NEWSNOTES Looking Up with Liquid Mirrors
By day the NASA Orbital Debris Observatory (NODO) constitutes the first published research finding based solely on
looks every bit the conventional astronomical facility. But as
twilight settles over Cloudcroft, New Mexico, the observatorys
dome opens to reveal a very unconventional instrument
(shown in the photograph). NODO houses the worlds largest
working liquid-mirror telescope. Its primary is a shallow
container of mercury three meters across.
Spinning at a rate (one revolution every 6.02315 seconds) that
is constant to within one part in a hundred thousand, the mir-
rors liquid surface forms a reflective
paraboloid as good as any solid mirror
its size for less than one-tenth the
price. We get a lot of bang for the
buck, says NODO project scientist
Mark K. Mulrooney (Rice University).
Although liquid mirrors cannot be
tilted or used to track specific objects,
Mulrooney finds no disadvantage in
using a zenith-pointing instrument for
NODOs main task: counting pieces of
orbital debris as small as 1 centimeter
as they pass overhead.
NODO is also proving the value of
liquid mirrors in other ways. In the
December 10th Astrophysical Journal,
Rmi A. Cabanac and Ermanno F.
Borra (University of Laval, Canada)
and Mario Beauchemin (Natural Re-
sources Canada) identify 206 objects
with peculiar energy spectra, all
spotted drifting across NODOs line
of sight. According to the team, this
Looking for White-Dwarf Planets
After a Sun-like star becomes a red
giant and then collapses into a white
dwarf, any surviving inner planets orbit-
ing it will be dead worlds, eroded by the
evolving stars heat and powerful radia-
tion. However, according to a team of
astronomers in Australia, such planetary
remnants may not even stay in orbit.
Jianke Li, Lilia Ferrario, and Dayal
Cu
rr
en
t
Heated
SOURCE: ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
White
dwarf region
it
ts orb
Plane
20 November 1998 Sky & Telescope 1998 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
data from a liquid-mirror telescope. Liquid mirrors really
work, says Borra. The optical quality is excellent, and robust
enough for observatory environments.
It was Borra who realized two decades ago that a liquid mir-
ror could be a viable observing tool when combined with a CCD
camera. Because CCDs can drift scan with the moving sky, and
because they can stack several nights data onto one image, a sta-
tionary liquid mirror can see as deeply as a conventional tele-
scope. Given the low cost and the pros-
pect of limitless observing time, says
Borra, a liquid-mirror telescope makes
an excellent alternative for a small ob-
servatory on a tight budget.
Various projects are now under way
to extend the benefits of liquid mir-
rors to larger apertures. A Belgian
team plans to install a 4-meter liquid
mirror in Chile, while a 6-meter in-
strument built by Paul Hickson (Uni-
versity of British Columbia) will see
first light early next year. Using a 40-
filter system to derive color-based red-
shifts for distant galaxies, Hicksons
telescope will gradually build up a
three-dimensional map of a deep,
narrow slice of space. Hickson, who
built a 2.7-meter prototype years ago,
1998 CHIP SIMONS
has also begun to collaborate with
Kenneth Lanzetta (State University of
New York, Stony Brook) on a 10-
meter liquid-mirror telescope.
Wickramasinghe (Australian National bital energy and eventually cause the
University) detail the fate of such planets planet to spiral in to its final doom.
in the August 20th Astrophysical Journal The astronomers also explain that we
Letters. During a stars red-giant phase, may be able to find magnetically threat-
any Earth-like planet that isnt destroyed ened solar systems by detecting the ef-
completely will be stripped down to its fects of the current interacting with the
metal-rich interior. As a planetary core star. The white dwarf in such a system
revolves about the star, it should slice would exhibit hot spots in the regions of
through the stars magnetic field and its atmosphere that lie near the magnetic
generate an electric cur- poles, dissipating the planets orbital en-
rent. The current would ergy. In fact, the researchers note one
Magnetic then flow between the star possible example already: GD 356, a
field lines 15th-magnitude star in Draco, which has
and the planet along the
magnetic field lines. If the been known to feature peculiar hydrogen
planet were sufficiently spectral signatures. This white dwarf ap-
close to the star less pears to have hydrogen-alpha emission
Planet
core than about 7 million kilo- originating from a small area of its sur-
meters electromagnetic face, and the scientists suggest that a
drag would slowly sap or- planet could be responsible.
A white dwarfs magnetic field may induce electric currents between the
dying star and the stripped core of a former Earth-like planet. The electric
flow would then cause hot spots on the star while shrinking the planets orbit.