06-21-2014, 05:33 AM
The astronomers are talking about being able to resolve visually to the atmosphere resolution with the new telescopes, only for those possible rocky planets a relatively short distance away. So, the time lag is generally going to be less than 100 light-years, not millions of light-years. Take the Sun, put it at an imaginary center, the new telescopes will be sweeping in a spherical distance area, possibly out to 200 light years. This will only be for their planet searching job, they will have a universe full of other jobs. And it will be great that TMT will be north of the equator and E-ELT will be south of the equator. That has to increase the sweep area by a huge amount.
E-ELT faces some huge construction hurdles. They don't have EIS to deal with but those mirrors are made out of sections, unbelievably precise and fragile. They have to be shipped in to the nearest port, then trucked all the way into some of the most remote area on the planet, driven up to the top of the mountain and final assembly requiring precision to the thousandths of a millimeter. They have over 270 sections. Would not want to be in charge of that job.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
E-ELT faces some huge construction hurdles. They don't have EIS to deal with but those mirrors are made out of sections, unbelievably precise and fragile. They have to be shipped in to the nearest port, then trucked all the way into some of the most remote area on the planet, driven up to the top of the mountain and final assembly requiring precision to the thousandths of a millimeter. They have over 270 sections. Would not want to be in charge of that job.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*