ATM [Fwd: [ASTRO] Mason Dixon Star Party]

[Mel Bartels <mbartels@efn.org>]

from a post on the astro e-mail list:

> I attended the Mason Dixon Star Party in southeastern Pennsylvania a few
> weeks ago. While there, I attended a presentation I think many of you
> would be interested in. The person who gave the presentation was doing
> research under a grant from NASA. The idea was to develop a lightweight
> mirror for telescopes. The purpose of doing this was to possibly put a
> robotic telescope on the moon as cheaply as possible. What his team
> developed was sheets of carbon fibers saturated with epoxy layed over a
> glass mold. When they dried, the inside surface was refind to a state of
> extreme smoothness with lasers. The surface was then coated with the
> reflective material. The result was a very strong and lightweight
> mirror. A 6" prototype was passed around at the meeting. This mirror
> weighed approximately 5 ounces. Larger mirrors are currently in
> production. The statement was made that in the not too distant future,
> it would be technically and financially reasonable to expect amateur
> astronomers to own a 1 meter telescope. I've forgotten the exact weight
> but I believe the weight of this mirror would be about 25 pounds. Using
> current laser technology, they say they can produce mirrors machined to
> a smoothness greater than current professional scopes.