A unique and powerful telescope capable of mapping the sky at submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths is headed to South America. With a slated completion date of 2021, the 6-meter aperture telescope, Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope-prime (CCAT-p), will be located near the summit of Cerro Chajnantor in the Atacama Desert in Chile. It will give unprecedented insights into how stars and galaxies form, what lit up “cosmic dawn” – the time a few hundred million years after the Big Bang when the first stars were born – and the formation and dark-energy-driven expansion of the universe.

A consortium of U.S., German and Canadian academic institutions, led by Cornell University, are overseeing the project. The telescope’s novel optical design, high-precision mirrors and high-altitude location (over 18,000 feet) will establish the CCAT-p telescope as a premiere facility for astrophysics and cosmology research.

“The CCAT partnership has now spent more than a decade exploring the possibility – and challenges – of building a state-of-the-art telescope at this amazing site. During that time, technology and submillimeter science have advanced at a very rapid pace, and we are now ready to move forward to build a truly exciting telescope,” said project director Martha Haynes, Cornell’s Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy.

The siting of the telescope at such a high elevation, in such a dry place, will prevent water molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere from impeding the detection of submillimeter radiation, allowing routine observations at these wavelengths. The location and design will also allow observations of about 80 percent of the sky through all seasons. The telescope will open the highest frequency radio windows accessible from the ground to study, among other things, the detailed physics of star formation in the Milky Way and the local universe.

Here is a little different kind of lens that should help with size and weight when launching into space.I just saw this on the news here (Vancouver) because it is the idea of a couple of local brothers.It is square in shape which is different because it's not round.Should have a bunch of exciting applications.



https://nexoptic.com/technology/

I read about that lens desighn a few days ago. It is interesting and has great potential.