02-12-2016, 05:09 PM
Mike - I really understand that young scientist's opinion. I don't often get the opportunity to attend general astronomy conferences, but when I do I'll often step into one of the cosmology sessions and listen to the talks. The observational seminars are fine as I've worked with enough observational cosmologists to understand their talks, but then the theoretical presentations start and usually have to leave as I feel a migraine coming on!
HOTPE - in addition to your post, which I thought was spot on, what really makes a telescope productive is the instrumentation. Typically, an astronomical instrument has a ten-year lifetime, although some can remain ahead of the game for much longer, but the point is upgrading the instrumentation keeps a telescope competitive. And even if that instrument becomes dated but it's unique, a relatively simple and quick upgrade of its detectors opens up whole new fields of research that other observatories can't do. It's why some of the older observatories on Mauna Kea are still the most scientifically productive on the planet.
HOTPE - in addition to your post, which I thought was spot on, what really makes a telescope productive is the instrumentation. Typically, an astronomical instrument has a ten-year lifetime, although some can remain ahead of the game for much longer, but the point is upgrading the instrumentation keeps a telescope competitive. And even if that instrument becomes dated but it's unique, a relatively simple and quick upgrade of its detectors opens up whole new fields of research that other observatories can't do. It's why some of the older observatories on Mauna Kea are still the most scientifically productive on the planet.