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The Large Zenith Telescope (LZT) was a 6.0-meter diameter liquid-mirror telescope located in the
While a
The University of British-Columbia Liquid-Mirror Observatory - Perfecting the next generation of super telescopes
LMT web site at UBC
{{Portal bar, Canada, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Liquid mirror telescopes Astronomical observatories in Canada
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
's Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, about east from Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
, British Columbia, Canada (north from Maple Ridge). It was one of the largest optical telescopes in the world, but still quite inexpensive. The telescope was completed in the spring of 2003 and decommissioned in 2016.
Design
While a zenith telescope
A zenith telescope is a type of telescope that is designed to point straight up at or near the zenith. They are used for precision measurement of star positions, to simplify telescope construction, or both.
A classic zenith telescope, also known ...
has the disadvantage of not being able to look anywhere but at a small spot straight up, its simplified setup permits the use of a mirror consisting of a smoothly spinning pan filled with liquid mercury. Such a mirror can be made much larger than a conventional mirror, greatly increasing light collecting ability. The LZT is used for ''transit imaging'', meaning that Earth's rotation moves stars along the sensor, and the latent image
A latent image is an invisible image produced by the exposure to light of a photosensitive material such as photographic film. When photographic film is developed, the area that was exposed darkens and forms a visible image. In the early days of ...
in the sensor is moved electronically in step with this movement, so that it is read out at the trailing edge.
The telescope made use of parts from the 3-meter diameter NASA Orbital Debris Observatory telescope, which had been using a liquid-mercury mirror for several years.
This mirror was a test, built for $1 million, but it was not suitable for astronomy because of the test site's weather. In 2016 it was noted as the third largest telescope in North America, and for its spinning mercury mirror that cost just 1% of normal mirrors, although it must view upward.
Decommissioning
According to ''Atlas Obscura
''Atlas Obscura'' is an United States, American-based travel and exploration company. It was founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via professiona ...
'' the Large Zenith Telescope was decommissioned in the summer of 2016. All of its liquid mercury was stored for other projects.
The website ''Physics Footnotes'' also mentioned that the LMT had been decommissioned, but gave no time frame in the undated article.
''Science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'' magazine reported in 2019 that the LMT was decommissioned, but was also silent on the date.
Similar projects
The university plans a larger 8-meter liquid-mirror telescope named the Advanced Liquid-Mirror Probe (ALPACA) for astronomical use at an estimated first-light cost of $5 million, $3 million contingency, $10 million for the camera, $5 million for aspectrograph
An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...
, and $0.3 million operating costs per year.
A larger project is planned, called LAMA, with 66 individual 6.15-meter telescopes with a total collecting power equal to a 55-meter telescope, resolving power of a 70-meter scope.See also
*List of largest optical reflecting telescopes
This list of the largest optical reflecting telescopes with Objective (optics), objective diameters of or greater is sorted by aperture, which is a measure of the light-gathering power and resolution of a reflecting telescope. The mirrors themse ...
* List of the largest optical telescopes in North America
* Lists of telescopes
This is a list of lists of telescopes.
*List of astronomical interferometers at visible and infrared wavelengths
*List of astronomical observatories
*List of highest astronomical observatories
*List of large optical telescopes
*List of largest i ...
References
External links
LMT web site at UBC
{{Portal bar, Canada, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Liquid mirror telescopes Astronomical observatories in Canada