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Isaac Newton first realized that a rotating liquid forms a circular Paraboloid and can therefore be used as a telescope, but he could not actually build one because he had no way to stabilize the speed of rotation (the Electric Motor did not exist yet).

The main advantage of using a liquid mirror is the cost. The University Of British Columbia 's 6-meter liquid mirror telescope cost about a fiftieth as much as a conventional telescope with a glass mirror. {Link without Title}

Of course, because the shape of the liquid depends on gravity, the telescope can only point straight up. This is not actually as big a drawback as it sounds, because the part of the sky at the Zenith changes with the season and time of day.


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