08-12-2016, 04:50 AM
quote:With adaptive optics turbulence is a non-issue. However clarity can not be compensated for and is a much bigger problem.
Originally posted by pahoated
Mauna Kea has a mean seeing value of 0.88 so Chile and Canary island with 0.55 have much better seeing values. The air above Hawaii may be clearer but there is a lot more turbulence. The lower end of the India seeing value is comparable to Mauna Kea but they may have much less upper atmosphere turbulence on average.
quote:
The average number of viewing days at Atacama is 300 days per year. On Mauna Kea, it is 240 days per year. Considering ground based optical telescopes are automatically 50% efficient (~12 hours per night), that means a telescope at Atacama can be viewing 3,600 hours per year versus Mauna Kea with 2,880 hours per year.
Wrong. It's 315 days, not 240. http://www.maunakea.com/faq.htm
(Updated 2/14) Our latest in-house statistics show that Mauna Kea has been over the last few years clear enough for astronomy and a scenic sunset an average of 315 nights a year.
quote:Actually all of these things are easily controlled and the big island has a long history of making sure light pollution is not a factor, unlike some of the other locations. Your incorrect facts do not support your wish that telescopes are obsolete in any way.
The fact ground based optical telescopes are so sensitive to wind, humidity, ground temperature, light pollution, many other uncontrollable variable limitations, only highlight these are the twilight years for them.
quote:
The Mauna Kea observatories are planned to be shut down by 2035, and that does look like a reasonable timeframe for the coming obsolescence of the ground based optical telescope. The existing ones will continue to be upgraded until then but the era of new, giant optical telescopes is definitely coming to an end.
2035 is just the end of the lease. For example the TMT people are betting that once the world sees the imagery there will be wide spread support for renewing the lease. Much like Hubble's mission extensions have occurred.
The end of ground based astronomy is only in your pahoa-head ted.