Largest Binocular Telescope

So, It's been a week or more since i wrote a article. I wasn't interested in writing the article that already exists.And one day i was watching a space specials documentary and i decided to write article about this amazing thing, The Large Binocular Telescope. Although everything on that documentary seemed good, i thought of getting more relevant info from different sources including wikipedia. And now, it took this far to write down everything i've researched about.

Overview

Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is an optical telescope for astronomy located on Mount Graham (10,700-foot (3,300 m)) in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona, and is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. The LBT is currently one of the world's most advanced optical telescopes; using two 8.4 m (27 ft) wide mirrors can give the same light gathering ability as a 11.8 m (39 ft) wide single circular telescope and detail of 22.8 m (75 ft) wide one. Either of its mirrors would be the largest optical telescope in continental North America. Strehl ratios of 60-90% at H band and 95% at M band have been achieved by the LBT.

The telescope was dedicated in October 2004 and saw first light with a single primary mirror on October 12, 2005 which viewed NGC 891. The second primary mirror was installed in January 2006 and became fully operational in January 2008.

The first binocular light images show three false-color renditions of the spiral galaxy NGC 2770. The galaxy is 88 million light years from our Milky Way, a relatively close neighbor. The galaxy has a flat disk of stars and glowing gas tipped slightly toward our line of sight.

The first image taken combined ultraviolet and green light, and emphasizes the clumpy regions of newly formed hot stars in the spiral arms. The second image combined two deep red colors to highlight the smoother distribution of older, cooler stars. The third image was a composite of ultraviolet, green and deep red light and shows the detailed structure of hot, moderate and cool stars in the galaxy. The cameras and images were produced by the Large Binocular Camera team, led by Emanuele Giallongo at the Rome Astrophysical Observatory.

In binocular aperture synthesis mode LBT will have a light-collecting area of 111 m ², equivalent to a single 11.8-meter (39 ft) surface and will combine light to produce the image sharpness equivalent to a single 22.8-meter (75 ft) telescope. However, this requires a beam combiner that was tested in 2008, but has not been a part of regular operations. It can take images with one side at 8.4 m aperture, or take two images of the same object using different instruments on each side of the telescope.

The technology relies on adaptive optics ? a mechanism that allows a telescope's mirror to bend in order to compensate for the blurring of light as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere.

The new system, installed on the $120 million Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) has delivered images three times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope, LBT scientists said. And that's with only one of its twin 27.6-foot (8.4-meter) mirrors working.

Discoveries With LBT

LBT, with the XMM-Newton was used to discover a galaxy cluster 2XMM J083026+524133 in 2008, over 7 billion light years away from Earth. In 2007 the LBT detected a 26th magnitude afterglow from the gamma ray burst GRB 070125.

Stats

Organization	LBT Consortium
Location	Mount Graham International Observatory, Arizona, USA
Coordinates	32°42′05.4″N 109°53′22.6″WCoordinates: 32°42′05.4″N 109°53′22.6″W
Altitude	3221 m (10,567 ft)
Wavelength	visible to near infrared
Built	1996-2004
First light	October 12, 2005 (1st primary mirror). September 18, 2006 (2nd primary mirror). January 11 – January 12, 2008 (1st & 2nd together)
Telescope style	Gregorian binocular
Diameter	8.4 m per mirror
Collecting area	111 m²
Focal length	9.6m (f/1.142)
Mounting	elevation/azimuth
Dome	co-rotating building, dual parting slits
Website	http://www.lbto.org/

Note: LBT is world's largest binocular but not largest telescope. It is 5th largest telescope. Ultimately it was named Largest Binocular  Telescope.
For More Images Visit this university site!
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/class/oconnell/LBT/

I will be posting a video(documentary) about this shortly. Sorry if there are any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors Please notify us!

Sources: Wikipedia, Myself And the Documentary i watched.

Posted in: Astronomy