If you think the Hubble Space Telescope sees it all, think again.
Arizona, home of the world’s greatest space observatories, unveiled on October 13 the world’s most technologically advanced ground-based optical telescope.
The 120-million-dollar Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Mount Graham is nearing the completion of its twin giant mirrors. When completed, LBT images will be 10 times as sharp as those from the Hubble Space Telescope.
Unlike other telescopes, the LBT has twin 8.4 meter honey-combed primary mirrors on a single mount, which are larger compared to Hubble’s and collects more light. It also uses adaptive optics that adjusts to the earth’s atmospheric turbulence, producing clearer images.
According to its developer, LBT Corp., the telescope will allow astronomers to explore never-before seen space objects like Jupiter-sized planets in solar systems 20 to 30 light years away, and detects and measures objects dating back nearly 14 billion years ago.
The LBT is also able to image faint visual objects faster than Hubble and has superior optical resolution of large cosmological structures. With a higher resolving power, the LBT can produce more detailed visual band images which can be combined with other images to provide a bulk of information. Jefferson O. Evalarosa with reports from www.sciencedaily.com
