why the mirror of a telescope need to be so heavy and thick ?
In: Engineering
Mostly because of the fact that you need to move it. And there’s a lot of stress that that mirror experiences when being rotated, such as of course the motion itself, but also the fact that, the closer to horizontal it is, the more likely it will fall apart under its own weight. Also, vibrations always happen with machines. This is especially true for space telescopes, as rockets are essentially a way to let a bomb explode somewhat unidirectionally to allow you fly upwards. Vibrations tend to not be very good for the stability of a lot of things.
Finally. theres the fact that, the bigger the mirror, the more you can make out, as the size of the mirror ultimately determines how much light you get.
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