Update on Largest Optical Telecope

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Message 1299343 - Posted: 27 Oct 2012, 12:08:32 UTC

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Profile Johnney Guinness
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Message 1299374 - Posted: 27 Oct 2012, 13:51:25 UTC
Last modified: 27 Oct 2012, 14:03:26 UTC

Great article!

They have an image in the article and they "claim" that it was taken by the ALMA array, but its not. The image is an optical image of a galaxy, its not a radio telescope image. If the image is authentic, then maybe its got ALMA data superimposed on top of the optical image;

On the ALMA website, it has the original images;
http://www.almaobservatory.org/en/visuals/images/astronomy

This is the data for the Antennae Galaxy;
http://www.almaobservatory.org/en/visuals/images/astronomy/?g2_itemId=3431

ALMA did NOT take this image! Its a composite image.



This is the radio data that ALMA took;



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Message 1299994 - Posted: 28 Oct 2012, 23:12:42 UTC

So, is it an optical telescope or a radio telescope?
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Message 1299999 - Posted: 28 Oct 2012, 23:21:43 UTC - in response to Message 1299994.  
Last modified: 28 Oct 2012, 23:22:45 UTC

So, is it an optical telescope or a radio telescope?

Its a radio telescope Bob,
The ALMA radio telescope is so powerful, if you compile the data properly, they can convert the radio data into an image. It produces what looks like a blobby image.

In my last post, i posted 2 pictures. One has the radio telescope data in the image on its own. The other picture was probably taken with the Hubble telescope and they superimposed the radio data on top of the Hubble image.

The blobby image is the ALMA radio data image.

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Message 1301486 - Posted: 2 Nov 2012, 23:51:20 UTC - in response to Message 1299994.  

Good question as the original report states Optical, whereas the Mail says Radio.

According to the ESO, it's Optical.
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Message 1301561 - Posted: 3 Nov 2012, 4:33:12 UTC - in response to Message 1299994.  

Both, in the sense that the sub-millimeter wave end of its range overlaps with a part of the electromagnetic spectrum known as far infrared.

However, it gets nowhere near the visible light range which human eyes can perceive.
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Message 1302144 - Posted: 4 Nov 2012, 16:46:22 UTC - in response to Message 1301486.  
Last modified: 4 Nov 2012, 16:49:19 UTC

If the picture in the Mail is the right one then it is definitely a radio telescope
Old enough to know better(but)still young enough not to care
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Message 1302295 - Posted: 4 Nov 2012, 22:07:48 UTC - in response to Message 1302144.  

That is a Radio Telescope. On checking back to the original thread, it looks like I made a mistake. What caught me out was the labelling of the report in the Mail as VLT.

There seems to be 2 seperate telescopes in Chile. Check the link in the original thread from the BBC - the photo of the telescope is nothing like the one in the Mail.

Sorry about that guys.

Sidenote: either way, they're both excellent telescopes.
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Message 1302349 - Posted: 5 Nov 2012, 1:33:25 UTC - in response to Message 1302295.  

There are many optical telescopes in Chile, due to the optimal "seeing". The ALMA is a millimeter band radio telescope, with many antennas.
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Message boards : SETI@home Science : Update on Largest Optical Telecope


 
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