Giant non-diffraction limited space telescopes could make the 21st century when we see the entire observable universe in substantial detail

An Aragoscope could also spot some of the most fascinating places in the universe by turning its cameras at galactic nuclei, and seeing the supermassive black holes at the center of nearby galaxies in action. A version of the Aragoscope with a 1000 km (32,800-foot) disk, the Aragoscope could use the X-Ray spectrum to resolve the event horizon of black holes. That’s the kind of observational power astronomers have only dreamed of.

The Aragoscope: Ultra-High Resolution Optics at Low Cost starts from 1 hour into the video.

The goal is to create space telescopes with hundreds of meters of diameter.

The Aragoscope diffracts light into collection areas. A fraction of the light is collected. A hundred meter Aragoscope with many 3 millimeter to one centimeter of width the diffracting rings would collect the light of a one meter telescope. The diffracting rings are a few microns across.

The Aragoscope could provide images up to 1,000 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope.

The 10 milliarcsec resolution element of a 12 meter telescope [high definition space telescope] (diffraction limited at 0.5 micron) would reach a new threshold in spatial resolution. It would be able to take an optical image or spectrum at about 100 parsec [300 light years] spatial resolution or better, for any observable object in the entire Universe. Thus, no matter where a galaxy lies within the cosmic horizon, we would resolve the scale at which the formation and evolution of galaxies becomes the study of their smallest constituent building blocks—their star-forming regions and dwarf satellites. Within the Milky Way, a 12 meter telescope would resolve the distance between the Earth and the Sun for any star in the Solar neighborhood, and resolve 100 AU anywhere in the Galaxy. Within our own Solar System, we would resolve structures the size of Manhattan out at the orbit of Jupiter.

The Aragoscope version of the HD space telescope would be 1200 meters across.

A 1200 kilometer Aragoscope would have 1000 times the resolution of the HD space telescope. It could resolve 0.1 AU anywhere in the Galaxy. It could resolve 0.3 light years spatial resolution or better, for any observable object in the entire Universe.

With spiderfab robotic space construction and low cost access to space, massive space construction should be feasible in the second half of the 21st century. The 21st century should be when we see the entire observable universe in substantial detail

A conventional space telescope is pointed at an opaque disk along an axis to a distant target. The disk boosts the resolution of the system with no loss of collecting area. It can be used to achieve the diffraction limit based on the size of the low cost disk, rather than the high cost telescope mirror. One can envision affordable telescopes that could provide 7 centimeter resolution of the ground from geosynchronous orbit or images of the sky with one thousand times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.



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