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Colin,
The world has lots of fast telescopes, but they still only see what we've been seeing for a while - but they still dont have the optical ability to detect anything better than Mag28.
Dragonfly detects down to Mag32 and Im pretty sure they hinted at better in the future in one of their papers.
So thats a 4000% increase in detection improvememnt - and not at some incredible cost of the technology but maybe as low as 1/1000th of the cost ! - with off the shelf components that any of us could buy and assemble if we had the money.
Its the reduced scattering and reduced reflections of what they refer to as "nano fabricated coating" - not sure how different this is to other lens coatings but it certainly seems to work for them.
As far as I know this is just an off-the-shelf Canon lens - but of their latest design.
Multiple lenses doesnt really count for anything more than more light gathering and some further noise reduction - so they can detect more in one session.
Im suprised they are getting the results with just a Kodak 8300 series sensor !
Its hardly a sensor known for its low noise or large well depth !!!
They are talking about using some small pixel cameras in order to get some finer resolution for more detail, but Im guessing they are coaxing a fair bit out of their drizzling and dithering anyway.
I guess when Canon offer them some 800mm lenses at a discounted price - (which Im sure they would for a 480 unit sale !!) - we will see some more interesting discoveries !!
Its pretty exciting stuff to see such a huge jump in sensing with an even greater order of reduction in savings and technology.
Ive been reading more of their papers and what they are finding is literally turning existing theories on their heads - that often can lead to new theories and understanding.
They have done with pennies what hasnt been done with $billions
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