Any ideas on how to connect mirrors together to form a 3 mt dia concave mirror to build a reflector telescope?

Question

also let me know the dimensions like the depth accountablility for expansion contraction e.t.c

Answer 1

1.) Segments = 9

2.) Weight of glass = 0.988 Tons

3.) Grinding and polishing costs = $ 265,000

4.) Coating cost = $ 110,000

5.) Design and fabrication of mirror base with micro
adjusting cylinders for each segment = $900,000

See www.astromart.com
refer to classified ads for telescope builders
check out ads for 20 inch, 24 inch, and 28 inch mirrors
read their specs and tech notes on precision of surfaces

Your question relates to something far larger than a 28
inch mirror. Something that large would require a huge, steerable base assembly and "permanent home".

My suggestion would be to purchase and optically link the video images from two, three, or four 20 inch telescopes in a quad mount using software. Or, keep your eyes and ears open for some observatory upgrade which will place the existing telescope on the market for sale.

Answer 2

The simple answer is that unless your Dad's name is Bill Gates or similar, you won't be able to pull this off. In order to build an instrument like that you would have to hire around 100 specialists for 3-5 years. That alone will cost about $30-50 million. Do you have that kind of play money?

Besides... do you own a mountaintop to put this thing on? Even if you had an instrument like that, it would be close to useless unless you can build an observatory at 6000-8000' altitude and 50 miles from the next larger town.

Now, having said that, you could theoretically build a three arm interferometer out of three 10' mirrors and get the interferometric resolution of a 20-50m mirror.

But that is purely theoretical because if you had nearly the skills to do it, you wouldn't be asking for help on Yahoo.

Am I right? Of course I am.

Answer 3

I think segmented mirror telescopes are beyond the scope of amateur telescope making. The Keck telescope uses computer-controlled supports to keep each segment positioned with a 4 nanometer tolerance. If you can do that, the only remaining challenge is figuring the mirrors as off-axis paraboloids.