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So astronomers amuse themselves much as we do, by indulging their size fetish. And then laughing at it with a series of comically pedestrian names. It started with a succession of Large Telescopes made possible by actively controlled, segmented-mirror designs that broke through the limit imposed by single-mirror casting and flexure issues, such as the South African Large Telescope, the largest in the southern hemisphere with a hexagonal mirror array 11 meters across. Next came a series of Very Large Telescopes such as the VLT Array, "consisting of four Unit Telescopes with main mirrors of 8.2m diameter and four movable 1.8m diameter Auxiliary Telescopes. The telescopes can work together, to form a giant ‘interferometer’, the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer, allowing astronomers to see details up to 25 times finer than with the individual telescopes." Now the march is to a generation of Extremely Large Telescopes, the leader being the European Extremely Large Telescope, a 39-meter behemoth planned for erection on Chile's Cerro Armazone mountain... ...and not in situ, but for comparison with other Extremely Large Things... ...the London Eye... ...the Pyramids. And far from being the limit of their imaginings, the E-ELT was merely what the astronomy community had to settle on for now, it being a scaling back of their original plan to build -- of course -- an Overwhelmingly Large Telescope! With a primary mirror assembly 100 meters across, the OWL would have almost unbelievable imaging power... Growth of telescope diameters across the years...

Mid-Term Election Recap

A new incentive to visit or revisit Brazil? I know that many posters have lost interest in visiting Brazil. Inflation and our weak dollar are to blame for much of the decline in tourism to Brazil. A decade ago, or so, the currency exchange for Americans visiting Brazil was almost 4 - 1 in our favor. After a few years, the Brazilian monetary unit began to get strong which negatively affected the exchange rate for Americans. Over time, mainly because of the increase in prices (inflation) in Brazil together with the unfavorable exchange rate, Americans stopped visiting Brazil. During the weak dollar period, at one point, the exchange rate was 1.60 - 1 which made things cost a lot more in Brazil. On August 29 of this year, Brazil officially announced that it is in a recession. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28982555 Consequently, the American dollar has gained against the real and our dollar continues to regain some of the strength it lost. Our dollar (and other currencies) has become stronger ever since the announcement of the recession. Today, the Brazilian real traded at 2.53 - 1 against the dollar, which isn't bad for us. If the trend of our stronger dollar continues, I suspect that more Americans will resume travel to Brazil and this section of the forum will come to life. Many of us have had wonderful experiences in Brazil. Many who stopped visiting Brazil because of the increase in cost will no doubt return, assuming the dollar continues to rise like it has since Brazil's recession was announced. -

Extremely and Large are 2 words that always command MY attention.... So imagine my disappointment when I discovered they refered to telescopes.....