Paul Metcalf
4-Oct-2004, 10:14
I think this qualifies as ULF. Possibly a new world record for large format photography. Wonder what film they'll use?
NASA Hopes to Build 'Giant Pinhole Camera' Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland) 10/03/04 author: John von Radowitz
Scientists hope to build a giant "pinhole camera" in space to spot planets orbiting distant stars.
The New Worlds Imager would be the size of a football field with a 30ft wide hole in the centre.
Essentially it would work in the same way as a simple camera made from a box with a pinhole in one end.
Light entering the pinhole forms an image on photographic film at the far end of the box.
A sharp image is possible because the pinhole prevents interference by scattered rays of light.
In the same way the New World Imager would act as a "starshade", cutting out scattered light so that planets can become visible.
A spacecraft equipped with a telescope would trail tens of thousands of miles behind the starshade to collect and process the light.
The system, under investigation by the US space agency Nasa, could theoretically detect planets as small as the Earth's Moon and search for indicators of life such as methane, water, oxygen and ozone.
Professor Webster Cash, from the University of Colorado at Boulder, who put forward the proposal, said: "In its most advanced form, the New Worlds Imager would be able to capture actual pictures of planets as far away as 100 light-years, showing oceans, continents, polar caps and cloud banks.
"To me, one of the most interesting challenges in space astronomy today is the detection of exo-solar planets.
"We have created an affordable concept with very practical technology that would allow us to conduct planet imaging in visible and other wavelengths of light."
The idea was one of 12 suggestions selected for funding by the Nasa Institute for Advanced Concepts.
Others included proposals for a lunar space elevator, super-conducting magnet technology for astronaut radiation protection, and a magnetised beam plasma propulsion system.
NASA Hopes to Build 'Giant Pinhole Camera' Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland) 10/03/04 author: John von Radowitz
Scientists hope to build a giant "pinhole camera" in space to spot planets orbiting distant stars.
The New Worlds Imager would be the size of a football field with a 30ft wide hole in the centre.
Essentially it would work in the same way as a simple camera made from a box with a pinhole in one end.
Light entering the pinhole forms an image on photographic film at the far end of the box.
A sharp image is possible because the pinhole prevents interference by scattered rays of light.
In the same way the New World Imager would act as a "starshade", cutting out scattered light so that planets can become visible.
A spacecraft equipped with a telescope would trail tens of thousands of miles behind the starshade to collect and process the light.
The system, under investigation by the US space agency Nasa, could theoretically detect planets as small as the Earth's Moon and search for indicators of life such as methane, water, oxygen and ozone.
Professor Webster Cash, from the University of Colorado at Boulder, who put forward the proposal, said: "In its most advanced form, the New Worlds Imager would be able to capture actual pictures of planets as far away as 100 light-years, showing oceans, continents, polar caps and cloud banks.
"To me, one of the most interesting challenges in space astronomy today is the detection of exo-solar planets.
"We have created an affordable concept with very practical technology that would allow us to conduct planet imaging in visible and other wavelengths of light."
The idea was one of 12 suggestions selected for funding by the Nasa Institute for Advanced Concepts.
Others included proposals for a lunar space elevator, super-conducting magnet technology for astronaut radiation protection, and a magnetised beam plasma propulsion system.