IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v447y2007i7147d10.1038_nature05909.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Deposition of metal films on an ionic liquid as a basis for a lunar telescope

Author

Listed:
  • Ermanno F. Borra

    (Génie Physique et Optique, Centre d'Optique, Photonique et Lasers, Université Laval, Québec, G1K 7P4, Canada)

  • Omar Seddiki

    (Génie Physique et Optique, Centre d'Optique, Photonique et Lasers, Université Laval, Québec, G1K 7P4, Canada)

  • Roger Angel

    (Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 8575, USA)

  • Daniel Eisenstein

    (Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 8575, USA)

  • Paul Hickson

    (University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada)

  • Kenneth R. Seddon

    (The QUILL Centre, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT9 5AG, UK)

  • Simon P. Worden

    (Office of the Director, NASA Ames Research Center. Moffett Field, California 9403, USA)

Abstract

Liquid engineering A feasibility study is under way for a space telescope capable of observing objects 100 to 1,000 times fainter than those accessible to the next generation space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. The instrument that is yet to come is the Lunar Liquid Mirror Telescope, based on a 20- to 100-metre mirror consisting of a spinning liquid. The infrared is particularly important for observations of the early Universe, and for this a mirror temperature of below 130 K is required. This part of the project is feasible, the latest studies suggest. By coating an ionic liquid with silver, a smooth, stable surface is obtained. In its current form the lens is liquid down to 175 K, but a melting point below 130 K should be attainable in time.

Suggested Citation

  • Ermanno F. Borra & Omar Seddiki & Roger Angel & Daniel Eisenstein & Paul Hickson & Kenneth R. Seddon & Simon P. Worden, 2007. "Deposition of metal films on an ionic liquid as a basis for a lunar telescope," Nature, Nature, vol. 447(7147), pages 979-981, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:447:y:2007:i:7147:d:10.1038_nature05909
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05909
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05909
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature05909?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:447:y:2007:i:7147:d:10.1038_nature05909. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.