And when its aluminium coating is replaced with silver in a year or two's time (a huge vacuum-chamber housed at the telescope's base will be used to deposit metallic vapour on to the mirror's reflecting surface), it will be able to see into the infra-red with equal clarity, opening up a much neglected area of astronomy.

ECONOMIST: Japan��s new telescope

"How the sound reflects off this reflecting surface with this composite object on it - which is pretty big and has a cloaking shell on it - really reflects... just like a flat surface does, " Dr Cummer said.

BBC: Acoustic 'cloaking device' shields objects from sound