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“If something looks interesting enough, one of the telescopes is switched to laser mode, and a laser flash is used to illuminate the target. Even black objects
by psadri 9y ago
“If something looks interesting enough, one of the telescopes is switched to laser mode, and a laser flash is used to illuminate the target. Even black objects reflect some light.”
I was referring to this part.
- Dylan16807 9y agoThat wasn't the part about finding satellites, though. And 99.965% absorption is still visible in a bright light.
- Zak 9y agoThere's an interesting demonstration of this on Youtube: "The Worlds Blackest Black vs The Worlds Brightest Flashlight (32,000 lumen)—Which Will Win?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaFdCvnV8PM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaFdCvnV8PM To summarize, the flashlight wins, and it's reasonable to expect the effect would be the same with a laser and sensitive detection equipment.
- detritus 9y ago@zak (sorry, I couldn't reply directly) That isn't Vantablack as such though, is it? Afaik, Vantablack proper requires a specific application process [1], which I've mentally envisaged as being something akin to growing diamonds in a lab on a substrate, or applying flocking to materials. I'd be quite curious to know what the reflectivity would be like on some clever coating consisting of vertically-laid carbon nano tubes, etc. [1] - https://www.surreynanosystems.com/vantablack/applying-vantablack https://www.surreynanosystems.com/vantablack/applying-vantab...