Optics Folks?

[cronus]

I'm thinking in the drunken sobering morning daze you do....puzzling.....that a flat mirror could be shifted in a way that compensates for the Earths motion and acts as a very large parabolic mirror if focused on a point near infinity? given the right motion governance to obtain a very detailed in focus view of the moons surface? The actual trajectory of movement for and speed of the flat mirror would require a computer - not difficult these days...and a few cams, stepper motors and pulls on the underside. Along with a distant second lens...maybe miles distant to pick up the light, maybe moving a little itself to compensate for aberrations in the atmosphere....

[rainbow]

Lunatic.

[cronus]

Lunatic.

They said that about the Wright Brothers....and judging from a hundred years of flight - spot on!

[mistermack]

You could just go on ebay and BUY a telescope.
It's so much easier than inventing it again.

[cronus]

You could just go on ebay and BUY a telescope.
It's so much easier than inventing it again.

I could....only have a 500mm mirror lens at the mo. Makes the camera look like its taken viagra.

[Calilasseia]

Active optics has already been pursued in large telescopes. See, for example, the Keck instrument.

[cronus]

Active optics has already been pursued in large telescopes. See, for example, the Keck instrument.

Re-inventing the wheel....nothing new for me when I'm sozzled.

[mistermack]

Active optics has already been pursued in large telescopes. See, for example, the Keck instrument.

Re-inventing the wheel....nothing new for me when I'm sozzled.

Yes, from what I remember, it's to compensate for thermal fluctuations in the atmosphere. They have a slightly flexible mirror, and hundreds of solenoids that can alter the shape slightly from behind. A computer controls the solenoids, and it gives a steady image, closer to what you would get, if the telescope was in space, not looking through any atmosphere.

[JimC]

Active optics has already been pursued in large telescopes. See, for example, the Keck instrument.

Re-inventing the wheel....nothing new for me when I'm sozzled.

Yes, from what I remember, it's to compensate for thermal fluctuations in the atmosphere. They have a slightly flexible mirror, and hundreds of solenoids that can alter the shape slightly from behind. A computer controls the solenoids, and it gives a steady image, closer to what you would get, if the telescope was in space, not looking through any atmosphere.

Yes.

Nothing to do with Scrumple's flight of fancy with a plane mirror...