* Astronomy

The idea of a liquid mirror is an old one, and some experimental liquid-mirror telescopes have been built. But the potential of the concept for astronomy is only now reaching fruition. The world's first dedicated astronomical observatory with a liquid-mirror telescope at a top-class observing site is expected to come online in 2009.
The International Liquid Mirror Telescope will have a liquid mirror 4 metres wide. With funding from Belgium and Canada, the telescope will scan the skies from a mountaintop site in northern India.

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