Large liquid mirror telescope

A Large liquid mirror telescope or (Large LMT) is a technology being pursued by NASA and the University of British Columbia (UBC).

The idea of using a rotating liquid to create a perfect paraboloid was originally proposed by Sir Isaac Newton, but the very stringent requirements, in particular on the speed of rotation and leveling, prevented any serious attempt to build a prototype before the second part of the 19th century.

Modern LMT research began with a 1982 paper by Ermanno Borra. Over several years, the technology was developed successfully to produce a 1.5m diffraction-limited LMT. Then a collaboration began between Paul Hickson at UBC and Borra. Hickson designed the 3m-class LMs, and built several 3m-class LMs for UBC, NASA, and UCLA. Hickson and collaborators are now building the 6m LZT located at the UBC Liquid-Mirror Observatory.