02-11-2016, 11:39 AM
Arecibo and Australian radio telescopes have received instrumentation upgrades so they can see through the center of the galaxy to the other side and beyond, the "blind spot" which has been there in human observation for 3 million years (looking up and seeing the Milky Way obscuring what is "behind" it).
Radio and infrared penetrate much better than optical. The era of lenses and giant mirrors is coming to an end, the TMT would have been one of the last brontosaurus.
It's starting to look like the demise of the Earth bound optical telescope is going to start in less than 5 years. There is no advantage to locking on to stars from a spinning reference platform. Lightweight individually magnified sensor arrays are going to be much cheaper and easier to locate in space.
TMT has to make a decision in two years whether it wants to keep fighting or find a new location, or go obsolete in the 8 years it will take to build it.
"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"
Radio and infrared penetrate much better than optical. The era of lenses and giant mirrors is coming to an end, the TMT would have been one of the last brontosaurus.
It's starting to look like the demise of the Earth bound optical telescope is going to start in less than 5 years. There is no advantage to locking on to stars from a spinning reference platform. Lightweight individually magnified sensor arrays are going to be much cheaper and easier to locate in space.
TMT has to make a decision in two years whether it wants to keep fighting or find a new location, or go obsolete in the 8 years it will take to build it.
"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*