which is spun around the vertical axis lets the liquid assume a smooth parabolic profile. If a highly reflective liquid, like mercury or gallium are used, the result is a large, cost-effective and very smooth rotating mirror.
Several observatories employ this technique, but are limited to sky surveys since the telescope can only be pointed straight up, creating a field of view that changes with the Earth's rotation. Some applications that do not require longer targeted observations, like high-sensitivity space debris tracking, benefit from this technique.
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Images and videos are openly provided by:
-ESA
-NASA / NASA Orbital Debris Program Office
-Guy Plante (Laval University)

[@extracoldfusion488]

Did you ever get the opportunity to look through a telescope in an observatory?

[@dominik-bb4mz]

No, but I got one ;)

[@5th_decile]

If only we had a liquid substance that could hold a uniform electric charge density...

[@KJ-xt3yu]

Prisums/mirrors changing the direction from directly up to any direction desired... light bucket....

[@mark2220]

A prism aka a lense this large is even more expensive than just making the parabolic mirror in the first place. That's why ALL huge telescopes are done with mirrors not lenses.

[@avo616]

Return to monke

[@k0bozo968]

🥶🥶🤯🥵😤😈👹😳😳👹👹😩😏😤😤😤

[@xanderunderwoods3363]

Use magnetic liquid. Problem solved.

[@StarSight-zi6sj]

then use flat mirror so you can point it anywhere you want

[@mark2220]

With a magnification of 1.0x.... so useful. Thanks for the input

[@nimbooman3308]

😂😂​@@mark2220