Is it necessary to take an optical telescope out of the atmosphere to significantly increase its resolution? Detailed answer

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Is it necessary to take an optical telescope out of the atmosphere to significantly increase its resolution? Detailed answer

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Is it necessary to take an optical telescope out of the atmosphere to significantly increase its resolution?

Since the mirror of a telescope must rotate to track an object in the night sky, it must not be too heavy or else it will deform under its own weight as it rotates, negating the precision work done during its manufacture. A consequence of this limitation on the mass of the mirror is a limitation on its dimensions.

That is why, until 1975, the largest American telescope in the world with a mirror with a diameter of 5 meters, installed on Mount Palomar in California. Then this record was broken: in the North Caucasus, near the village of Zelenchukskaya, the construction of a telescope with a mirror with a diameter of 6 meters was completed.

In the last decade of the 20th century, a new stage in the development of optical telescopes began, associated with the introduction of the so-called active optics. The solution to the problem came down to the manufacture of thin mirrors (about 8 centimeters thick with a diameter of 10-10,8 meters), the shape of which is corrected by a computer using several dozen movable hydraulic supports. Composite mirrors have become an alternative to monolithic mirrors, consisting of a single block. So, the mirrors of two telescopes installed on the Hawaiian extinct volcano Mauna Kea, each 36 meters in diameter, consist of 2 hexagonal fragments no larger than XNUMX meters in size.

Another breakthrough in the field of improving optical telescopes is associated with the introduction of adaptive optics, which makes it possible, if not completely eliminate, then significantly reduce the distortion of images of celestial objects due to atmospheric turbulence. This technology "adjusts" the telescope's mirror to changes in the atmosphere, so that defocusing of the image caused by changes in air density, its currents and wind is minimized.

Experts say that the cost of such ground-based telescopes is much less than the cost of just repairing the Hubble orbital telescope in space, and their resolution is an order of magnitude (about 10 times) higher than that of an instrument placed in space.

Author: Kondrashov A.P.

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