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Description
This list of the largest optical reflecting telescopes with objective diameters of 3.0 metres (120 in) or greater is sorted by aperture, which is a measure of the light-gathering power and resolution of a reflecting telescope. The mirrors themselves can be larger than the aperture, and some telescopes may use aperture synthesis through interferometry. Telescopes designed to be used as optical astronomical interferometers such as the Keck I and II used together as the Keck Interferometer (up to 85 m) can reach higher resolutions, although at a narrower range of observations. When the two mirrors are on one mount, the combined mirror spacing of the Large Binocular Telescope (22.8 m) allows fuller use of the aperture synthesis. Largest does not always equate to being the best telescopes, and overall light gathering power of the optical system can be a poor measure of a telescope's performance.
Books
Shuttle pointing of electro-optical experiments, February 10-13, 1981, Los Angeles, California
Technologies of cryogenically cooled sensors and Fourier transform spectrometers II, August 26-27, 1982, San Diego, California
Smart Structures and Materials 1995: Industrial and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies (Proceedings of Spie--The International Society for Optical Engineering, V. 2447.)
Instrumentation in astronomy
Provides ready access to several hundred fully searchable papers in PDF format. These selected papers covering the topic of Instrumentation in astronomy were originally published in the Proceedings of SPIE and SPIE's journals from 1972 to 2000 (volumes 1542, 2201, 2534, 3353, 4007)