Telescope | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 12 Apr 2016 11:37:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Telescope | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 NASA pulls Kepler telescope back from the brink https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasa-pulls-kepler-telescope-back-from-the-brink/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasa-pulls-kepler-telescope-back-from-the-brink/#respond Tue, 12 Apr 2016 10:59:45 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=289372 One of the biggest difficulties with putting space craft outside of Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) is that it gets ever more difficult to maintain it. Repairs are too costly to attempt in person, so the best we can often hope for are software tweaks – but even they take a long time due to the magnitude of …

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One of the biggest difficulties with putting space craft outside of Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) is that it gets ever more difficult to maintain it. Repairs are too costly to attempt in person, so the best we can often hope for are software tweaks – but even they take a long time due to the magnitude of space. With that in mind, you can imagine NASA is breathing a sigh of relief, after saving the Kepler telescope from impending doom.

The Kepler space telescope was launched in 2009, with plans to use it to find habitable planets around far-flung stars and though it has faced set backs like failing reaction wheels and a mission redesign, until lately it's been ticking along just fine. During its tenure it's reported more than a thousand exoplanets and thousands of potentials throughout it's time in the murky black beyond.

But this past weekend, NASA noticed something wasn't right. Indeed during the scheduled contact, it was discovered that the spacecraft had entered emergency mode – the first time it had ever done so. That mode provides little functionality to the craft itself, but requires a lot of fuel to keep going, which is not what you want when you're 75 million miles from the nearest refueling station.

kepler

To aid in the recovery of Kepler, NASA scientists commandeered the Deep Space Network (DSN), a series of satellite antennas in various Earth locations, used for communicating with deep-space craft. This allowed it to stay constantly in touch with Kepler, or as best as that allowed.

Even with the DSN though, troubleshooting from that distance is difficult. Commands sent to the spacecraft take six and a half minutes to reach the craft and another six and a half minutes for a response to be received. Fortunately, after several days of nail biting and back and forth communication with the craft, NASA has managed to bring Kepler back to its full operational mode, with fuel usage now at a minimum.

Over the next week, scientists will download data from the Kepler telescope to find out what went wrong, but if all is relatively well, it will return to its planned 9th campaign to catalogue planets that exist on the outskirts of solar systems and wander between the stars with very little gravitational affiliation.

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KitGuru Says: Kepler is doing a great job, even if it has hit a few hiccups. Like the rovers still trundling around Mars, Kepler is years beyond its intended original mission. Kudos to everyone for keeping it ticking over. 

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Biggest telescope ever gets the go ahead for construction https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/biggest-telescope-ever-gets-the-go-ahead-for-construction/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/biggest-telescope-ever-gets-the-go-ahead-for-construction/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2015 09:35:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=252689 The wonder of telescopes, is that they let us look into the present, past and our potential future all in a single piece of hardware. They can be used to view objects that aren't far beyond our own atmosphere, peer back into the multi-billion year history of our universe by looking at the edge of …

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The wonder of telescopes, is that they let us look into the present, past and our potential future all in a single piece of hardware. They can be used to view objects that aren't far beyond our own atmosphere, peer back into the multi-billion year history of our universe by looking at the edge of perceivable space itself and even look for planets which we may one day colonise. That latter part is what has captured the imaginations of 11 different international organisations, which have all pledged up to a billion dollars to construct the world's largest ever telescope.

telescope

Set to be constructed atop a mountain in northern Chile, the Giant Magellan Telescope, or GMT, will be able to pull in up to six times more light than any other optical telescope ever made, giving it the ability to produce images up to 10 times sharper than that of the lauded Hubble telescope.

This is thanks to its monstrous size. Each of the mirrors within its giant dome structure will measure 25 metres across, which is perhaps why the construction bill is so high. It's going to take some time too, with early estimates suggesting that it will first begin looking at the cosmos through widened eyes in six years, though it won't be able to utilise its powers fully until 2024.

The main mission for the telescope and its researchers will be to find new Earth-like planets which could one day be ripe for human colonisation and to illuminate some of the fainter objects in our nearer systems.

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KitGuru Says: Quite an impressive piece of kit. It's a bummer it takes so long to build these sorts of instruments though. 

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Biggest ever telescope gets building permit https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/biggest-ever-telescope-gets-building-permit/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/biggest-ever-telescope-gets-building-permit/#respond Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:19:37 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=132656 The Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT) project just got the go ahead by the local Board of Land and Natural Resources to be built in Hawaii, meaning that in the near future, the little island will house the biggest telescope in the world, with new imaging technology allowing deeper looks into the cosmos than ever before. Don't expect this …

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The Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT) project just got the go ahead by the local Board of Land and Natural Resources to be built in Hawaii, meaning that in the near future, the little island will house the biggest telescope in the world, with new imaging technology allowing deeper looks into the cosmos than ever before.

Don't expect this build to be completed over night though. We're talking “near future” in galactic terms, as this telescope won't be finished until 2021. If adhered to, this schedule will give the TMT a two year run as the world's biggest telescope, until it's overtaken by the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) project in Chile in 2023.

tmt
TMT, E-ELT. These guys need better naming schemes for giant telescopes.
Image: Artist interpration of the TMT facility.
Source: TMT Observatory corporation

One of the main focus points for the TMT project, is to better understand planet and star creation, as well as the larger structure of the universe itself.

According to Wired's breakdown, the telescope tech at the heart of the TMT, will be a Ritchey-Chretien design, that will ultimately be able to collect 144 times more light than the Hubble Space Telescope. This will be combined with new adaptive optics to correct atmosphere wobbles and blurs, producing crystal clear images of the cosmos.

A sturdy structure will also be built around the telescope, to prevent it from the high winds that can occur at its height of over 4km above sea level.

Kitguru Says: While the Hubble might be over 20 years old at this point, outdoing its imaging powers by such a margin and from within the atmosphere nonetheless, is an impressive feat. 

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