Dan Mckenna wrote:
Eric wrote:
I had a thought - dangerous i know - what if you made a large parabolic
frame out of something like wood (you choose). Then you bought a few
large
household mirrors and cut small round sections out of them and pasted
them
onto the wood frame. Would you then have yourself a larger effective
mirror
on the cheap? Would it work?

Take a look at this gamma ray telescope, it's 10 meters and not wood.

http://jelley.wustl.edu/Pages/images+hopkins.html

However (and it's a BIG however) is that each segment of the telescope shown
in the link are carefully figured parabolic mirrors in their own right
rather than 'small round sections' cut from household mirrors. Boiling
water or roasting chickens is about the limit of Eric's configuration, I'm
afraid - as an early reply suggested.

Clear Dark Steady Skies,
Dave Jessie