[HN Gopher] Taking a look at the next generation of telescopes
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       Taking a look at the next generation of telescopes
        
       Author : voxadam
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2025-05-13 12:03 UTC (3 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
        
       | giantg2 wrote:
       | It would have been cool if they gave more technical details like
       | it's active optics and stuff.
       | 
       | I'm currently cutting some 6" mirror blanks and hoping to
       | eventually make an 18" mirror (have to cut and fuse the blank).
        
       | jader201 wrote:
       | This article has surprisingly little substance, given its title.
       | 
       | They might as well have just said:
       | 
       |  _There are three large telescopes in the works in different
       | parts of the world. Here 's a picture of one of them._
        
         | geodel wrote:
         | So a typical _Next Generation_ article.
        
           | carabiner wrote:
           | Eric Berger has a frustratingly amateur perspective on his
           | subjects. "Telescope" is incredibly vague. It's like saying
           | "New computers in development" when referring to
           | supercomputers in China and the US. For someone who's spent
           | so much time on these subjects, he never has more than a
           | surface level understanding of anything related to aerospace
           | or astronomy. Compare to a guy like Bill Sweetman who writes
           | with extraordinary detail on aviation despite never being an
           | engineer himself.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | I'd like to know more about that solitary picture. How far away
         | was the camera, and what lens was used?
         | 
         | There's a similar full moon rising shot I've been dying to
         | shoot in my home town, but there's no safe place to set up with
         | a lens long enough to have the moon's size be impressive. Wide
         | angle shots to establish location with the moon leaves the moon
         | a tiny size in the image. Telephotos zoom in past the
         | interesting scenery unless moved far enough away--the longer
         | the lens the further away. My current plan is a big drone to
         | support the lens but the location puts me closer to a highway
         | than I'd like to fly a drone. Oh well, I can see it in my
         | mind's eye
        
           | nick3443 wrote:
           | Looks like around 1000mm full frame equivalent. You could do
           | it with a kit lens and teleconverter or get a cheap
           | catadiotropic lens.
        
         | randomtechguy wrote:
         | It's a little unfortunate too, there's lots of interesting
         | things happening with the commercial space boom. Companies like
         | observable.space are out there making incredible advancements
         | with both software and hardware - you can task these giant
         | systems now via api.
        
       | sgt101 wrote:
       | What are the competitors to the European Telescope?
        
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       (page generated 2025-05-16 23:00 UTC)