The OWL is scrapped

I just got the news from Chris Dainty (OWL Consortium member) that the OverWhelmingly Large Telescope or OWL, an ESO 100 metre diameter optical telescope has been scrapped. This project had just finished its feasibility studies by a large consortium of European scientists in the last few years.

Although designed as a 100-m diameter, OWL was a concept with a wide range of applicability, in particularly in the infrared.

Analysis showed that the upper limit for the concept was in the range of 130 meters. This limit is essentially set by the fact that with larger diameters, monolithic relay mirrors beyond proven dimensions (about 8-m) would probably become necessary. In addition, safety with respect to dynamic excitations (wind, earthquakes) and fatigue would probably imply a structural design relying extensively on expensive composite materials -whereas the OWL structure is made of standard steel.

I spoke also to Alexander Gongorov (Project leader for EURO 50) who had insisted that OWL had other fundamental limitations. For example atmospheric scattering reducing magnitude threshold (upper limit 30m) and the difficulty of applying adaptive optics to reduce blurring. Adaptive optics was expected to reach 33 mag.

I understand from Chris Dainty, that a new consortium is being brought together to explore a telescope between 40 to 60 metres. Apparently, the EURO 50 may be the favourite as it has been evaluated in the last years.

Also the name may change to 'European Large Telescope' within the catagory of 'Extreme Large Telescope'

Eamonn A

That's a real pitty ... appart from the really cool name the OWL project was a really cool project and a great goal for European science and astronomy to aspire to.

Bart.

16/12/05

ESA scientists have today announced that the scrapped OWL telescope is to be replaced with a new cutting edge UWL telescope. The UWL (UnderWhelming, Lousy telescope) has the potential to see a blurry image of the sun with a limiting magnitute of -26.8. "It's a brand new concept" says ESA's chief political whipping boy, Max Plank- "With it's new adaptive attitude optics package we'll be able to interpret what we might see through dance and connect the dots colouring books"

The new telescope will be built on the 12,000ft summit of Mount Butter in Brussels. Engineers were at first concerned about the structural stability of the location, but any fears were soon allayed by extensive testing which revealed that the butter was creamy and delicious.

However, not everybody is happy with the decision. Some scientists have expressed concerns that many bold engineering projects have been shelved. One senior source who did not wish to be named said "It's the biggest disappointment since we failed to reach the year 2000 deadline for Jetsons style flying cars for everyone". Max, who also chaired the controversial committee that set out to create a horse and ended up with a camel, refused to comment when questioned about the validity and cost of the project- "Sure, it will still cost Billions of Euros, but think of all the spare time scientists are going to have- those guys need to relax and drink more latte" He later added "and that camel is fast. Mean? ...yes- but fast".

16/12/05

ESA scientists have today announced that the scrapped OWL telescope is to be replaced with a new cutting edge UWL telescope. The UWL (UnderWhelming, Lousy telescope) has the potential to see a blurry image of the sun with a limiting magnitute of -26.8. "It's a brand new concept" says ESA's chief political whipping boy, Max Plank- "With it's new adaptive attitude optics package we'll be able to interpret what we might see through dance and connect the dots colouring books"

The new telescope will be built on the 12,000ft summit of Mount Butter in Brussels. Engineers were at first concerned about the structural stability of the location, but any fears were soon allayed by extensive testing which revealed that the butter was creamy and delicious.

However, not everybody is happy with the decision. Some scientists have expressed concerns that many bold engineering projects have been shelved. One senior source who did not wish to be named said "It's the biggest disappointment since we failed to reach the year 2000 deadline for Jetsons style flying cars for everyone". Max, who also chaired the controversial committee that set out to create a horse and ended up with a camel, refused to comment when questioned about the validity and cost of the project- "Sure, it will still cost Billions of Euros, but think of all the spare time scientists are going to have- those guys need to relax and drink more latte" He later added "and that camel is fast. Mean? ...yes- but fast".

LMAO ... truely brilliant!

"With it's new adaptive attitude optics package we'll be able to interpret what we might see through dance and connect the dots colouring books"

:lol: Too funny Dave! The above line really did it for me :lol: