Astronomers outline an awakening plan for a huge telescope on the moon

A group of astronomers from the University of Texas at Austin believe that relaunching an old NASA plan from a decade ago could solve a problem other telescopes can’t address. Astronomers believe the huge telescope would be able to study the first stars in the universe. Project researchers say the James Webb Space Telescope will look back to the time when galaxies first formed.

However, the theory predicts an even earlier time when galaxies did not yet exist when individual stars first formed. These stars are known as Population III stars and marked the moment of the very first light and formed about 13 billion years ago. Seeing those stars is beyond the capabilities of the James Web Space Telescope.

However, a shelved plan devised by NASA a decade ago described as the “definitive” telescope could allow astronomers to see those Population III stars. The stars were created from a mixture of hydrogen and helium and are believed to be tens or hundreds of times larger than the Sun. NASA colleague Anna Schauer has come up with new calculations showing that an older structure proposed by NASA, a liquid mirror telescope operating from the surface of the moon could see those stars.

NASA analyzed the proposed structure ten years ago, but decided not to build it. Another project scientist said that the support marks on the first stars did not exist, noting that the telescope is perfect for the problem. The proposed liquid mirror lunar telescope, dubbed the “Ultimately Large Telescope”, would have a mirror 100 meters in diameter.

It would operate autonomously from the lunar surface and obtain power from a solar energy collection station on the moon. The collected data would be transmitted to a satellite in lunar orbit to be sent back to Earth. The mirror would be a rotating tank of liquid topped with a metallic liquid. The tub would spin continuously to keep the liquid surface in the correct paraboloid shape to function as a mirror. The telescope itself would be stationary, located inside a crater at the north or south pole of the moon. The researchers want the astronomical community to revisit the shelf plan, but it is unclear if this will happen.