February 10, 2003

Black is the new black

Oooh, how very goth: scientists have produced the blackest material ever:

The industrial coating for telescopes is one of the darkest and least reflective surfaces on Earth.

By minimising the scatter of stray light, it could improve the vision of telescopes, from amateur instruments to the mighty Hubble.

This is scary:
Several artists are said to be keen to use the new material because it is incredibly beautiful, "like black velvet".
Velvet paintings, nooooo......

(Via Reflections in D Minor.)

Posted by Andrea Harris at February 10, 2003 07:08 PM
Comments

I'm guessing...he like bullfighters?

Posted by: Ken Summers at February 10, 2003 at 09:05 PM

Black Velvet...hey, whatever happened to blue?

Posted by: Wind Rider at February 10, 2003 at 09:16 PM

"You ask yourself, how much more black could it be? And the answer is none, none more black." -- Nigel Tufnel

Posted by: Paul Zrimsek at February 10, 2003 at 09:18 PM

As long as there are Dogs Playing Poker on it.

Posted by: Kevin Parrott at February 10, 2003 at 09:57 PM

Okay, somebody has to say it: ELVIS.

Thanks for the link.

Posted by: Lynn S at February 10, 2003 at 10:39 PM

Methinks there are probably substances blacker still, but a teensy bit more secret than broadcasting them to the world on the BBC website. Of course, if I told you, I'd have to kill you...

Posted by: David Jaroslav at February 10, 2003 at 10:39 PM

Black Velvet. Mmmmm. Good song, moderately good Canadian whiskey.

Posted by: Eichra Oren at February 11, 2003 at 02:33 AM

From the article: "Dr Richard Brown, who led the NPL team, said the substance was 25 times blacker than conventional black paint." What does 25 X blacker than black paint mean?

Posted by: RJT at February 11, 2003 at 11:59 AM