Brain Finds a Use for over 3,200 Controlling I/Os Aligning the ULT in MMT Configuration with a Propeller Brain
Large Telescope Control of MMT Large telescope control, as in the case of the ULT, will require the use of sophisticated controlling multiple processors linked in parallel to achieve the simultaneous fine resolutions involved in the assembly reconstructive observational image use of MMT components. Ideally suited for this task, and already linked in massive parallel arrays, is the Big Brain.
Consider the MMT "The (KECK) team built two similar telescopes on top of the dormant volcano Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The first was completed in 1990, the second in 1996. The 36 mirror segments that make up each individual mirror are connected to 168 electronic sensors and 108 motorized adjusting devices. The sensors on each segment constantly compare its height with the heights of the segments around it. If the heights don’t match — even by a difference a thousand times thinner than a human hair — the sensors send that information to a computer. The computer calculates what has to be done to put all the mirrors back in alignment and directs the adjusting devices to make the changes. The entire process happens twice every second."
Humanoido / Big Brain ULT Design In the exampling design of the ULT, a total of five ultra large primary mirrors with diameters of up to 72-inches cluster around a common central axis, controlled and aligned by the Big Brain, to create the end result of one single telescope with a mirror light gathering bucket that's up to 216-inches in diameter.
KECT & ULT Differences
Differences between the MMT (Keck) and the MMT (ULT) is that the Keck cost millions of dollars and is only remotely available to professional astronomers while the ULT is an amateur astronomer's project costing nearly a thousand times less and conveniently available.
Big Brain Evolution
Shifting Interests Leading to the World's Largest Telescope
Available to Amateur Astronomers
Propeller at the Forefront It's interesting how the Big Brain's quest for knowledge, after the incessant ferocity of various machine assimilation, and leading to engagements in the Micro Space Program, where it vigorously pursued the development of an airport, introduced robotics into flight and telescope control, developed a rocketry program and sensors, engaged in imaging through a reflector telescope, took up aerial imaging, and flew various Micro Space vehicles while inventing the Slipstream Drive and Engine, plus the remote Transporter, and other resources along the way, has led to one of the grandest and most exciting projects of all - the development of the ULT, Ultra Large Telescope.
Expect a shift of interest and work escalating upwards from the Micro Space Program to the Mega Space Project and the incorporation of developing some of the largest telescopes in the world, step by step, and the potential breaking and solving of the mysterious riddles of the Universe.
Big Brain - Solving Riddles of the Universe
with ULT Ultra Large Robotic Telescope
What are some possible uses for the ULT, Ultra Large Telescope, and why would the Big Brain want to pursue this activity which takes immense constructive effort, untold energy, and a consumptive quantity of time and resources?
Sometimes we simply cannot fathom the level and understanding at which the Big Brain operates. We do not know where it will take us from one day to the next. In the course of over a year, it has grown not only in the confining elements of the physical dimensions but that of the computational world leading to thought and unusual projects designed to mold our understanding of the Universe around us in unique ways. As always, the Brain is considerate of affordable projects using Parallax parts which can be duplicated by the electronics and science enthusiast.
_____________________________________________________
The Ultra Large Telescope Projects
The ULT Ultra Large Telescope is that project which could lead to study of the edge of the Universe, a mapping of the Bubble Universe Theory in this reality, and various amazing cutting-edge technological studies to unlock some of the tight-held perplexing secrets of space and time.
Penetrating the Barrier at the Edge of the Universe
What lies beyond the edge of the known Universe? Does the Froth of Nothingness exhibit spacing qualities leading to the next Bubble Universe? What tools can the Big Brain assemble and dispense to develop, observe and penetrate this spectacular barrier at the edge of the Universe?
Map the Edge of the Universe
What is the shape and nature of the edge of the Universe? The project will use the ULT to see through known key holes and new discoverable holes in the Universe to see through the technique of object absenteeism and map the shapes of their limit perimeter boundaries. Is this in the form of warped space and time, the shape and curvature of a bubble, or an expansive unending dominion of time?
Froth Nothingness Intermediary Boundary or Spatial Domains
Like the echo of the Big Bang heard resounding throughout the microwave spectrum in every direction of "our Universe," can the Big Brain locate and analyze the resound of the nothingness limit and detect the spatial domains of Frothing?
Who Made the Universe?
Are we living out our lives in one universe of many created by some alternate dimensional scientist inside a test tube experiment as hypothesized? We aim to find out - will we find the test tube or touch the face of God?
Discovering a Pre-Birthed Universe
Massive light bucket optics enables looking back so far in time that resulting image-scapes may depict evidence of a pre-birthed Universe. How can you see something before it existed or was born? This is the question we intend to solve and the answer may reside more in what is not seen and where it is not seen, rather than what is seen.
Discovering other Universes in Space & Time
Will other Universes be glimpsed and become inferrable through the edge? Using Telescope Diameter Amplification Technology, will the 2,160-inch diameter telescope hone in on new discovery? How can new enhancements in telescope technology solve age long questions? Will the Big Brain be satisfied with the answers or will the questions lead to more questions?
Concluding Statements
Only through the use of an Ultra Large Telescope, new developed technology (a way to increase a 216-inch mirror into a 2,160-inch) and profuse use of a contemplative Parallax-Propeller-based Big Brain, will these challenges be faced through visions beyond the domains of our own world, to out there, in a massively expansive new Big Brain way of thinking.
Big Brain Starts Its Own Optics Institute Optics Sets for Robotic Propeller Driven Telescopes
This describes the setting for an advanced optical Institute founded by the Big Brain's relentless driving nature to expand into the unknown, learn all there is to learn, and experiment with cutting edge science by technology sharing.
The Brain has decided to supplement its own work by creating some unusual ultra optics by starting an Institute of Higher Learning to produce ultimate polymer-glass optical telescope mirrors. Within Light Bucket Optics, the Brain will explore custom glass substitute optics with individuals who want ultra light weight spherical and parabolic fine coated optics for experimentation and for creating robotic Propeller driven telescopes in sizes from 6-inches up to giant MMT proportions.
It is possible the Brain will offer knowledge kits of the ULT. In MMT configurations the kit will contain enough primaries to construct a 216-inch diameter reflector telescope, the flagship of the optical fleet. The candidate for assembly of this instrument will use a Big Brain replicant clone with many Propeller chips and their I/Os to adjust the mirrors in unison.
This is 16-inches larger than the 200-inch Hale telescope which remained the largest professional telescope in the world for many decades. Analysis of these potentials will continue until the data is complete.
How about having the Big Brain take a look at liquid telescope mirrors?. They were first developed using a pool of mercury on a rotating platform and I think the proof of concept worked fairly well. Last I heard, people were trying to develop a floating metal film technology that could use metals like encapsulated silver or something instead of mercury, which is crazy toxic. The giant scopes had to point straight up, but there were some off-axis imaging systems that could compensate to a great degree. I think there were also some efforts toward electromagnetically (?) deforming the liquid surface in real time to provide adaptive optics capability. Since you get the best views looking straight up anyway, the problem of having a scope aiming straight up all the time is perhaps not as great as some people might think.
Put some real spin in your astronomical ambitions.
How about having the Big Brain take a look at liquid telescope mirrors?. They were first developed using a pool of mercury on a rotating platform and I think the proof of concept worked fairly well. Last I heard, people were trying to develop a floating metal film technology that could use metals like encapsulated silver or something instead of mercury, which is crazy toxic. The giant scopes had to point straight up, but there were some off-axis imaging systems that could compensate to a great degree. I think there were also some efforts toward electromagnetically (?) deforming the liquid surface in real time to provide adaptive optics capability. Since you get the best views looking straight up anyway, the problem of having a scope aiming straight up all the time is perhaps not as great as some people might think. Put some real spin in your astronomical ambitions. Just another thought to fill the Big Brain's day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_mirror_telescopes
You mention very good points regarding liquid mirrors. There are some very large and highly successful mercury spinning mirrors that achieve optical resolution and only observe at the zenith straight overhead.
Modern CCD technology can shift pixels and use off axis secondaries to allow around a 20 arc minute observable area. About 4 to 6 times a year the Moon and Sun cross the path of observation, and by letting the Earth turn naturally, very large swath paths of sky observation are made each night which can surprisingly offer highly detailed studies of some really great astronomy with such incredibly large spinning mirrors!
However, they found that by standing near a vat of toxic mercury, the human body has unfortunate long lasting health consequences for years after. There is a substitute for mercury but the expense and rarity of the liquid metals make its use rather prohibitive.
There's numerous other materials that were considered and over the course of a century man has tried these relentlessly, searching for an easier way to make an optical surface that doesn't take hundreds and hundreds of hours of work to create.
When I get some time, I'll mention the story of the water mirror and the remarkable adventures that it led to. I'm sure the Brain is researching all these options for consideration.
Robotic Spinning Water Mirror Unexpected results late one night...
The robotic telescope water mirror is made from a robot spinning table with a vibration isolated drive motor and distilled water placed in a pie pan with 1 to 2-inch high walls (depending on mirror diameter). Spinning produces a parabolic telescope mirror shape. Water is not very viscous compared to resin and other materials, spins well and takes on an excellent curve. The rotational speed determines the focal ratio.
The table must set very flat - determined with a level, and made perpendicular to the Earth's rotation. Minor forces such as the Coriolis Effect and Earth anomalies may effect the mirrors shape.
The mirror when used as a telescope is pointed upward only and views are obtained of a swath of the sky passing overhead at the zenith. Water cannot undergo standard aluminizing and is less reflective than mercury. The vessel bottom must be made non-reflective to avoid back reflections. Water is safe and non-toxic.
An advantage is the size - very large mirrors are possible which are very inexpensive. Water must have no impurities and can undergo periodic replacement or filtering similar to a swimming pool. A large spinning water mirror can use small swimming pools if the sides are made into an accurate circle and reinforced as needed. Water mirrors never gained popularity because of their lack of substantial reflectivity.
The story of the largest created water telescope was that a minor glitch developed during its first week of operations. Suddenly at late night the telescopic image became all distorted and the lone resident astronomer heard rustling in the bushes and had the behooves scared out of him when suddenly there was splashing and a serious commotion taking place inside the telescope mirror! During the night, thirsty animals - wild aggressive wildebeests - would frequent the telescope base to quench their thirst and go for a bath!
Robotic MMT
Computer Systems Design Program Part 2
The Parallax Propeller chip makes very large amateur built
MMT Multiple Mirror Telescopes possible
The Big Brain is now considering a very large MMT Multiple Mirror Telescope to increase the aperture size significantly over that of a single mirror.
In the MMT design, multiple mirrors are added together to make the equivalent of one larger mirror. The MMT design can have as few as two mirrors to be effective, sometimes referred to as a binocular telescope, but not in the conventional sense of binoculars as the imagery is added together and not viewed with separate eyes.
It only takes two mirrors along a central axis on the same mounting to achieve diffraction limited images equal to two times the diameter of a single mirror.
For example, in the case of a 72 inch mirror, two mirrors equal a single 144-inch diffraction limited mirror. (when common mounted)
Part two of the Telescope Systems Design Program is now written and determines the collecting surface area available for light gathering on a single mirror of known diameter. It handles a range of telescope mirrors which are specified by their diameters.
Enter the smallest diameter, the largest diameter, and the increment, in inches. The program will calculate the corresponding areas for comparison. Units are in inches and square inches or stay with a particular system such as centimeters and square centimeters.
[SIZE=1]1ST MIRROR DIAMETER? 50
[/SIZE][SIZE=1]LAST MIRROR DIAMETER? 100[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER STEP? 2[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 50 AREA 1962.5[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 52 AREA 2122.64[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 54 AREA 2289.06[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 56 AREA 2461.76[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 58 AREA 2640.74[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 60 AREA 2826[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 62 AREA 3017.54[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 64 AREA 3215.36[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 66 AREA 3419.46[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 68 AREA 3629.84[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 70 AREA 3846.5[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 72 AREA 4069.44[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 74 AREA 4298.66[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 76 AREA 4534.16[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 78 AREA 4775.94[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 80 AREA 5024[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 82 AREA 5278.34[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 84 AREA 5538.96[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 86 AREA 5805.86[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 88 AREA 6079.04[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 90 AREA 6358.5[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 92 AREA 6644.24[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 94 AREA 6936.26[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER 96 AREA 7234.56
DIAMETER 100 AREA 7850
[/SIZE][SIZE=1]>list[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]10 ' TELESCOPE SYSTEMS DESIGN PROGRAM (c) Humanoido[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]20 ' PART 2: DETERMINE AREA OF MIRRORS BY RANGE[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]30 cls[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]40 print "TELESCOPE SYSTEMS DESIGN PROGRAM - FILE: TELESCOPE.BAS"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]50 print "PART 2: DETERMINE AREA OF MIRRORS BY RANGE"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]60 cls[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]70 input "1ST MIRROR DIAMETER? ";fm[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]80 input "LAST MIRROR DIAMETER? ";lm[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]90 input "DIAMETER STEP? ";s[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]100 for z = fm to lm step s[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]110 a = (3.14)*(z/2)*(z/2)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]120 print "DIAMETER ";z;" AREA ";a[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]130 next z[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]>[/SIZE]
Humanoido, is anything posted on YouTube? As your circuit grows the difficulty in finding a 'fried' component grows also. Does it 'self-check'? Is there a summary of how these chips communicate?
Humanoido, is anything posted on YouTube? As your circuit grows the difficulty in finding a 'fried' component grows also. Does it 'self-check'? Is there a summary of how these chips communicate?
Big Brain Reliability Larry, this is an excellent question and a good concern for any Big Brain's reliability. We are lucky the Propeller chip is so reliable. Of over a hundred props, only one needed to be decommissioned, and as luck was with me, it was the only chip installed in the PEK solderless breadboard and not in the Big Brain.
Propeller Chip Reliability The props in the Big Brain have remained 100% reliable in over a year's time. Each Parallax Propeller chip has continued to function flawlessly. When this project began, numerous negative nay-sayers flocked to post negative comments about the Propeller chip. However, the reliability of this project proves those posters wrong and we have discovered the excellent reliability of the Parallax Propeller chip.
Troubleshooting However, if testing should become necessary, the Brain is divided into sections. Some of these sections are known as arrays. Each array is built on one very large solderless breadboard according to the high density design. Another section to the Big Brain is the EXOskeleton, which has many PPPB's or Parallax Propeller Proto Boards. These are wired together with small attached solderless breadboards. Disconnection of individual boards, or an array of boards, for the purpose of testing is easy because the wiring is on the outside of the Brain's structure.
Array Connections Each section is connected to the next, so with only a few wires, such as ground, voltage and Hybrid signal, the arrays are uplugged one at a time until the failure is found. Then it's a matter of isolating a single high density solderless breadboard which is much easier than looking at the entire machine.
Isolating Chips with LEDs Propeller chips are readily isolated if one has failed. If the failure does not take out the entire board, each prop is already connected to its own LED for a self test.
Self Testing There is a self check. At bootup time, experimental code loads Self Enumeration, an identification into all props. This is a consecutive ID number that tags not only the location of each chip but makes it unique and addressable for Life AI programming. It just happens that Self Enumerating is also a good self test. Self Enumeration has output dependent on each Propeller's LED.
Chip Communicating Yes we should have a summary of how the chips communicate, however, with all the wiring and rewiring with different configs, I refrained from such an attempt. This is the versatility of the Big Brain, that it can easily wire and rewire with "solderless breadboards," perhaps one of the best inventions of all time.
Big Brain Wiring Overview I'm looking at putting together a Big Brain overview when a time slot opens, a kind of summary that covers the basics. In a brief overview, one could cite the Brain's system as having a foundation of the big 3: 1) Enumeration, 2) Neural Matter Injector, and 3) Processor Enhancement. Through these three areas, Big Brains have the capability to do many of the important things that make it brainy, such as machine AI and life, work with neurons, and the increased processing capabilities multiplied by a parallel duplicity of many Propellers.
Youtube Vids Much work on Big Brain was accomplished in the Mainland where Youtube is blocked. In the future, some really cool vids are possible when things are moved back to the USA.
Lardom raises a good point about Big Brains which leads to the question, "Should big brains have a large degree of redundancy?" In the human brain, there is Left Hemisphere and Right Hemisphere. When a section of one or the other fails, the opposite side attempts to reconnect and make up for the loss.
In the big Brain there is access to many Propeller chips. It has a left side, right side, top and bottom. Should we want to decommission one particular chip or an array of chips, how would this be handled?
In the wiring, chips are in Parallel. We know it's possible to put a single chip on standby in low power mode using software, essentially taking it offline. Can software decommission a specific chip in the array? How this is handled depends on the array type.
In the VP section of the Big Brain, specific processors can have any program required, including a decommission program. VPs have arrays that are initially cloned. Software is the key to turning off a clone array. Provisions are made to turn off VPs and the SW is made empty.
Redundancy in the Big Brain resides in the cloning of VPs and the duplicity of Propeller chips and Cogs. Therefore for automatic detection, a particular sequence must occur. Consider the PARP's made up of arrays of many Propeller chips. Here, the reference to subject or test subject represents a specific chip, or Cog, or VP which we want to take offline. Let's say some anomalous condition occurs and it should be identified and isolated. The following is a recommended sequence of steps:
The Big Brain has expanded the size of the ULT Ultra Large Telescope project through use of the invention of two new technologies. BB is now using Humanoido's invention called Mirror Folding. Upping the telescope diameter to between 200 and 300-inches in diameter posed some new challenges. How to store and transport the massive mirror? Take for example, the 300-inch will measure up at 25-feet in diameter, the full length of a house! The 200-inch is about 17-feet wide.
Such a large massive mirror will require a method of storage and transport. BB will do this by Mirror Folding. Folding by quads with four sections will transform a 300 into a 150. The 12.5 foot wide section is more manageable but not enough. Another fold will take it to about 6 feet. The idea is to have the 6-foot mark coincide with the MMT mirrors edges so there is no light nor resolution lost when assembled. This is the Folded Mirror design. The six foot mirror is exactly 72-inches in diameter. Four 72-inch mirrors can stretch along the diameter axis to create a single MMT telescope with the resolving limit equal to a 288-inch scope while three is equal to a 216-inch. Five will make a 360-inch.
What is the other invention required for the Big Brain to make such a massively large telescope? It's related to the focal length and will be the topic of a future post.
Big Brain Goes with FFL Fast Focal Length Technology
How can you build the ULT telescope if the ladder must be 100-feet long?!!!
The Big Brain is headed towards a resin cast MMT telescope between 200 and 300-inch diameter. To make a mirror equivalent to that size and keep it portable, the brain must use Folding Mirror Technology. FMT is Folding mirror Technology. The sheer size and massive constructs of a 300 inch mirror can be overwhelming for the amateur, including storage or transport when not in use. Folding will solve this challenge though transport may use a truck.
But what about focal length? The ULT Light Bucket telescope will, at F4, have a tube at 300x4 inches or 1200 inches equal to 100 feet long! This is simply not feasibly. Humanoido has another invention that the Big Brain must borrow. It was made when the Lenseless Schmidt Camera was popular in the 70s and 80s, and uses a primary mirror at very deep curvature.
This is called Fractional FL or FFL. FFL should work well for Ultra Large Light Bucket Telescopes in the 200-300 inch diameter range and is similar to converting a fast Schmidt Camera into an optical telescope for visual viewing.
I developed fractional focal ratio telescopes when lensless Schmidt Cameras were known in the 70s and 80s... Humanoido
Take the same 300-inch mirror and apply FFL profusely, let's say F.5. That gives 150 inch FL or a tube length of 12.5 feet which is considered entirely manageable. Even shorter is an F.2 at only 5-feet long. In the median is an F.3 at 7.5 feet long from the mirror to the eyepiece.
Today, the power of the Brain is going for massive telescope size with huge light bucket quality and can correct the Ultra Fast FFL mirror because a spun resin mirror is "computer" malleable using the Propellers I/O for robotic control and sensors.
Telescope Systems Design Program
Part 3 - MMT Mutiple Mirror Robotic Telescopes
The Brain will now consider putting together multiple mirrors to make one Ultra Large Telescope. It requires a computer program to calculate the variables for the ULT MMT. In this part of Humanoido's Telescope System Design Program, borrowed by the Big Brain, the elements for a MMT design will be examined.
(The ULT will become one of the world's largest telescopes, commanded by the Propeller-driven Big Brain. It may hold the title for the worlds largest privately funded MMT telescope. Throughout this series of the Brain's thoughts, inventions of consideration, designs and practicality analysis, and cost schedules, the Brain will consider and review its options.)
This program calculates the equivalent telescope mirror sizes based on light gathering surface area and resolving power. Simply input the size of the mirror's diameter in inches and the number of mirrors. The program calculates the light gathering area of one mirror, the LG area of all mirrors, and two equivalent mirror sizes resulting from combining and adding together the number of mirrors in different ways.
The code shows one how to put multiple mirrors together to make one big mirror equivalent. For example, in the first run, we will study two mirrors, each are 72 inches in diameter. (all mirrors must be equal size) We are given the area of one mirror and n mirrors where n is the total number of mirrors.
Next, we see the resolution mirror size, in this case it's 144 inches. This is also equal to the number of mirrors placed on the same mirror mount end to end. The program is designed for negligible spacing between mirrors in this config.
Now try some different values. Three 8" mirrors resolve like a 24-inch but give light gathering of a 14 inch. Five 24" mirrors boost resolution to one 120" mirror and a light gathering capacity of a 54-inch.
Now let's try a series of 72 inch mirrors. It takes only 3 mirrors to gain a resolution of a 216-inch mirror and eight mirrors to get up to 204 inches of light gathering capacity.
[SIZE=1]TELESCOPE SYSTEMS DESIGN PROGRAM
[/SIZE][SIZE=1]MMT MULTIPLE MIRROR EQUIVALENT DETERMINATOR[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER OF MIRROR IN INCHES? 72[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]NUMBER OF MIRRORS? 2[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 1 MIRROR = 4069.44[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 2 MIRRORS 8138.88[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]RESOLUTION MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 144[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]LIGHT GATHERING MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 101.823376[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AGAIN? 1=YES 2=NO 1[/SIZE][SIZE=1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER OF MIRROR IN INCHES? 8[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]NUMBER OF MIRRORS? 3[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 1 MIRROR = 50.24[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 3 MIRRORS 150.72[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]RESOLUTION MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 24[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]LIGHT GATHERING MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 13.856406[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AGAIN? 1=YES 2=NO 1[/SIZE][SIZE=1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER OF MIRROR IN INCHES? 24[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]NUMBER OF MIRRORS? 5[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 1 MIRROR = 452.16[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 5 MIRRORS 2260.8[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]RESOLUTION MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 120[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]LIGHT GATHERING MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 53.665631[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AGAIN? 1=YES 2=NO 1[/SIZE][SIZE=1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER OF MIRROR IN INCHES? 72[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]NUMBER OF MIRRORS? 3[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 1 MIRROR = 4069.44[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 3 MIRRORS 12208.32[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]RESOLUTION MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 216[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]LIGHT GATHERING MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 124.707658[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AGAIN? 1=YES 2=NO 1[/SIZE][SIZE=1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER OF MIRROR IN INCHES? 72[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]NUMBER OF MIRRORS? 5[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 1 MIRROR = 4069.44[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 5 MIRRORS 20347.2[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]RESOLUTION MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 360[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]LIGHT GATHERING MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 160.996894[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AGAIN? 1=YES 2=NO 1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER OF MIRROR IN INCHES? 72[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]NUMBER OF MIRRORS? 7[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 1 MIRROR = 4069.44[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 7 MIRRORS 28486.08[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]RESOLUTION MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 504[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]LIGHT GATHERING MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 190.494094[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AGAIN? 1=YES 2=NO 1[/SIZE][SIZE=1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]DIAMETER OF MIRROR IN INCHES? 72[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]NUMBER OF MIRRORS? 8[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 1 MIRROR = 4069.44[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AREA OF 8 MIRRORS 32555.52
[/SIZE][SIZE=1]RESOLUTION MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 576[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]LIGHT GATHERING MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = 203.646753[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]AGAIN? 1=YES 2=NO 2[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]BYE
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]>LIST[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]10 ' TELESCOPE SYSTEMS DESIGN PROGRAM BY HUMANOIDO[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]20 ' PART 3: MMT MULTIPLE MIRROR PROGRAM[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]30 ' DETERMINE AREA BY SUM OF EQUAL MIRRORS[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]40 cls[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]50 print "TELESCOPE SYSTEMS DESIGN PROGRAM - FILE: TELESCOPE3.BAS"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]60 print "MMT MULTIPLE MIRROR EQUIVALENT DETERMINATOR"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]70 input "DIAMETER OF MIRROR IN INCHES? ";d[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]80 input "NUMBER OF MIRRORS? ";n[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]90 ' A1 = AREA OF 1 MIRROR[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]100 a1 = (3.14)*(d/2)*(d/2)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]110 ' AN IS AREA OF N MIRRORS[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]120 an = n*a1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]130 print "AREA OF 1 MIRROR = ";a1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]140 print "AREA OF ";n;" MIRRORS ";an[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]145 print "RESOLUTION MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = ";n*d[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]150 ' BM: THE SUM IS EQUAL TO ONE BIG MIRROR[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]160 bm = sqr((4*an)/3.14)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]170 print "LIGHT GATHERING MIRROR SIZE (INCHES) = ";bm[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]180 input "AGAIN? 1=YES 2=NO ";r[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]190 if r = 1 then print[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]200 if r = 1 then 70[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]210 print "BYE"[/SIZE]
Combining ULT and MSP
Combination of Ultra Large Telescope and Micro Space Program
Innovates a New Technology
Alert: breaking news - re: combining Micro Space with the ULT... Big Brain is considering combining the technology of the MSP Micro Space Program with the ULT MMT telescope config. In this scenario, the Brain will command a space craft in space and a telescope laid out across the Earth in man-made craters, using a flight craft to gain the altitude required for a virtual tube height. In this design, the flight craft will loft the secondary mirror, CCD imaging camera and various control cables. The Telescope Systems Design Program can calculate the equivalent telescope sizes. The "steady tri-tier secondary" design assures a steady mounting. More on this will follow.
The mirrors for this telescope are so massive, they will be inserted into craters dug into the Earth.
You'll need to make the telescope and the craters..
The design for Crater Telescope is laid out on Earth using a series of ten-foot diameter manmade craters and primary mirrors gimbaled in adjustable mounts to track a moveable secondary under robotic Big Brain control. The secondary has a tri steady feature with Adaptive Tethering borrowed from the MSP Micro Space Program, and can aim towards the pointing direction of the primaries which is adjustable. Unlike the relatively stationary 1000-foot Arecibo radio telescope, this optical telescope is adjustable to viewing various sections of the night sky. The sum total of primaries make up the VLT MMT with a series of Ultra Large Mirrors.
In the Brain's plan, typically ten 100-inch mirrors are laid out in craters to create the resolve power of a single 1,000-inch reflector telescope. The massive secondary is lofted by a low level space craft built and adapted from the Micro Space Program. In phase two, the number of primaries are increased (with appropriate funding at this point), to that of 40 multiple mirrors, again each 100 inches in diameter. This increases light gathering power to a single 632 inch mirror (16.1-meters), or placed end to end would equal resolving power to a single 4,000 inch mirror (101.6-meters). More study will follow.
EDIT: Test mirrors will be cast in the new Big Brain's Optics Institute as soon as materials arrive.
Th Big Brain has invented Adaptive Tethering within the MSP Micro Space Program. The Adaptive Tether has the capability to alter its parameters, typically 1) Lofted Height, 2) Tether Length, 3) Tether Rate of Change, 4) Tether Stabilization, 5) Tether Anchoring and 6) Programmable Tethering.
The MSP Adaptive Tether is lofted using any number of micro space craft where it can be placed in motion or held stationary. It can also be anchored in space or incremented from the anchor point. Tether stabilization is accomplished with the tri metric unit. Adaptive Tethers with programming are capable of fulfilling many demanding scientific experiments.
Big Brain Invents VARFL with a Propeller The World's First Variable Robotic Newtonian Telescope Mirror
The First Transforming Telescope Mirror: How can a telescope mirror transform and morph its shape and become robotic? Is there such a thing as robotic glass?
* Converts to RFT Rich Field Telescope
* Adapts to mid range FL
* Becomes a Schmidt Camera
* Goes long focus becoming a Planetary Telescope
* Tunes for precision requirements
* Adapts for CCD Imaging
In one of the most remarkable inventions of telescope technology, the Big Brain has found a way to create VARFL with a telescope mirror. Prior to today, telescope mirrors were static chunks of glass - physical objects with non-changing focal lengths.
In fact, when one purchased a telescope mirror, the focal length needed to be specified or was specified for you. This often ranged from a single number between F3.5 up to F8. Schmidt cameras can have deepened FL curves, ranging from F1.2 on up to F3.0. Planetary scopes may have F11 or greater. For wide lower power views of the sky, F3 makes an ideal RFT.
Focal lengths can be expensive. Some optical companies charge more money for shorter focal length mirrors which require more complicated figuring of the deepened parabola curve. These extra hours of labor equate into dollars.
The problem with FL is that a single mirror can only have one FL, it's etched in glass so to speak, and it doesn't change. Lunar and Planetary observers want long FLs while DS Observers want short FLs. For all around use, one may want a mid rang value.
Now enter the dominion of the Big Brain. The Big Brain has found a way to create a telescope mirror that can vary its own FL the full range of parametric specifications. This remarkable achievement is made possible by the invention of a new telescope mirror using modern materials and modern techniques.
The acronym is initially called VARFL for Variable Focal Length and consists of a tuner that modifies the range of optical saggita, thus altering the radius of curvature. The first prototype is manually adjustable. It is believed the next model will be improved with a Parallax Propeller chip and a servo to specify the actual setting remotely.
These robotic tuners are possible because the primary mirrors are made from an optical flexible cast. If the three components, secondary, ocular, and primary FL are varied at the same time, it will be possible to tune the telescope at the eyepiece. A Propeller chip could proportionally move the secondary to match the changing FL and vary the mirror's FL.
When the FL from the primary is established through variance, the secondary position can automatically change through monitoring by the Propeller sensor.
Lock stops along the FL assure precision distances with continuous rotation servos. In the actual system, the primary mirror is heavy and remains static. Only the light weight secondary moves along with its companion rack and pinion.
Intelligent Glass - Robotic Invention of the Century!
When does glass become intelligent?
Time and time again the continuing growth and evolution of the Big Brain has shown us things that we never even dreamed about. The Brain has continued to invent remarkable things in space, science and technology. Who would think the beginnings of that one lonely Propeller chip would grow itself to magnanimous proportions of creativity and inventiveness unparalleled in the Machine Brain World and the fields of science that it decides to embrace.
For considerable time, the Brain assimilated various technologies and studied their formats and structures, in a kind of phase it was going through, until recently, in a mind of its own, the creative inventions are being formulated, utilized, and enabled to introduce new science with a purpose. Deciding to create the ULT, one of the world's largest telescopes, was a key changing point. Look at the copious quantity of new things coming from Big Brain's Brain-Matter.
This time we have something new, called Intelligent Glass. The Brain created I-Glass by simply assimilating a glass substrate and attaching itself through sensors and controlling elements, like motors, to further control the glass. What is the killer app for this? Actually there's many. Let's say the glass substrate not up to snuff. Let your robot have at it! Now the Big Brain and its robot connections can enhance a glass substrate telescope mirror in ways you may have never even dreamed about. (see list)
For ages, even millennia, man has searched for the ideal glass substitute that could mold a substrate to the exact, often times exotic, curves required for telescope mirrors. The pie in the sky and pipe dream was a fast moldable malleable substance that could be quickly formed and molded into the correct shape of infinite precision.
To escape the drudgery and laborious hundreds or thousand hour process of grinding, polishing and figuring a mirror by hand or by the constant monitoring of a machine and then doing tedious figuring and correcting, etc., new Robot Intelligent Glass can be shaped by the inner mechanisms of the Big Brain.
Now the Big Brain has invented it - Intelligent Glass. What is Intelligent Robot Glass? This is a new kind of glass that changes its shape as commanded by the Big Brain. Sensors and motor devices are embedded within the mirror constructs to enable highly sensitive and detailed robotic positioning of the glass itself, thus changing and modifying the surface and substrate nearly instantaneously in ways that an astronomer could only dream about. This robot ability to mold and change the surface of the mirror is multi-fold.
Humanoido, Do you have any photographs taken through one of your VARFL mirrors? Does the "Robot Intelligent Glass" have a reflective coating? Duane
After Travel
Duane, as I'm traveling now, there's no photos since post #1526. But stay tuned as after travel is completed, lots of VARFL photos, more papers, presentations at the astronomical society and/or academy of sciences, several telescopes, proto test beds, and lots of additional information is forthcoming.
VARFL Goal
As in the case of the Big Brain, the goal is to upscale the small VARFLs into the largest. I foresee a large number of telescopes being made with diameters ranging in between the smaller test bed mirrors and that of the ULT Ultra Large Telescope.
A VARFL Kit with iGlass
Farther down the road, with ramping VARFLs, I'm looking at releasing a kit containing a piece of intelligent Glass (iGlass), and the primary optic parts necessary to build a working telescope or do some science experiments.
Contents
Contents of a completed kit with some user supplied parts would include a Propeller chip, a suitable piece of iGlass, a standard Futaba servo, feedhorn and linkage. iGlass Coating Intelligent Glass has a reflective coating - it works with two different types of very high reflective coatings. With both types, including one which is only a few microns thick, it will adapt, adhere, and become part of the molecules on the surface of the mirror. Tests completed show as the mirror changes shape, the thin coating stays on the contour of the mirrors surface and follows its shape.
iGlass Tests
I have tested iGlass coatings with varying telescope mirrors, including two very large 50-inch diameter circular telescope mirrors in configurations from flat to mild EFLs and shallow Saggitas all the way to extremely deep Saggitas and RFT to Schmidt Camera FLs and the coating remains perfect, uniform, unchanged and highly reflective.
How to Connect a Propeller Brain
to Make Intelligent Glass
iGlass: No strings attached
You knew the day would come when glass developed brains and contained intelligence. C'mon, we know things evolve all the time, things change, as evolution shapes the world around us, even shaping us to some extent over the eons of time. Look - even washing machines have some degree of logic, even if it may be a bit fuzzy. As technology grows, so does the natural progression of its evolution. We live in a day and age when machines are on the verge of tandem evolution with the humanities.
Intelligent Glass can shape-shift
and transform its body..
Brains for Glass
Glass by itself is quite dumb. It sets there, responding to changes in temperature, expanding and contracting, and gathering dust. If aluminized with a reflective coating, it will act like a mirror forming images to some extent, depending on its flatness or the shape of its predetermined curve.
How to Do It
It takes a Big Brain to make Intelligent Glass. Some form of connection is needed to mechanically interface the Brain to the iglass. Processors are required. The goal is a shaping of the glass into a usable form automatically, by robots, intelligently.
Requirements
This system includes a number of servos to actuate the mirror's positioning and change its shape, based on the 144-servo shape shifter technology developed by Humanoido in the 1970s. That resolution number could be in the hundreds or a thousand if the piece of glass is a very large telescope mirror, or as few as one for a small piece of glass. It does not rule out the use of coplanar levers and assorted pre-shaped derivative contacts for special intelligent applications.
Size Implications
A larger telescope mirror with a large piece of iGlass will require more control due to its larger surface area. All work takes place on the back side of the iGlass. This includes pushers and pullers with linkages to the substrate.
Servo Shape Shifting
Generally servo motors control the surface according the shape established by the brain. Patterns of shape for shape shifting and transformation are stored inside the Propeller. The shape can change fast but not too quickly. Like a piece of metal bent too many times, the glass can stress if reformed too quickly.
Conformity
iGlass is quite remarkable in that it's intelligence allows it to conform to many popular mirror and telescope designs. In one moment, it becomes a flat for optical testing, and the next moment it's a fully configured and smooth shaped parabola for a Newtonian reflector telescope.
Richly Featured
Long and short tubes scope optics are simply dialed in for the final results. There's no tedious grinding of glass, no arduous polishing over hundreds of hours, and most of all no figuring that requires the knowledge of Einstein with the finesse of a Brain Surgeon and the advanced artisan skills of a Michelangelo.
Spectacular Applications
Need a spherical mirror? Intelligent Glass knows how to form the curve. Need the deepness of a Schmidt Camera? Just tell the glass your intentions. Going for long EFL and folded design? iGlass is there. Want a simple RFT design? Talk to your glass. It can help.
Project's Future
The project of Intelligent Glass will continue with various sectional incorporations of the Telescope Systems Design Program, the merging of the Big Brain by more complex and refined interface and function, the improved transformation logic from one system to that of the next utilizing the purely robotic automatic AI system, and the presentation of several Intelligent Glass new machines.
The speed, capabilities and resolution of Propeller chips makes it possible..
In astronomical imaging at the world's great observatories, there is a device that can transform an image blurred by the Earth's atmosphere to that of crystal clear clarity and increased resolution. It's called adaptive optics (AO) and generally uses a small mirror to shift the image to correspond with the displacements caused by bad seeing conditions.
Looking through a telescope at the Moon or a planet is like looking down the highway on a hot summer day and seeing the shimmering image of cars off in the distance. Now imagine if this shimmering image could be transformed into complete sharpness. This is what AO is designed to do.
Generally AO is applied to smaller mirrors, i.e. a mirrored system used in conjunction with a telescopes ocular, sometimes as in the case with very large telescopes, the secondary diagonal mirror will be equipped with AO.
Intelligent glass with its shape shifting characteristics is also capable of "simulating" and becoming an AO system. To accomplish this, additional sensors are required to read the changes and shifts of the image as it's contorted by the atmosphere, and correlate that information to that section of the primary (or secondary) mirror as required, and change the image from blue to sharp.
Big Brain ear tags the Mirror Folding project citing that it does not want to cut any whole mirrors in half, therefore the project will apply specifically to MMTs, or multiple mirror'ed telescopes where the fold can continue down the line formed by the space in between the multiple mirrors and not degrade performance in any way.
The First Refractor MLT Project Not MMT, it's MLT Multiple Lens Telescope
Big observatories hold the largest multiple mirror telescopes in the world. But these are large reflector telescopes with mirrors. What would Galileo think if he saw that, having used only refracting telescopes with lenses? He may be a bit disappointed or wonder why mirrors are used. Not to disappoint the famous telescope maker and astronomer Galileo, we set out to make things right by creating a purely refracting MLT telescope.
Bring out the lenses. It's time to create the World's 1st Big Brain Built Refracting MLT!
The more lenses you have, the merrier.
MMT is a multiple mirror Telescope. In this case, we use lenses and not mirrors so we've coined the name, MLT, Multiple Lens Telescope.
Commanded by the demanding and incessant insisting telepresence of the Big Brain getting inside my head, I ran down to the dollar store in Taiwan and purchased all the lenses on the lens shelf. Many of these lenses are large hunks of refracting glass elements of great precision and form telescopic images well. Some of these cost more than a dollar and are brand name optics. Some produce better images that others - a true grab bag mix so to speak.. Included were the following diameters: 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 and 4-inch with some duplicate sizes. Many of these would make fine refracting telescopes.
The idea is to find two or more elements with exactly the same focal length in double convex surfaces. Some lenses actually were close enough to qualify as elements for the Refractor MLT Project. This is how we proceeded.
Are two elements put together simply binoculars? Absolutely not! Binoculars bring the image into each eye, one lens for the left eye and one lens for the right eye. The MLT refractor will take the image from both lenses and focus it into one eye.
The first two lenses were held together and formed the focus image of a distant light glimmer for testing. This test was repeated and weeded out all those elements with widely varied FLs.
A second lens was introduced into the train of each lens, and two optical trains were tested together. Afocal projection method was used and it then created two images for alignment that could be sized and compared for image quality and positioning.
Work is progressing on the development of a precision mount that would allow increased ability to position XY lens orientations of each element for all objectives.
Prepping the Telescope Systems Design Program
History, Directory Integer sections convert to PropBASIC
The TSDP Telescope Systems Design Program is being prepped to add more functions and parts, and eventually it will become one program with many subroutines built by connecting various modules as subroutines.
Currently, individual sections of the code are written for understanding and to make variables in common for a greater purpose. The Big Brain will use this code to create a range of telescopes and their optics ranging is size diameters from 1" to the ULT Ultra Large Telescope, which could be as large as the Mt. Palomar Hale 200-inch telescope.
History
This is a new version (see program links for postings of part 1, part 2, and part 3) of Humanoido's original early 1970s program developed on the RCA CDP1802MPU in a version of Tiny BASIC by Tom Pittman, and the program was store on Kansas City Tape Standard on cassette tape. The code was later translated into Tandy TRS-80 Model I Level II BASIC and run on the Radio Shack computer, stored on cassette. It was then translated into Applesoft BASIC and run on the Apple II, stored on floppy 5.25 inch disk. In the 1980s, the program was translated to Timex Sinclair TS-1000 BASIC and stored on cassette tape. It was converted to BASIC on the Mac IIe, IIc, IIsi, Power Mac, Mac LE, on 3.5" disk. It was converted to a Mac G3 version and then the iBook version. This current version is now rewritten in Chipmunk BASIC which runs on the Apple MacBook and the new Apple iMac. The program is now stored locally on hard drives, USB drive backups, Flash drives, and the Parallax Forum.
Index to Telescope Systems Design Program TELESCOPE1.BAS
Part 1 - A focal length program - specify the mirror diameter and it calculates the Focal Length from Focal Ratios of F1 to F10 in inches and feet. Calculates magnification with a -2x Focal Reducer.
TELESCOPE2.BAS
Part 2 - A mirror area program - input the first mirror diameter, last mirror diameter, incremental mirror diameter step, and the mirror diameter vs mirror area will output for the specified range and steps.
TELESCOPE3.BAS
Part 3 - A MMT Multiple Mirror program - input the diameter and number of mirrors. Program will output area of a single mirror, area of all mirrors, the size of one mirror equaling the sum of all mirrors based on resolution, the size of one mirror equaling the sum of all mirrors based on light gathering ability.
TELESCOPE4.BAS
Part 4 - A mirror depth program - determines saggita given mirror diameter and focal length
Chipmunk BASIC Resources http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/basic/ Chipmunk Basic is a fast and reliable cross-platform interpreter for the Basic Programming Language. Chipmunk Basic presents a vintage traditional command-line console programming environment, and supports a very simple old-fashioned and easy-to-learn Basic Programming Language syntax (But line numbers are not required in Basic programs written using an external editor.) The Chipmunk Basic language also supports a few more advanced extensions. Free for educational and personal use.
A New Walking Telescope Secondary
Robotic Optic in Motion During Transforming
Building a large telescope poses enough challenges but going deep with one of the worlds largest telescope construction projects is very challenging... To keep massively expensive costs ultimately low we must introduce new innovative and risky methods of optical design, with new untried materials and a variety of cutting edge construction and manufacturing.
Referring to the Walking Secondary diagram - A is the rack and pinion for the ocular that moves along with the WS Walking Secondary. B is a Walking Secondary. C and D are powered robotic telescoping sections. E is the optical center axis. F and G are Parallax/ Futabo servo motors. H is a guide rail. I is the Propeller Big Brain connection.
__________________________
Several new technologies are now introduced by Humanoido for the Big Brain's construction project - designed for use on the Ultra Large Telescope ULT, including Intelligent Glass and VARFL Variable Focal Length mirrors. To run both of these techniques, the intelligent telescope needs to invent a secondary mirror that can walk in step with the VARFL and the iGlass intelligent design during transforming and morphing.
This invention is the Walking Secondary. In our test prototype telescope, the secondary walks using a servo motor and a guide rail. It is best to move the secondary along with the rack and pinion to maintain in step focus and calibration. Currently the best found and easy to construct design has a telescoping front end that joins both the ocular holder and the diagonal.
I don't know much about optics, but, last I heard, diffraction effects were still a problem in telescope design. And every edge or corner that is introduced into an optical system will generate diffractive patterns that will reduce the resolution of your images. That is why telescope mirrors tend to be large units and not individual sections. Adaptive optics is a way of distorting mirrors to adjust for atmospheric effects but those mirrors are still single surfaces. Maybe somebody has developed ways of digitally filtering out some of these edge effects - I don't know - but just piling up lots of little light buckets probably does not give you the results you're seeking. Going with large refractive optics poses a problem because the very weight of a single large lens starts to distort it. On the other hand, mirrors can be cradled somewhat and the stress on them is not so unmanageable.
If you do use lots of reflective sections, the difficulties in getting proper alignment become... well.... astronomical.
Humanoido, I don't know much about optics, but, last I heard, diffraction effects were still a problem in telescope design. And every edge or corner that is introduced into an optical system will generate diffractive patterns that will reduce the resolution of your images.
Certainly there are challenges. If one takes a look at many of the fine images produced by various MMT telescopes across the world, it becomes quite clear that the challenges of diffraction effects are well met.
Even in some cases one can use the interferometric design to good effect. A desirable function exists that increases the effective resolution of a telescope when multiple mirrors are mounted together. Ten 100 inch mirrors will give a diffractive resolution solution equal to that of a single 1,000 inch mirror.
Comments
Aligning the ULT in MMT Configuration with a Propeller Brain
Large Telescope Control of MMT Large telescope control, as in the case of the ULT, will require the use of sophisticated controlling multiple processors linked in parallel to achieve the simultaneous fine resolutions involved in the assembly reconstructive observational image use of MMT components. Ideally suited for this task, and already linked in massive parallel arrays, is the Big Brain.
Consider the MMT "The (KECK) team built two similar telescopes on top of the dormant volcano Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The first was completed in 1990, the second in 1996. The 36 mirror segments that make up each individual mirror are connected to 168 electronic sensors and 108 motorized adjusting devices. The sensors on each segment constantly compare its height with the heights of the segments around it. If the heights don’t match — even by a difference a thousand times thinner than a human hair — the sensors send that information to a computer. The computer calculates what has to be done to put all the mirrors back in alignment and directs the adjusting devices to make the changes. The entire process happens twice every second."
Humanoido / Big Brain ULT Design In the exampling design of the ULT, a total of five ultra large primary mirrors with diameters of up to 72-inches cluster around a common central axis, controlled and aligned by the Big Brain, to create the end result of one single telescope with a mirror light gathering bucket that's up to 216-inches in diameter.
Definitions
MMT - Multiple Mirror Telescope
ULT - Ultra Large Telescope
KECT & ULT Differences
Differences between the MMT (Keck) and the MMT (ULT) is that the Keck cost millions of dollars and is only remotely available to professional astronomers while the ULT is an amateur astronomer's project costing nearly a thousand times less and conveniently available.
Resource Links
Keck MMT
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/groundup/lesson/scopes/mmt/index.php
Smithsonian & U of Arizona - The MMT Observatory
http://www.mmto.org/
Casting the 1st Telescope Mirror
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1046954&viewfull=1#post1046954
Analyzing the Big Brain's ULT
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1046948&viewfull=1#post1046948
Can the Propeller Brain Make a Larger ULT Telescope?
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1046325&viewfull=1#post1046325
Introducing the Next Generation ULT
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1046322&viewfull=1#post1046322
Big Brain Evolution - Shifting Interests Leading to the World's
Largest Telescope Available to Amateur Astronomers
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1047182&viewfull=1#post1047182
Shifting Interests Leading to the World's Largest Telescope
Available to Amateur Astronomers
Propeller at the Forefront It's interesting how the Big Brain's quest for knowledge, after the incessant ferocity of various machine assimilation, and leading to engagements in the Micro Space Program, where it vigorously pursued the development of an airport, introduced robotics into flight and telescope control, developed a rocketry program and sensors, engaged in imaging through a reflector telescope, took up aerial imaging, and flew various Micro Space vehicles while inventing the Slipstream Drive and Engine, plus the remote Transporter, and other resources along the way, has led to one of the grandest and most exciting projects of all - the development of the ULT, Ultra Large Telescope.
Expect a shift of interest and work escalating upwards from the Micro Space Program to the Mega Space Project and the incorporation of developing some of the largest telescopes in the world, step by step, and the potential breaking and solving of the mysterious riddles of the Universe.
with ULT Ultra Large Robotic Telescope
What are some possible uses for the ULT, Ultra Large Telescope, and why would the Big Brain want to pursue this activity which takes immense constructive effort, untold energy, and a consumptive quantity of time and resources?
Sometimes we simply cannot fathom the level and understanding at which the Big Brain operates. We do not know where it will take us from one day to the next. In the course of over a year, it has grown not only in the confining elements of the physical dimensions but that of the computational world leading to thought and unusual projects designed to mold our understanding of the Universe around us in unique ways. As always, the Brain is considerate of affordable projects using Parallax parts which can be duplicated by the electronics and science enthusiast.
_____________________________________________________
The Ultra Large Telescope Projects
The ULT Ultra Large Telescope is that project which could lead to study of the edge of the Universe, a mapping of the Bubble Universe Theory in this reality, and various amazing cutting-edge technological studies to unlock some of the tight-held perplexing secrets of space and time.
Penetrating the Barrier at the Edge of the Universe
What lies beyond the edge of the known Universe? Does the Froth of Nothingness exhibit spacing qualities leading to the next Bubble Universe? What tools can the Big Brain assemble and dispense to develop, observe and penetrate this spectacular barrier at the edge of the Universe?
Map the Edge of the Universe
What is the shape and nature of the edge of the Universe? The project will use the ULT to see through known key holes and new discoverable holes in the Universe to see through the technique of object absenteeism and map the shapes of their limit perimeter boundaries. Is this in the form of warped space and time, the shape and curvature of a bubble, or an expansive unending dominion of time?
Froth Nothingness Intermediary Boundary or Spatial Domains
Like the echo of the Big Bang heard resounding throughout the microwave spectrum in every direction of "our Universe," can the Big Brain locate and analyze the resound of the nothingness limit and detect the spatial domains of Frothing?
Who Made the Universe?
Are we living out our lives in one universe of many created by some alternate dimensional scientist inside a test tube experiment as hypothesized? We aim to find out - will we find the test tube or touch the face of God?
Discovering a Pre-Birthed Universe
Massive light bucket optics enables looking back so far in time that resulting image-scapes may depict evidence of a pre-birthed Universe. How can you see something before it existed or was born? This is the question we intend to solve and the answer may reside more in what is not seen and where it is not seen, rather than what is seen.
Discovering other Universes in Space & Time
Will other Universes be glimpsed and become inferrable through the edge? Using Telescope Diameter Amplification Technology, will the 2,160-inch diameter telescope hone in on new discovery? How can new enhancements in telescope technology solve age long questions? Will the Big Brain be satisfied with the answers or will the questions lead to more questions?
Concluding Statements
Only through the use of an Ultra Large Telescope, new developed technology (a way to increase a 216-inch mirror into a 2,160-inch) and profuse use of a contemplative Parallax-Propeller-based Big Brain, will these challenges be faced through visions beyond the domains of our own world, to out there, in a massively expansive new Big Brain way of thinking.
Optics Sets for Robotic Propeller Driven Telescopes
This describes the setting for an advanced optical Institute founded by the Big Brain's relentless driving nature to expand into the unknown, learn all there is to learn, and experiment with cutting edge science by technology sharing.
The Brain has decided to supplement its own work by creating some unusual ultra optics by starting an Institute of Higher Learning to produce ultimate polymer-glass optical telescope mirrors. Within Light Bucket Optics, the Brain will explore custom glass substitute optics with individuals who want ultra light weight spherical and parabolic fine coated optics for experimentation and for creating robotic Propeller driven telescopes in sizes from 6-inches up to giant MMT proportions.
It is possible the Brain will offer knowledge kits of the ULT. In MMT configurations the kit will contain enough primaries to construct a 216-inch diameter reflector telescope, the flagship of the optical fleet. The candidate for assembly of this instrument will use a Big Brain replicant clone with many Propeller chips and their I/Os to adjust the mirrors in unison.
This is 16-inches larger than the 200-inch Hale telescope which remained the largest professional telescope in the world for many decades. Analysis of these potentials will continue until the data is complete.
How about having the Big Brain take a look at liquid telescope mirrors?. They were first developed using a pool of mercury on a rotating platform and I think the proof of concept worked fairly well. Last I heard, people were trying to develop a floating metal film technology that could use metals like encapsulated silver or something instead of mercury, which is crazy toxic. The giant scopes had to point straight up, but there were some off-axis imaging systems that could compensate to a great degree. I think there were also some efforts toward electromagnetically (?) deforming the liquid surface in real time to provide adaptive optics capability. Since you get the best views looking straight up anyway, the problem of having a scope aiming straight up all the time is perhaps not as great as some people might think.
Put some real spin in your astronomical ambitions.
Just another thought to fill the Big Brain's day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_mirror_telescopes
You mention very good points regarding liquid mirrors. There are some very large and highly successful mercury spinning mirrors that achieve optical resolution and only observe at the zenith straight overhead.
Modern CCD technology can shift pixels and use off axis secondaries to allow around a 20 arc minute observable area. About 4 to 6 times a year the Moon and Sun cross the path of observation, and by letting the Earth turn naturally, very large swath paths of sky observation are made each night which can surprisingly offer highly detailed studies of some really great astronomy with such incredibly large spinning mirrors!
However, they found that by standing near a vat of toxic mercury, the human body has unfortunate long lasting health consequences for years after. There is a substitute for mercury but the expense and rarity of the liquid metals make its use rather prohibitive.
There's numerous other materials that were considered and over the course of a century man has tried these relentlessly, searching for an easier way to make an optical surface that doesn't take hundreds and hundreds of hours of work to create.
When I get some time, I'll mention the story of the water mirror and the remarkable adventures that it led to. I'm sure the Brain is researching all these options for consideration.
Unexpected results late one night...
The robotic telescope water mirror is made from a robot spinning table with a vibration isolated drive motor and distilled water placed in a pie pan with 1 to 2-inch high walls (depending on mirror diameter). Spinning produces a parabolic telescope mirror shape. Water is not very viscous compared to resin and other materials, spins well and takes on an excellent curve. The rotational speed determines the focal ratio.
The table must set very flat - determined with a level, and made perpendicular to the Earth's rotation. Minor forces such as the Coriolis Effect and Earth anomalies may effect the mirrors shape.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect
The mirror when used as a telescope is pointed upward only and views are obtained of a swath of the sky passing overhead at the zenith. Water cannot undergo standard aluminizing and is less reflective than mercury. The vessel bottom must be made non-reflective to avoid back reflections. Water is safe and non-toxic.
An advantage is the size - very large mirrors are possible which are very inexpensive. Water must have no impurities and can undergo periodic replacement or filtering similar to a swimming pool. A large spinning water mirror can use small swimming pools if the sides are made into an accurate circle and reinforced as needed. Water mirrors never gained popularity because of their lack of substantial reflectivity.
The story of the largest created water telescope was that a minor glitch developed during its first week of operations. Suddenly at late night the telescopic image became all distorted and the lone resident astronomer heard rustling in the bushes and had the behooves scared out of him when suddenly there was splashing and a serious commotion taking place inside the telescope mirror! During the night, thirsty animals - wild aggressive wildebeests - would frequent the telescope base to quench their thirst and go for a bath!
Computer Systems Design Program Part 2
The Parallax Propeller chip makes very large amateur built
MMT Multiple Mirror Telescopes possible
The Big Brain is now considering a very large MMT Multiple Mirror Telescope to increase the aperture size significantly over that of a single mirror.
In the MMT design, multiple mirrors are added together to make the equivalent of one larger mirror. The MMT design can have as few as two mirrors to be effective, sometimes referred to as a binocular telescope, but not in the conventional sense of binoculars as the imagery is added together and not viewed with separate eyes.
It only takes two mirrors along a central axis on the same mounting to achieve diffraction limited images equal to two times the diameter of a single mirror.
For example, in the case of a 72 inch mirror, two mirrors equal a single 144-inch diffraction limited mirror. (when common mounted)
Part two of the Telescope Systems Design Program is now written and determines the collecting surface area available for light gathering on a single mirror of known diameter. It handles a range of telescope mirrors which are specified by their diameters.
Enter the smallest diameter, the largest diameter, and the increment, in inches. The program will calculate the corresponding areas for comparison. Units are in inches and square inches or stay with a particular system such as centimeters and square centimeters.
Reliability, Array, Isolation, Troubleshooting, Self Test
Big Brain Reliability
Larry, this is an excellent question and a good concern for any Big Brain's reliability. We are lucky the Propeller chip is so reliable. Of over a hundred props, only one needed to be decommissioned, and as luck was with me, it was the only chip installed in the PEK solderless breadboard and not in the Big Brain.
Propeller Chip Reliability
The props in the Big Brain have remained 100% reliable in over a year's time. Each Parallax Propeller chip has continued to function flawlessly. When this project began, numerous negative nay-sayers flocked to post negative comments about the Propeller chip. However, the reliability of this project proves those posters wrong and we have discovered the excellent reliability of the Parallax Propeller chip.
Troubleshooting
However, if testing should become necessary, the Brain is divided into sections. Some of these sections are known as arrays. Each array is built on one very large solderless breadboard according to the high density design. Another section to the Big Brain is the EXOskeleton, which has many PPPB's or Parallax Propeller Proto Boards. These are wired together with small attached solderless breadboards. Disconnection of individual boards, or an array of boards, for the purpose of testing is easy because the wiring is on the outside of the Brain's structure.
Array Connections
Each section is connected to the next, so with only a few wires, such as ground, voltage and Hybrid signal, the arrays are uplugged one at a time until the failure is found. Then it's a matter of isolating a single high density solderless breadboard which is much easier than looking at the entire machine.
Isolating Chips with LEDs
Propeller chips are readily isolated if one has failed. If the failure does not take out the entire board, each prop is already connected to its own LED for a self test.
Self Testing
There is a self check. At bootup time, experimental code loads Self Enumeration, an identification into all props. This is a consecutive ID number that tags not only the location of each chip but makes it unique and addressable for Life AI programming. It just happens that Self Enumerating is also a good self test. Self Enumeration has output dependent on each Propeller's LED.
Chip Communicating
Yes we should have a summary of how the chips communicate, however, with all the wiring and rewiring with different configs, I refrained from such an attempt. This is the versatility of the Big Brain, that it can easily wire and rewire with "solderless breadboards," perhaps one of the best inventions of all time.
Big Brain Wiring Overview
I'm looking at putting together a Big Brain overview when a time slot opens, a kind of summary that covers the basics. In a brief overview, one could cite the Brain's system as having a foundation of the big 3: 1) Enumeration, 2) Neural Matter Injector, and 3) Processor Enhancement. Through these three areas, Big Brains have the capability to do many of the important things that make it brainy, such as machine AI and life, work with neurons, and the increased processing capabilities multiplied by a parallel duplicity of many Propellers.
Youtube Vids
Much work on Big Brain was accomplished in the Mainland where Youtube is blocked. In the future, some really cool vids are possible when things are moved back to the USA.
Lardom raises a good point about Big Brains which leads to the question, "Should big brains have a large degree of redundancy?" In the human brain, there is Left Hemisphere and Right Hemisphere. When a section of one or the other fails, the opposite side attempts to reconnect and make up for the loss.
In the big Brain there is access to many Propeller chips. It has a left side, right side, top and bottom. Should we want to decommission one particular chip or an array of chips, how would this be handled?
In the wiring, chips are in Parallel. We know it's possible to put a single chip on standby in low power mode using software, essentially taking it offline. Can software decommission a specific chip in the array? How this is handled depends on the array type.
In the VP section of the Big Brain, specific processors can have any program required, including a decommission program. VPs have arrays that are initially cloned. Software is the key to turning off a clone array. Provisions are made to turn off VPs and the SW is made empty.
Redundancy in the Big Brain resides in the cloning of VPs and the duplicity of Propeller chips and Cogs. Therefore for automatic detection, a particular sequence must occur. Consider the PARP's made up of arrays of many Propeller chips. Here, the reference to subject or test subject represents a specific chip, or Cog, or VP which we want to take offline. Let's say some anomalous condition occurs and it should be identified and isolated. The following is a recommended sequence of steps:
- Subject goes into anomalous mode
- The test subject is identified
- The subject is isolated
- The subject is taken offline
- The test subject is bypassed
- Array ignores field address of test subject
Linkspage 54
1073 Big Brain Machine Left & Right Hemispheres
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1014395&viewfull=1#post1014395
Page 57
1122 Left Brain Right Brain & AtOnce
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1017318&viewfull=1#post1017318
page 59
1162 Robotized EXO - Left Brain Going Robotic - meet Robo EXO!
1166 QUAD Brain - Left, Right, Top and Bottom - New Design Implemented
Page 62
1238 Dual Brain Multiple Conversations - Left Brain Right Brain Duality Function
Page 66
1312 Right Brain Left Brain Experiment
Page 67
1334 Mindrobots left right brain air brain telepathic
How do you fold a mirror? Just ask the Big Brain.
The Big Brain has expanded the size of the ULT Ultra Large Telescope project through use of the invention of two new technologies. BB is now using Humanoido's invention called Mirror Folding. Upping the telescope diameter to between 200 and 300-inches in diameter posed some new challenges. How to store and transport the massive mirror? Take for example, the 300-inch will measure up at 25-feet in diameter, the full length of a house! The 200-inch is about 17-feet wide.
Such a large massive mirror will require a method of storage and transport. BB will do this by Mirror Folding. Folding by quads with four sections will transform a 300 into a 150. The 12.5 foot wide section is more manageable but not enough. Another fold will take it to about 6 feet. The idea is to have the 6-foot mark coincide with the MMT mirrors edges so there is no light nor resolution lost when assembled. This is the Folded Mirror design. The six foot mirror is exactly 72-inches in diameter. Four 72-inch mirrors can stretch along the diameter axis to create a single MMT telescope with the resolving limit equal to a 288-inch scope while three is equal to a 216-inch. Five will make a 360-inch.
What is the other invention required for the Big Brain to make such a massively large telescope? It's related to the focal length and will be the topic of a future post.
How can you build the ULT telescope if the ladder must be 100-feet long?!!!
The Big Brain is headed towards a resin cast MMT telescope between 200 and 300-inch diameter. To make a mirror equivalent to that size and keep it portable, the brain must use Folding Mirror Technology. FMT is Folding mirror Technology. The sheer size and massive constructs of a 300 inch mirror can be overwhelming for the amateur, including storage or transport when not in use. Folding will solve this challenge though transport may use a truck.
But what about focal length? The ULT Light Bucket telescope will, at F4, have a tube at 300x4 inches or 1200 inches equal to 100 feet long! This is simply not feasibly. Humanoido has another invention that the Big Brain must borrow. It was made when the Lenseless Schmidt Camera was popular in the 70s and 80s, and uses a primary mirror at very deep curvature.
This is called Fractional FL or FFL. FFL should work well for Ultra Large Light Bucket Telescopes in the 200-300 inch diameter range and is similar to converting a fast Schmidt Camera into an optical telescope for visual viewing.
Take the same 300-inch mirror and apply FFL profusely, let's say F.5. That gives 150 inch FL or a tube length of 12.5 feet which is considered entirely manageable. Even shorter is an F.2 at only 5-feet long. In the median is an F.3 at 7.5 feet long from the mirror to the eyepiece.
Today, the power of the Brain is going for massive telescope size with huge light bucket quality and can correct the Ultra Fast FFL mirror because a spun resin mirror is "computer" malleable using the Propellers I/O for robotic control and sensors.
Part 3 - MMT Mutiple Mirror Robotic Telescopes
The Brain will now consider putting together multiple mirrors to make one Ultra Large Telescope. It requires a computer program to calculate the variables for the ULT MMT. In this part of Humanoido's Telescope System Design Program, borrowed by the Big Brain, the elements for a MMT design will be examined.
(The ULT will become one of the world's largest telescopes, commanded by the Propeller-driven Big Brain. It may hold the title for the worlds largest privately funded MMT telescope. Throughout this series of the Brain's thoughts, inventions of consideration, designs and practicality analysis, and cost schedules, the Brain will consider and review its options.)
This program calculates the equivalent telescope mirror sizes based on light gathering surface area and resolving power. Simply input the size of the mirror's diameter in inches and the number of mirrors. The program calculates the light gathering area of one mirror, the LG area of all mirrors, and two equivalent mirror sizes resulting from combining and adding together the number of mirrors in different ways.
The code shows one how to put multiple mirrors together to make one big mirror equivalent. For example, in the first run, we will study two mirrors, each are 72 inches in diameter. (all mirrors must be equal size) We are given the area of one mirror and n mirrors where n is the total number of mirrors.
Next, we see the resolution mirror size, in this case it's 144 inches. This is also equal to the number of mirrors placed on the same mirror mount end to end. The program is designed for negligible spacing between mirrors in this config.
Now try some different values. Three 8" mirrors resolve like a 24-inch but give light gathering of a 14 inch. Five 24" mirrors boost resolution to one 120" mirror and a light gathering capacity of a 54-inch.
Now let's try a series of 72 inch mirrors. It takes only 3 mirrors to gain a resolution of a 216-inch mirror and eight mirrors to get up to 204 inches of light gathering capacity.
Combination of Ultra Large Telescope and Micro Space Program
Innovates a New Technology
Alert: breaking news - re: combining Micro Space with the ULT... Big Brain is considering combining the technology of the MSP Micro Space Program with the ULT MMT telescope config. In this scenario, the Brain will command a space craft in space and a telescope laid out across the Earth in man-made craters, using a flight craft to gain the altitude required for a virtual tube height. In this design, the flight craft will loft the secondary mirror, CCD imaging camera and various control cables. The Telescope Systems Design Program can calculate the equivalent telescope sizes. The "steady tri-tier secondary" design assures a steady mounting. More on this will follow.
The mirrors for this telescope are so massive, they will be inserted into craters dug into the Earth.
You'll need to make the telescope and the craters..
The design for Crater Telescope is laid out on Earth using a series of ten-foot diameter manmade craters and primary mirrors gimbaled in adjustable mounts to track a moveable secondary under robotic Big Brain control. The secondary has a tri steady feature with Adaptive Tethering borrowed from the MSP Micro Space Program, and can aim towards the pointing direction of the primaries which is adjustable. Unlike the relatively stationary 1000-foot Arecibo radio telescope, this optical telescope is adjustable to viewing various sections of the night sky. The sum total of primaries make up the VLT MMT with a series of Ultra Large Mirrors.
In the Brain's plan, typically ten 100-inch mirrors are laid out in craters to create the resolve power of a single 1,000-inch reflector telescope. The massive secondary is lofted by a low level space craft built and adapted from the Micro Space Program. In phase two, the number of primaries are increased (with appropriate funding at this point), to that of 40 multiple mirrors, again each 100 inches in diameter. This increases light gathering power to a single 632 inch mirror (16.1-meters), or placed end to end would equal resolving power to a single 4,000 inch mirror (101.6-meters). More study will follow.
EDIT: Test mirrors will be cast in the new Big Brain's Optics Institute as soon as materials arrive.
Th Big Brain has invented Adaptive Tethering within the MSP Micro Space Program. The Adaptive Tether has the capability to alter its parameters, typically 1) Lofted Height, 2) Tether Length, 3) Tether Rate of Change, 4) Tether Stabilization, 5) Tether Anchoring and 6) Programmable Tethering.
The MSP Adaptive Tether is lofted using any number of micro space craft where it can be placed in motion or held stationary. It can also be anchored in space or incremented from the anchor point. Tether stabilization is accomplished with the tri metric unit. Adaptive Tethers with programming are capable of fulfilling many demanding scientific experiments.
Bean found a way to measure the speed of electricity in wires.
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?135563-Measure-the-speed-of-electricity...&p=1048170&viewfull=1#post1048170
Here's some possible apps.
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?135563-Measure-the-speed-of-electricity...&p=1048240&viewfull=1#post1048240
The World's First Variable Robotic Newtonian Telescope Mirror
The First Transforming Telescope Mirror: How can a telescope mirror transform and morph its shape and become robotic? Is there such a thing as robotic glass?
* Converts to RFT Rich Field Telescope
* Adapts to mid range FL
* Becomes a Schmidt Camera
* Goes long focus becoming a Planetary Telescope
* Tunes for precision requirements
* Adapts for CCD Imaging
In one of the most remarkable inventions of telescope technology, the Big Brain has found a way to create VARFL with a telescope mirror. Prior to today, telescope mirrors were static chunks of glass - physical objects with non-changing focal lengths.
In fact, when one purchased a telescope mirror, the focal length needed to be specified or was specified for you. This often ranged from a single number between F3.5 up to F8. Schmidt cameras can have deepened FL curves, ranging from F1.2 on up to F3.0. Planetary scopes may have F11 or greater. For wide lower power views of the sky, F3 makes an ideal RFT.
Focal lengths can be expensive. Some optical companies charge more money for shorter focal length mirrors which require more complicated figuring of the deepened parabola curve. These extra hours of labor equate into dollars.
The problem with FL is that a single mirror can only have one FL, it's etched in glass so to speak, and it doesn't change. Lunar and Planetary observers want long FLs while DS Observers want short FLs. For all around use, one may want a mid rang value.
Now enter the dominion of the Big Brain. The Big Brain has found a way to create a telescope mirror that can vary its own FL the full range of parametric specifications. This remarkable achievement is made possible by the invention of a new telescope mirror using modern materials and modern techniques.
The acronym is initially called VARFL for Variable Focal Length and consists of a tuner that modifies the range of optical saggita, thus altering the radius of curvature. The first prototype is manually adjustable. It is believed the next model will be improved with a Parallax Propeller chip and a servo to specify the actual setting remotely.
These robotic tuners are possible because the primary mirrors are made from an optical flexible cast. If the three components, secondary, ocular, and primary FL are varied at the same time, it will be possible to tune the telescope at the eyepiece. A Propeller chip could proportionally move the secondary to match the changing FL and vary the mirror's FL.
When the FL from the primary is established through variance, the secondary position can automatically change through monitoring by the Propeller sensor.
Lock stops along the FL assure precision distances with continuous rotation servos. In the actual system, the primary mirror is heavy and remains static. Only the light weight secondary moves along with its companion rack and pinion.
When does glass become intelligent?
Time and time again the continuing growth and evolution of the Big Brain has shown us things that we never even dreamed about. The Brain has continued to invent remarkable things in space, science and technology. Who would think the beginnings of that one lonely Propeller chip would grow itself to magnanimous proportions of creativity and inventiveness unparalleled in the Machine Brain World and the fields of science that it decides to embrace.
For considerable time, the Brain assimilated various technologies and studied their formats and structures, in a kind of phase it was going through, until recently, in a mind of its own, the creative inventions are being formulated, utilized, and enabled to introduce new science with a purpose. Deciding to create the ULT, one of the world's largest telescopes, was a key changing point. Look at the copious quantity of new things coming from Big Brain's Brain-Matter.
This time we have something new, called Intelligent Glass. The Brain created I-Glass by simply assimilating a glass substrate and attaching itself through sensors and controlling elements, like motors, to further control the glass. What is the killer app for this? Actually there's many. Let's say the glass substrate not up to snuff. Let your robot have at it! Now the Big Brain and its robot connections can enhance a glass substrate telescope mirror in ways you may have never even dreamed about. (see list)
For ages, even millennia, man has searched for the ideal glass substitute that could mold a substrate to the exact, often times exotic, curves required for telescope mirrors. The pie in the sky and pipe dream was a fast moldable malleable substance that could be quickly formed and molded into the correct shape of infinite precision.
To escape the drudgery and laborious hundreds or thousand hour process of grinding, polishing and figuring a mirror by hand or by the constant monitoring of a machine and then doing tedious figuring and correcting, etc., new Robot Intelligent Glass can be shaped by the inner mechanisms of the Big Brain.
Now the Big Brain has invented it - Intelligent Glass. What is Intelligent Robot Glass? This is a new kind of glass that changes its shape as commanded by the Big Brain. Sensors and motor devices are embedded within the mirror constructs to enable highly sensitive and detailed robotic positioning of the glass itself, thus changing and modifying the surface and substrate nearly instantaneously in ways that an astronomer could only dream about. This robot ability to mold and change the surface of the mirror is multi-fold.
Do you have any photographs taken through one of your VARFL mirrors?
Does the "Robot Intelligent Glass" have a reflective coating?
Duane
After Travel
Duane, as I'm traveling now, there's no photos since post #1526. But stay tuned as after travel is completed, lots of VARFL photos, more papers, presentations at the astronomical society and/or academy of sciences, several telescopes, proto test beds, and lots of additional information is forthcoming.
VARFL Goal
As in the case of the Big Brain, the goal is to upscale the small VARFLs into the largest. I foresee a large number of telescopes being made with diameters ranging in between the smaller test bed mirrors and that of the ULT Ultra Large Telescope.
A VARFL Kit with iGlass
Farther down the road, with ramping VARFLs, I'm looking at releasing a kit containing a piece of intelligent Glass (iGlass), and the primary optic parts necessary to build a working telescope or do some science experiments.
Contents
Contents of a completed kit with some user supplied parts would include a Propeller chip, a suitable piece of iGlass, a standard Futaba servo, feedhorn and linkage.
iGlass Coating
Intelligent Glass has a reflective coating - it works with two different types of very high reflective coatings. With both types, including one which is only a few microns thick, it will adapt, adhere, and become part of the molecules on the surface of the mirror. Tests completed show as the mirror changes shape, the thin coating stays on the contour of the mirrors surface and follows its shape.
iGlass Tests
I have tested iGlass coatings with varying telescope mirrors, including two very large 50-inch diameter circular telescope mirrors in configurations from flat to mild EFLs and shallow Saggitas all the way to extremely deep Saggitas and RFT to Schmidt Camera FLs and the coating remains perfect, uniform, unchanged and highly reflective.
to Make Intelligent Glass
iGlass: No strings attached
You knew the day would come when glass developed brains and contained intelligence. C'mon, we know things evolve all the time, things change, as evolution shapes the world around us, even shaping us to some extent over the eons of time. Look - even washing machines have some degree of logic, even if it may be a bit fuzzy. As technology grows, so does the natural progression of its evolution. We live in a day and age when machines are on the verge of tandem evolution with the humanities.
Intelligent Glass can shape-shift
and transform its body..
Brains for Glass
Glass by itself is quite dumb. It sets there, responding to changes in temperature, expanding and contracting, and gathering dust. If aluminized with a reflective coating, it will act like a mirror forming images to some extent, depending on its flatness or the shape of its predetermined curve.
How to Do It
It takes a Big Brain to make Intelligent Glass. Some form of connection is needed to mechanically interface the Brain to the iglass. Processors are required. The goal is a shaping of the glass into a usable form automatically, by robots, intelligently.
Requirements
This system includes a number of servos to actuate the mirror's positioning and change its shape, based on the 144-servo shape shifter technology developed by Humanoido in the 1970s. That resolution number could be in the hundreds or a thousand if the piece of glass is a very large telescope mirror, or as few as one for a small piece of glass. It does not rule out the use of coplanar levers and assorted pre-shaped derivative contacts for special intelligent applications.
Size Implications
A larger telescope mirror with a large piece of iGlass will require more control due to its larger surface area. All work takes place on the back side of the iGlass. This includes pushers and pullers with linkages to the substrate.
Servo Shape Shifting
Generally servo motors control the surface according the shape established by the brain. Patterns of shape for shape shifting and transformation are stored inside the Propeller. The shape can change fast but not too quickly. Like a piece of metal bent too many times, the glass can stress if reformed too quickly.
Conformity
iGlass is quite remarkable in that it's intelligence allows it to conform to many popular mirror and telescope designs. In one moment, it becomes a flat for optical testing, and the next moment it's a fully configured and smooth shaped parabola for a Newtonian reflector telescope.
Richly Featured
Long and short tubes scope optics are simply dialed in for the final results. There's no tedious grinding of glass, no arduous polishing over hundreds of hours, and most of all no figuring that requires the knowledge of Einstein with the finesse of a Brain Surgeon and the advanced artisan skills of a Michelangelo.
Spectacular Applications
Need a spherical mirror? Intelligent Glass knows how to form the curve. Need the deepness of a Schmidt Camera? Just tell the glass your intentions. Going for long EFL and folded design? iGlass is there. Want a simple RFT design? Talk to your glass. It can help.
Project's Future
The project of Intelligent Glass will continue with various sectional incorporations of the Telescope Systems Design Program, the merging of the Big Brain by more complex and refined interface and function, the improved transformation logic from one system to that of the next utilizing the purely robotic automatic AI system, and the presentation of several Intelligent Glass new machines.
Adaptive Optics
The speed, capabilities and resolution of Propeller chips makes it possible..
In astronomical imaging at the world's great observatories, there is a device that can transform an image blurred by the Earth's atmosphere to that of crystal clear clarity and increased resolution. It's called adaptive optics (AO) and generally uses a small mirror to shift the image to correspond with the displacements caused by bad seeing conditions.
Looking through a telescope at the Moon or a planet is like looking down the highway on a hot summer day and seeing the shimmering image of cars off in the distance. Now imagine if this shimmering image could be transformed into complete sharpness. This is what AO is designed to do.
Generally AO is applied to smaller mirrors, i.e. a mirrored system used in conjunction with a telescopes ocular, sometimes as in the case with very large telescopes, the secondary diagonal mirror will be equipped with AO.
Intelligent glass with its shape shifting characteristics is also capable of "simulating" and becoming an AO system. To accomplish this, additional sensors are required to read the changes and shifts of the image as it's contorted by the atmosphere, and correlate that information to that section of the primary (or secondary) mirror as required, and change the image from blue to sharp.
Big Brain ear tags the Mirror Folding project citing that it does not want to cut any whole mirrors in half, therefore the project will apply specifically to MMTs, or multiple mirror'ed telescopes where the fold can continue down the line formed by the space in between the multiple mirrors and not degrade performance in any way.
Not MMT, it's MLT Multiple Lens Telescope
Big observatories hold the largest multiple mirror telescopes in the world. But these are large reflector telescopes with mirrors. What would Galileo think if he saw that, having used only refracting telescopes with lenses? He may be a bit disappointed or wonder why mirrors are used. Not to disappoint the famous telescope maker and astronomer Galileo, we set out to make things right by creating a purely refracting MLT telescope.
Bring out the lenses. It's time to create the World's 1st Big Brain Built Refracting MLT!
The more lenses you have, the merrier.
MMT is a multiple mirror Telescope. In this case, we use lenses and not mirrors so we've coined the name, MLT, Multiple Lens Telescope.
Commanded by the demanding and incessant insisting telepresence of the Big Brain getting inside my head, I ran down to the dollar store in Taiwan and purchased all the lenses on the lens shelf. Many of these lenses are large hunks of refracting glass elements of great precision and form telescopic images well. Some of these cost more than a dollar and are brand name optics. Some produce better images that others - a true grab bag mix so to speak.. Included were the following diameters: 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 and 4-inch with some duplicate sizes. Many of these would make fine refracting telescopes.
The idea is to find two or more elements with exactly the same focal length in double convex surfaces. Some lenses actually were close enough to qualify as elements for the Refractor MLT Project. This is how we proceeded.
Are two elements put together simply binoculars? Absolutely not! Binoculars bring the image into each eye, one lens for the left eye and one lens for the right eye. The MLT refractor will take the image from both lenses and focus it into one eye.
The first two lenses were held together and formed the focus image of a distant light glimmer for testing. This test was repeated and weeded out all those elements with widely varied FLs.
A second lens was introduced into the train of each lens, and two optical trains were tested together. Afocal projection method was used and it then created two images for alignment that could be sized and compared for image quality and positioning.
Work is progressing on the development of a precision mount that would allow increased ability to position XY lens orientations of each element for all objectives.
History, Directory
Integer sections convert to PropBASIC
The TSDP Telescope Systems Design Program is being prepped to add more functions and parts, and eventually it will become one program with many subroutines built by connecting various modules as subroutines.
Currently, individual sections of the code are written for understanding and to make variables in common for a greater purpose. The Big Brain will use this code to create a range of telescopes and their optics ranging is size diameters from 1" to the ULT Ultra Large Telescope, which could be as large as the Mt. Palomar Hale 200-inch telescope.
History
This is a new version (see program links for postings of part 1, part 2, and part 3) of Humanoido's original early 1970s program developed on the RCA CDP1802MPU in a version of Tiny BASIC by Tom Pittman, and the program was store on Kansas City Tape Standard on cassette tape. The code was later translated into Tandy TRS-80 Model I Level II BASIC and run on the Radio Shack computer, stored on cassette. It was then translated into Applesoft BASIC and run on the Apple II, stored on floppy 5.25 inch disk. In the 1980s, the program was translated to Timex Sinclair TS-1000 BASIC and stored on cassette tape. It was converted to BASIC on the Mac IIe, IIc, IIsi, Power Mac, Mac LE, on 3.5" disk. It was converted to a Mac G3 version and then the iBook version. This current version is now rewritten in Chipmunk BASIC which runs on the Apple MacBook and the new Apple iMac. The program is now stored locally on hard drives, USB drive backups, Flash drives, and the Parallax Forum.
Index to Telescope Systems Design Program
TELESCOPE1.BAS
Part 1 - A focal length program - specify the mirror diameter and it calculates the Focal Length from Focal Ratios of F1 to F10 in inches and feet. Calculates magnification with a -2x Focal Reducer.
TELESCOPE2.BAS
Part 2 - A mirror area program - input the first mirror diameter, last mirror diameter, incremental mirror diameter step, and the mirror diameter vs mirror area will output for the specified range and steps.
TELESCOPE3.BAS
Part 3 - A MMT Multiple Mirror program - input the diameter and number of mirrors. Program will output area of a single mirror, area of all mirrors, the size of one mirror equaling the sum of all mirrors based on resolution, the size of one mirror equaling the sum of all mirrors based on light gathering ability.
TELESCOPE4.BAS
Part 4 - A mirror depth program - determines saggita given mirror diameter and focal length
Program Links
Calculate Focal Lengths
Telescope Systems Design Program Part 1
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1046948&viewfull=1#post1046948
Calculate Area of Mirrors and Ranges
Telescope Systems Design Program part 2
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1047805&viewfull=1#post1047805
Calculate MMT Multiple Mirror Robotic Telescopes
Telescope Systems Design Program Part 3
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=1048225&viewfull=1#post1048225
Part 4: not posted
Chipmunk BASIC Resources
http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/basic/
Chipmunk Basic is a fast and reliable cross-platform interpreter for the Basic Programming Language. Chipmunk Basic presents a vintage traditional command-line console programming environment, and supports a very simple old-fashioned and easy-to-learn Basic Programming Language syntax (But line numbers are not required in Basic programs written using an external editor.) The Chipmunk Basic language also supports a few more advanced extensions. Free for educational and personal use.
Robotic Optic in Motion During Transforming
Building a large telescope poses enough challenges but going deep with one of the worlds largest telescope construction projects is very challenging... To keep massively expensive costs ultimately low we must introduce new innovative and risky methods of optical design, with new untried materials and a variety of cutting edge construction and manufacturing.
Referring to the Walking Secondary diagram - A is the rack and pinion for the ocular that moves along with the WS Walking Secondary. B is a Walking Secondary. C and D are powered robotic telescoping sections. E is the optical center axis. F and G are Parallax/ Futabo servo motors. H is a guide rail. I is the Propeller Big Brain connection.
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Several new technologies are now introduced by Humanoido for the Big Brain's construction project - designed for use on the Ultra Large Telescope ULT, including Intelligent Glass and VARFL Variable Focal Length mirrors. To run both of these techniques, the intelligent telescope needs to invent a secondary mirror that can walk in step with the VARFL and the iGlass intelligent design during transforming and morphing.
This invention is the Walking Secondary. In our test prototype telescope, the secondary walks using a servo motor and a guide rail. It is best to move the secondary along with the rack and pinion to maintain in step focus and calibration. Currently the best found and easy to construct design has a telescoping front end that joins both the ocular holder and the diagonal.
Humanoido,
I don't know much about optics, but, last I heard, diffraction effects were still a problem in telescope design. And every edge or corner that is introduced into an optical system will generate diffractive patterns that will reduce the resolution of your images. That is why telescope mirrors tend to be large units and not individual sections. Adaptive optics is a way of distorting mirrors to adjust for atmospheric effects but those mirrors are still single surfaces. Maybe somebody has developed ways of digitally filtering out some of these edge effects - I don't know - but just piling up lots of little light buckets probably does not give you the results you're seeking. Going with large refractive optics poses a problem because the very weight of a single large lens starts to distort it. On the other hand, mirrors can be cradled somewhat and the stress on them is not so unmanageable.
If you do use lots of reflective sections, the difficulties in getting proper alignment become... well.... astronomical.
Just a thought.
Certainly there are challenges. If one takes a look at many of the fine images produced by various MMT telescopes across the world, it becomes quite clear that the challenges of diffraction effects are well met.
Even in some cases one can use the interferometric design to good effect. A desirable function exists that increases the effective resolution of a telescope when multiple mirrors are mounted together. Ten 100 inch mirrors will give a diffractive resolution solution equal to that of a single 1,000 inch mirror.