Large Zenith Telescope
Encyclopedia
The Large Zenith Telescope (LZT) is a 6.0 m diameter liquid mirror telescope located in the University of British Columbia
's Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, about 70 km (43 mi) east of Vancouver
. It is one of the largest optical telescopes in the world, but still quite inexpensive.
While a zenith telescope
has the obvious disadvantage of not being able to look anywhere but 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
in the sensor is moved electronically in step with this movement and read out at the trailing edge.
The Observatory's telescope uses liquid metal reflecting surface, which can be seen here.
The telescope made use of parts from the three-meter diameter NASA Orbital Debris Observatory
telescope, which was retired a couple years earlier after several years of use.
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
's Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, about 70 km (43 mi) east of Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. It is one of the largest optical telescopes in the world, but still quite inexpensive.
While a zenith telescope
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....
has the obvious disadvantage of not being able to look anywhere but a small spot straight up, its simplified setup permits the use of a mirror consisting of a smoothly spinning pan filled with liquid mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
. 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
Latent image
A latent image on photographic film is an invisible image produced by the exposure of the film to light. When the film is developed, the area that was exposed darkens and forms a visible image...
in the sensor is moved electronically in step with this movement and read out at the trailing edge.
The Observatory's telescope uses liquid metal reflecting surface, which can be seen here.
The telescope made use of parts from the three-meter diameter NASA Orbital Debris Observatory
NASA Orbital Debris Observatory
NASA Orbital Debris Observatory or NODO was an observatory that hosted NASA-LMT, a 3 meter diameter aperture liquid metal telescope and astronomical survey funded and operated by NASA from 1995 to 2002 in New Mexico, USA. It was a zenith or transit telescope pointed straight up, that used 20...
telescope, which was retired a couple years earlier after several years of use.