"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.

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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.

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Rain rippled the surface of a reflecting pool at the ground zero memorial, where people placed flowers along the edges.

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But over time, the white paint would be reflecting light and other electromagnetic radiation from its surface.

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