WorldWideScience

Sample records for telescope facility irtf

  1. The Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) Spectral Library: Cool Stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rayner, John T.; Cushing, Michael C.; Vacca, William D.

    2009-12-01

    We present a 0.8-5 μm spectral library of 210 cool stars observed at a resolving power of R ≡ λ/Δλ ~ 2000 with the medium-resolution infrared spectrograph, SpeX, at the 3.0 m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The stars have well-established MK spectral classifications and are mostly restricted to near-solar metallicities. The sample not only contains the F, G, K, and M spectral types with luminosity classes between I and V, but also includes some AGB, carbon, and S stars. In contrast to some other spectral libraries, the continuum shape of the spectra is measured and preserved in the data reduction process. The spectra are absolutely flux calibrated using the Two Micron All Sky Survey photometry. Potential uses of the library include studying the physics of cool stars, classifying and studying embedded young clusters and optically obscured regions of the Galaxy, evolutionary population synthesis to study unresolved stellar populations in optically obscured regions of galaxies and synthetic photometry. The library is available in digital form from the IRTF Web site.

  2. THE INFRARED TELESCOPE FACILITY (IRTF) SPECTRAL LIBRARY: COOL STARS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rayner, John T.; Cushing, Michael C.; Vacca, William D.

    2009-01-01

    We present a 0.8-5 μm spectral library of 210 cool stars observed at a resolving power of R ≡ λ/Δλ ∼ 2000 with the medium-resolution infrared spectrograph, SpeX, at the 3.0 m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The stars have well-established MK spectral classifications and are mostly restricted to near-solar metallicities. The sample not only contains the F, G, K, and M spectral types with luminosity classes between I and V, but also includes some AGB, carbon, and S stars. In contrast to some other spectral libraries, the continuum shape of the spectra is measured and preserved in the data reduction process. The spectra are absolutely flux calibrated using the Two Micron All Sky Survey photometry. Potential uses of the library include studying the physics of cool stars, classifying and studying embedded young clusters and optically obscured regions of the Galaxy, evolutionary population synthesis to study unresolved stellar populations in optically obscured regions of galaxies and synthetic photometry. The library is available in digital form from the IRTF Web site.

  3. HARDERSEN IRTF ASTEROID NIR REFLECTANCE SPECTRA V1.0

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This dataset includes average near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectra for 68 main-belt asteroids that were observed at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF),...

  4. IRTF NEAR-IR SPECTROSCOPY OF ASTEROIDS V2.0

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set contains low-resolution, near-infrared (0.8 - 2.5 micron) spectra of asteroids obtained with SpeX at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on...

  5. IRTF NEAR-IR SPECTROSCOPY OF ASTEROIDS V1.0

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set contains low-resolution, near-infrared (0.8 - 2.5 micron) spectra of asteroids obtained with SpeX at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on...

  6. A New Instrument for the IRTF: the MIT Optical Rapid Imaging System (MORIS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulbis, Amanda A. S.; Elliot, J. L.; Rojas, F. E.; Bus, S. J.; Rayner, J. T.; Stahlberger, W. E.; Tokunaga, A. T.; Adams, E. R.; Person, M. J.

    2010-10-01

    NASA's 3-m Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, HI plays a leading role in obtaining planetary science observations. However, there has been no capability for high-speed, visible imaging from this telescope. Here we present a new IRTF instrument, MORIS, the MIT Optical Rapid Imaging System. MORIS is based on POETS (Portable Occultation Eclipse and Transit Systems; Souza et al., 2006, PASP, 118, 1550). Its primary component is an Andor iXon camera, a 512x512 array of 16-micron pixels with high quantum efficiency, low read noise, low dark current, and full-frame readout rates of between 3.5 Hz (6 e /pixel read noise) and 35 Hz (49 e /pixel read noise at electron-multiplying gain=1). User-selectable binning and subframing can increase the cadence to a few hundred Hz. An electron-multiplying mode can be employed for photon counting, effectively reducing the read noise to sub-electron levels at the expense of dynamic range. Data cubes, or individual frames, can be triggered to nanosecond accuracy using a GPS. MORIS is mounted on the side-facing widow of SpeX (Rayner et al. 2003, PASP, 115, 362), allowing simultaneous near-infrared and visible observations. The mounting box contains 3:1 reducing optics to produce a 60 arcsec x 60 arcsec field of view at f/12.7. It hosts a ten-slot filter wheel, with Sloan g×, r×, i×, and z×, VR, Johnson V, and long-pass red filters. We describe the instrument design, components, and measured characteristics. We report results from the first science observations, a 24 June 2008 stellar occultation by Pluto. We also discuss a recent overhaul of the optical path, performed in order to eliminate scattered light. This work is supported in part by NASA Planetary Major Equipment grant NNX07AK95G. We are indebted to the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy machine shop, in particular Randy Chung, for fabricating instrument components.

  7. Flow-Based Network Management: A Report from the IRTF NMRG Workshop

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Oliveira Schmidt, R.; Sadre, R.; Hendriks, Luuk

    This is the report on the Workshop on Flow-Based Network Management, held within the 37th IRTF NMRG meeting, during IETF 93, on 24th July 2015, in Prague, Czech Republic. Following the tradition of the IRTF NMRG, the workshop focused on technologies, developments, and challenges of using flow-level

  8. FIEBER-BEYER IRTF MAINBELT ASTEROID SPECTRA V2.0

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The data set contains observations obtained with the NASA IRTF SpeX instrument covering the 0.7 to 2.5 micron near-infrared portion of the spectrum. The data set...

  9. WEAVE: the next generation wide-field spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope : The next generation wide-field spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dalton, Gavin; Trager, Scott C.; Abrams, Don Carlos; Carter, David; Bonifacio, Piercarlo; Aguerri, J. Alfonso L.; MacIntosh, Mike; Evans, Chris; Lewis, Ian; Navarro, Ramon; Agocs, Tibor; Dee, Kevin; Rousset, Sophie; Tosh, Ian; Middleton, Kevin; Pragt, Johannes; Terrett, David; Brock, Matthew; Benn, Chris; Verheijen, Marc; Cano Infantes, Diego; Bevil, Craige; Steele, Iain; Mottram, Chris; Bates, Stuart; Gribbin, Francis J.; Rey, Jürg; Rodriguez, Luis Fernando; Delgado, Jose Miguel; Guinouard, Isabelle; Walton, Nic; Irwin, Michael J.; Jagourel, Pascal; Stuik, Remko; Gerlofsma, Gerrit; Roelfsma, Ronald; Skillen, Ian; Ridings, Andy; Balcells, Marc; Daban, Jean-Baptiste; Gouvret, Carole; Venema, Lars; Girard, Paul

    We present the preliminary design of the WEAVE next generation spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), principally targeting optical ground-based follow up of upcoming ground-based (LOFAR) and spacebased (Gaia) surveys. WEAVE is a multi-object and multi-IFU facility utilizing

  10. Multilayer coating facility for the HEFT hard x-ray telescope

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cooper-Jensen, Carsten P.; Christensen, Finn Erland; Chen, Hubert

    2001-01-01

    A planar magnetron sputtering facility has been established at the Danish Space Research Institute (DSRI) for the production coating of depth graded multilayers on the thermally slumped glass segments which form the basis for the hard X-ray telescope on the HEFT balloon project. The facility...

  11. Liverpool Telescope and Liverpool Telescope 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Copperwheat, C. M.; Steele, I. A.; Barnsley, R. M.; Bates, S. D.; Clay, N. R.; Jermak, H.; Marchant, J. M.; Mottram, C. J.; Piascik, A.; Smith, R. J.

    2016-12-01

    The Liverpool Telescope is a fully robotic optical/near-infrared telescope with a 2-metre clear aperture, located at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on the Canary Island of La Palma. The telescope is owned and operated by Liverpool John Moores University, with financial support from the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council. The telescope began routine science operations in 2004 and is a common-user facility with time available through a variety of committees via an open, peer reviewed process. Seven simultaneously mounted instruments support a broad science programme, with a focus on transient follow-up and other time domain topics well suited to the characteristics of robotic observing. Development has also begun on a successor facility, with the working title `Liverpool Telescope 2', to capitalise on the new era of time domain astronomy which will be brought about by the next generation of survey facilities such as LSST. The fully robotic Liverpool Telescope 2 will have a 4-metre aperture and an improved response time. In this paper we provide an overview of the current status of both facilities.

  12. Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) science instruments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramos, R.; Hing, S.M.; Leidich, C.A.; Fazio, G.; Houck, J.R.

    1989-01-01

    Concepts of scientific instruments designed to perform infrared astronomical tasks such as imaging, photometry, and spectroscopy are discussed as part of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) project under definition study at NASA/Ames Research Center. The instruments are: the multiband imaging photometer, the infrared array camera, and the infrared spectograph. SIRTF, a cryogenically cooled infrared telescope in the 1-meter range and wavelengths as short as 2.5 microns carrying multiple instruments with high sensitivity and low background performance, provides the capability to carry out basic astronomical investigations such as deep search for very distant protogalaxies, quasi-stellar objects, and missing mass; infrared emission from galaxies; star formation and the interstellar medium; and the composition and structure of the atmospheres of the outer planets in the solar sytem. 8 refs

  13. Thermal-Infrared Surveys of Near-Earth Object Diameters and Albedos with Spitzer and IRTF/MIRSI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mommert, Michael; Trilling, David; Hora, Joseph L.; Chesley, Steven; Emery, Josh; Fazio, Giovanni; Harris, Alan W.; Moskovitz, Nick; Mueller, Michael; Smith, Howard

    2015-08-01

    More than 12000 Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) have been discovered over the past few decades and current discovery surveys find on average 4 new NEOs every night. In comparison to asteroid discovery, the physical characterization of NEOs lags far behind: measured diameters and albedos exist only for roughly 10% of all known NEOs. We describe a current and a future observing program that provide diameter and albedo measurements of a large number of NEOs.In our Spitzer Space Telescope Exploration Science program 'NEOSurvey', we are performing a fast and efficient flux-limited survey in which we measure the diameters and albedos of ~600 NEOs in a total of 710 hrs of observing time. We measure the thermal emission of our targets at 4.5 micron and combine these measurements with optical data in a thermal model. Our diameters and albedos come with highly realistic uncertainties that account for a wide range of potential asteroid properties. Our primary goal is to create a large and uniform catalog of NEO properties, including diameters, albedos, and flux density data. This catalog is publicly accessible and provides the latest results usually within 2 weeks after the observation.Starting in 2016, we will also make use of the refurbished and recommissioned MIRSI mid-infrared imaging camera on NASA's InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) to derive the diameters and albedos of up to 750 NEOs over a period of 3 yrs. MIRSI will be equipped with an optical camera that will allow for simultaneous optical imaging, which will improve our thermal modeling results. With MIRSI, we will focus on newly discovered NEOs that are close to Earth and hence relatively bright.The results from both programs, together with already exisiting diameter and albedo results from the literature, will form the largest database of NEO physical properties available to date. With this data set, we will be able to refine the size distribution of small NEOs and the corresponding impact frequency, and compare the

  14. Thermophysical Modeling of Contact Binary Near-Earth Asteroid 1996 HW1

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Magri, C.; Howell, E. S.; Nolan, M. C.; Taylor, P. A.; Fernández, Y. R.; Mueller, M.; Rivkin, A. S.; Vervack, R. J., Jr.

    2011-01-01

    Near-Earth asteroid (8567) 1996 HW1 was observed spectroscopically at 1.9-4.0 microns during August- October 2008 using the SpeX instrument at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). These spectra are being modeled using a new thermophysical program that accounts for the object's spin orientation

  15. Time Evolution of Io’s volcanoes Pele and Pillan from 1996 - 2015, as derived from Galileo NIMS, Keck, Gemini, IRTF, and LBTI observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Pater, Imke

    2015-11-01

    We present highlights of our observations of Pele and Pillan on Io, and a multi-decade timeline of thermal emission intensities in both regions. Io was regularly observed by Galileo NIMS during 1996-2001. Since 2001 the satellite has been imaged semi-regularly with NIRC2, coupled to an adaptive optics system, on the 10-m Keck telescope. In 1997, Galileo NIMS observed a large and highly-variable eruption close to Pillan Mons; this eruption lasted several months [1]. Since that time no eruptions had been seen (but time coverage was scarce), until our Keck images on 14 August 2007 revealed an active and highly-energetic eruption at a location close to that of the 1997 eruptions. A one-temperature blackbody fit to the data revealed a (blackbody) temperature of 840 ± 40 K over an area of 17 km2, with a total power output of ~500 GW. Using Davies’ (1996) Io Flow Model [2] we find that the oldest lava present is less than 1-2 hours old, having cooled down from the eruption temperature of >1400 K to ~710 K. This young, hot lava suggests that an episode of lava fountaining was underway. Since 2007, several eruptions have been seen in the Pillan region. The 18 February 2015 eruption was discovered during a mutual occultation event with the NASA IRTF. This event was (serendipitously) subsequently imaged with the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) on 8 March 2015 during a mutual event occultation, and again with the IRTF on 15 March. The site was imaged with the Keck and Gemini-N telescopes between 27 March and May 5, during which time the intensity gradually decreased. Interestingly, the precise location of the eruption had shifted to the north-west from Pillan Patera, where the initial (18 Feb) eruption had taken place. In contrast to the episodicity of Pillan, Pele has been remarkably consistent in its thermal emission during the Galileo era [1] through February 2002, when a blackbody temperature of 940 ± 40 K and an area of 6.5 km2 was measured. Since that

  16. On the possiblity of using vertically pointing Central Laser Facilities to calibrate the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaug, Markus

    2014-01-01

    A Central Laser Facility is a system composed of a laser placed at a certain distance from a light-detector array, emitting fast light pulses, typically in the vertical direction, with the aim to calibrate that array. During calibration runs, all detectors are pointed towards the same portion of the laser beam at a given altitude. Central Laser Facilities are used for various currently operating ultra-high-energy cosmic ray and imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays. In view of the future Cherenkov Telescope Array, a similar device could provide a fast calibration of the whole installation at different wavelengths. The relative precision (i.e. each individual telescope with respect to the rest of the array is expected) to be better than 5%, while an absolute calibration should reach a precisions of 6–11%, if certain design requirements are met. Additionally, a preciser monitoring of the sensitivity of each telescope can be made on time-scales of days to years

  17. Spectral properties of near-Earth asteroids on cometary orbits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Popescu, M.; Vaduvescu, O.; de Leon, J.; Boaca, I. L.; Gherase, R. M.; Nedelcu, D. A.; INT students, I. N. G.

    2017-09-01

    We studied the spectral distributions of near-Earth asteroids on cometary orbits (NEACOs) in order to identify potential dormant or extinct comets among these objects. We present the spectral observations for 19 NEACOs obtained with Isaac Newton Telescope and Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). Although initially classified as asteroid, one of our targets - 2007 VA85 was confirmed to be active comet 333P/LINEAR on its 2016 appearance. We found that the NEACOs population is a mixing of different compositional classes.

  18. A 2017 stellar occultation by Orcus/Vanth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sickafoose, Amanda A.; Bosh, Amanda S.; Levine, Stephen; Zuluaga, Carlos A.; Genade, Anja; Schindler, Karsten; Lister, Tim; Person, Michael J.

    2017-10-01

    (90482) Orcus is a large trans-Neptunian object (TNO) of diameter ~900 km, located in the 3:2 orbital resonance with Neptune. This plutino has a satellite, Vanth, approximately 280 km in diameter. Vanth orbits roughly 9000 km from Orcus in a ~9.5-day period. This system is particularly interesting, as Orcus falls between the small, spectrally-bland TNOs and the large TNOs having spectra rich in volatile features, while Vanth might have resulted from either collision or capture.A stellar occultation by Orcus was predicted to occur on 07 March 2017. Observations were made from five sites: the 0.6-m Astronomical Telescope of the University of Stuttgart (ATUS) at Sierra Remote Observatories (SRO), California; Las Cumbres Observatory’s 1-m telescope (ELP) at McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Texas; NASA’s 3-m InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; the 4.1-m Southern Astrophysical Research telescope (SOAR) on Cerro Pachón, Chile; and the 0.6-m Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy telescope (SARA-CT) at Cerro Tololo, Chile. High-speed, visible-wavelength images were taken at all sites, in addition to simultaneous K-band images at the IRTF. A solid-body occultation was observed at both ELP and the IRTF. Offset midtimes and incompatible light ratios suggest that two different stars were occulted by two different bodies, likely Orcus and Vanth. See Bosh et al. this conference for details of the astrometry for the event. Here, we present results from the observations, including light curves, size and albedo estimates, and upper limits on a possible atmosphere.

  19. Cryogenic and thermal design for the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, J. H.; Brooks, W. F.

    1984-01-01

    The 1-meter class cryogenically cooled Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) planned by NASA, is scheduled for a 1992 launch. SIRTF would be deployed from the Shuttle, and placed into a sun synchronous polar orbit of 700 km. The facility has been defined for a mission with a minimum initial lifetime of one year in orbit with mission extension that could be made possible through in-orbit servicing of the superfluid helium cryogenic system, and use of a thermal control system. The superfluid dewar would use an orbital disconnect system for the tank supports, and vapor cooling of the barrel baffle. The transient analysis of the design shows that the superfluid helium tank with no active feedback comes within temperature requirements for the nominal orbital aperture heat load, quiescent instrument, and chopper conditions.

  20. Cryogenic implications of orbit selection of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, J.H.; Brooke, W.F.; Maa, S.

    1986-01-01

    The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) which completed the first all sky survey in the infrared demonstrated the tremendous advantage of space-based infrared astronomy. The ability to cool the telescope optics and focal plane to liquid helium temperatures and the absence of atmospheric disturbances which cause ''seeing'' effects resulted in the discovery of 250,000 IR sources and many interesting phenomena including dust clouds around Vega and the infrared ''cirrus'' at 100 μm. To realize the true benefit of space infrared astronomy, NASA is now studying the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, a long-life space-based observatory, to follow up on the survey results of IRAS. The choice of orbits is a critical program decision. The objective of this paper is to compare the performance of an all superfluid helium SIRTF system in the two possible orbit inclinations, polar orbit (99 0 ) and the low inclination orbit (28.5 0 )

  1. Confronting Standard Models of Proto-planetary Disks with New Mid-infrared Sizes from the Keck Interferometer

    OpenAIRE

    Millan-Gabet, Rafael; Che, Xiao; Monnier, John D.; Sitko, Michael L.; Russell, Ray W.; Grady, Carol A.; Day, Amanda N.; Perry, R. B.; Harries, Tim J.; Aarnio, Alicia N.; Colavita, Mark M.; Wizinowich, Peter L.; Ragland, Sam; Woillez, Julien

    2016-01-01

    We present near- and mid-infrared (MIR) interferometric observations made with the Keck Interferometer Nuller and near-contemporaneous spectro-photometry from the infrared telescope facilities (IRTFs) of 11 well-known young stellar objects, several of which were observed for the first time in these spectral and spatial resolution regimes. With au-level spatial resolution, we first establish characteristic sizes of the infrared emission using a simple geometrical model consisting of a hot inne...

  2. Detection of the J = 6→5 transition of carbon monoxide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldsmith, P.F.; Erickson, N.R.; Fetterman, H.R.; Clifton, B.J.; Peck, D.D.; Tannenwald, P.E.; Koepf, G.A.; Buhl, D.; McAvoy, N.

    1981-01-01

    The J = 6→5 rotational transition of carbon monoxide has been detected in emission from the KL ''plateau source'' in the Orion molecular cloud. The corrected peak antenna temperature is 100 K, and the FWHM line width is 26 km s -1 . These observations were carried out using the 3 m telescope of the NASA IRTF (Infrared Telescope Facility) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and constitute the first astronomical data obtained at submillimeter wavelengths with a heterodyne system using a laser local oscillator. Our data support the idea that the high-velocity dispersion CO in Orion is optically thin and set a lower limit to its temperature of approx.180 K

  3. LSST telescope and site status

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gressler, William J.

    2016-07-01

    The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Project1 received its construction authorization from the National Science Foundation in August 2014. The Telescope and Site (T and S) group has made considerable progress towards completion in subsystems required to support the scope of the LSST science mission. The LSST goal is to conduct a wide, fast, deep survey via a 3-mirror wide field of view optical design, a 3.2-Gpixel camera, and an automated data processing system. The summit facility is currently under construction on Cerro Pachón in Chile, with major vendor subsystem deliveries and integration planned over the next several years. This paper summarizes the status of the activities of the T and S group, tasked with design, analysis, and construction of the summit and base facilities and infrastructure necessary to control the survey, capture the light, and calibrate the data. All major telescope work package procurements have been awarded to vendors and are in varying stages of design and fabrication maturity and completion. The unique M1M3 primary/tertiary mirror polishing effort is completed and the mirror now resides in storage waiting future testing. Significant progress has been achieved on all the major telescope subsystems including the summit facility, telescope mount assembly, dome, hexapod and rotator systems, coating plant, base facility, and the calibration telescope. In parallel, in-house efforts including the software needed to control the observatory such as the scheduler and the active optics control, have also seen substantial advancement. The progress and status of these subsystems and future LSST plans during this construction phase are presented.

  4. Liverpool Telescope 2: beginning the design phase

    Science.gov (United States)

    Copperwheat, Christopher M.; Steele, Iain A.; Barnsley, Robert M.; Bates, Stuart D.; Bode, Mike F.; Clay, Neil R.; Collins, Chris A.; Jermak, Helen E.; Knapen, Johan H.; Marchant, Jon M.; Mottram, Chris J.; Piascik, Andrzej S.; Smith, Robert J.

    2016-07-01

    The Liverpool Telescope is a fully robotic 2-metre telescope located at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on the Canary Island of La Palma. The telescope began routine science operations in 2004, and currently seven simultaneously mounted instruments support a broad science programme, with a focus on transient followup and other time domain topics well suited to the characteristics of robotic observing. Work has begun on a successor facility with the working title `Liverpool Telescope 2'. We are entering a new era of time domain astronomy with new discovery facilities across the electromagnetic spectrum, and the next generation of optical survey facilities such as LSST are set to revolutionise the field of transient science in particular. The fully robotic Liverpool Telescope 2 will have a 4-metre aperture and an improved response time, and will be designed to meet the challenges of this new era. Following a conceptual design phase, we are about to begin the detailed design which will lead towards the start of construction in 2018, for first light ˜2022. In this paper we provide an overview of the facility and an update on progress.

  5. Mid-IR Observations of Mira Circumstellar Environment

    OpenAIRE

    Marengo, Massimo; Karovska, Margarita; Fazio, Giovanni G.; Hora, Joseph L.; Hoffmann, William F.; Dayal, Aditya; Deutsch, Lynne K.

    2001-01-01

    This paper presents results from high-angular resolution mid-IR imaging of the Mira AB circumbinary environment using the MIRAC3 camera at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). We resolved the dusty circumstellar envelope at 9.8, 11.7 and 18 micron around Mira A (o Ceti), and measured the size of the extended emission. Strong deviations from spherical symmetry are detected in the images of Mira AB system, including possible dust clumps in the direction of the companion (Mira B). These ...

  6. Final design and progress of WEAVE : the next generation wide-field spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dalton, Gavin; Trager, Scott; Abrams, Don Carlos; Bonifacio, Piercarlo; Aguerri, J. Alfonso L.; Middleton, Kevin; Benn, Chris; Dee, Kevin; Sayède, Frédéric; Lewis, Ian; Pragt, Johannes; Pico, Sergio; Walton, Nic; Rey, Jeurg; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Peñate, José; Lhome, Emilie; Agócs, Tibor; Alonso, José; Terrett, David; Brock, Matthew; Gilbert, James; Schallig, Ellen; Ridings, Andy; Guinouard, Isabelle; Verheijen, Marc; Tosh, Ian; Rogers, Kevin; Lee, Martin; Steele, Iain; Stuik, Remko; Tromp, Niels; Jaskó, Attila; Carrasco, Esperanza; Farcas, Szigfrid; Kragt, Jan; Lesman, Dirk; Kroes, Gabby; Mottram, Chris; Bates, Stuart; Rodriguez, Luis Fernando; Gribbin, Frank; Delgado, José Miguel; Herreros, José Miguel; Martin, Carlos; Cano, Diego; Navarro, Ramon; Irwin, Mike; Lewis, Jim; Gonzalez Solares, Eduardo; Murphy, David; Worley, Clare; Bassom, Richard; O'Mahoney, Neil; Bianco, Andrea; Zurita, Christina; ter Horst, Rik; Molinari, Emilio; Lodi, Marcello; Guerra, José; Martin, Adrian; Vallenari, Antonella; Salasnich, Bernardo; Baruffolo, Andrea; Jin, Shoko; Hill, Vanessa; Smith, Dan; Drew, Janet; Poggianti, Bianca; Pieri, Mat; Dominquez Palmero, Lillian; Farina, Cecilia

    2016-01-01

    We present the Final Design of the WEAVE next-generation spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), together with a status update on the details of manufacturing, integration and the overall project schedule now that all the major fabrication contracts are in place. We also

  7. Final design and progress of WEAVE: the next generation wide-field spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dalton, Gavin; Trager, Scott; Abrams, Don Carlos; Bonifacio, Piercarlo; Aguerri, J. Alfonso L.; Middleton, Kevin; Benn, Chris; Dee, Kevin; Sayède, Frédéric; Lewis, Ian; Pragt, Johannes; Pico, Sergio; Walton, Nic; Rey, Jeurg; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Peñate, José; Lhome, Emilie; Agócs, Tibor; Alonso, José; Terrett, David; Brock, Matthew; Gilbert, James; Schallig, Ellen; Ridings, Andy; Guinouard, Isabelle; Verheijen, Marc; Tosh, Ian; Rogers, Kevin; Lee, Martin; Steele, Iain; Stuik, Remko; Tromp, Niels; Jaskó, Attila; Carrasco, Esperanza; Farcas, Szigfrid; Kragt, Jan; Lesman, Dirk; Kroes, Gabby; Mottram, Chris; Bates, Stuart; Rodriguez, Luis Fernando; Gribbin, Frank; Delgado, José Miguel; Herreros, José Miguel; Martin, Carlos; Cano, Diego; Navarro, Ramon; Irwin, Mike; Lewis, Jim; Gonzalez Solares, Eduardo; Murphy, David; Worley, Clare; Bassom, Richard; O'Mahoney, Neil; Bianco, Andrea; Zurita, Christina; ter Horst, Rik; Molinari, Emilio; Lodi, Marcello; Guerra, José; Martin, Adrian; Vallenari, Antonella; Salasnich, Bernardo; Baruffolo, Andrea; Jin, Shoko; Hill, Vanessa; Smith, Dan; Drew, Janet; Poggianti, Bianca; Pieri, Mat; Dominquez Palmero, Lillian; Farina, Cecilia

    2016-01-01

    We present the Final Design of the WEAVE next-generation spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), together with a status update on the details of manufacturing, integration and the overall project schedule now that all the major fabrication contracts are in place. We also

  8. Project overview and update on WEAVE: the next generation wide-field spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dalton, Gavin; Trager, Scott; Abrams, Don Carlos; Bonifacio, Piercarlo; López Aguerri, J. Alfonso; Middleton, Kevin; Benn, Chris; Dee, Kevin; Sayède, Frédéric; Lewis, Ian; Pragt, Johan; Pico, Sergio; Walton, Nic; Rey, Juerg; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Peñate, José; Lhome, Emilie; Agócs, Tibor; Alonso, José; Terrett, David; Brock, Matthew; Gilbert, James; Ridings, Andy; Guinouard, Isabelle; Verheijen, Marc A.W.; Tosh, Ian; Rogers, Kevin; Steele, Iain; Stuik, Remko; Tromp, Neils; Jasko, Attila; Kragt, Jan; Lesman, Dirk; Mottram, Chris; Bates, Stuart; Gribbin, Frank; Rodriguez, Luis Fernando; Delgado, José M.; Martin, Carlos; Cano, Diego; Navarro, Ramón; Irwin, Mike; Lewis, Jim; Gonzalez Solares, Eduardo; O'Mahony, Neil; Bianco, Andrea; Zurita, Christina; ter Horst, Rik; Molinari, Emilio; Lodi, Marcello; Guerra, José; Vallenari, Antonella; Baruffolo, Andrea

    We present an overview of and status report on the WEAVE next-generation spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT). WEAVE principally targets optical ground-based follow up of upcoming ground-based (LOFAR) and space-based (Gaia) surveys. WEAVE is a multi-object and multi-IFU

  9. LYCORIS - A Large Area Strip Telescope

    CERN Document Server

    Krämer, U; Stanitzki, M; Wu, M

    2018-01-01

    The LYCORIS Large Area Silicon Strip Telescope for the DESY II Test Beam Facility is presented. The DESY II Test Beam Facility provides elec- tron and positron beams for beam tests of up to 6 GeV. A new telescope with a large 10 × 20 cm2 coverage area based on a 25 μm pitch strip sensor is to be installed within the PCMAG 1 T solenoid. The current state of the system is presented.

  10. The Gemini 8-Meter Telescopes Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boroson, Todd A.

    1995-05-01

    The Gemini 8-Meter Telescopes Project is an international partnership to build and operate two 8-meter telescopes, one on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and one on Cerro Pachon, Chile. The telescopes will be international facilities, open to the scientific communities of the six member countries, the United States (50%), the United Kingdom (25%), Canada (15%), Chile (5%), Argentina (2.5%), and Brazil (2.5%). The telescopes are designed to exploit the best atmospheric conditions at these excellent sites. Near diffraction limited performance will be delivered at 2.2 microns and longward, with minimal degradation of the best seeing conditions at shorter wavelengths. The telescopes and facilities are designed to achieve emissivity opportunity. First light for the Mauna Kea telescope is expected in late 1998, and for the Cerro Pachon telescope in mid-2000. This talk will report on construction progress, the instrumental capabilities, and operations strategies being considered. The Gemini 8-meter Telescopes Project is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation which serves as executive agency for the Gemini partner countries. U.S. participation in the project is through the U.S. Gemini Program, a division of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories. NOAO is operated by AURA, Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

  11. Facilities for US Radioastronomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thaddeus, Patrick

    1982-01-01

    Discusses major developments in radioastronomy since 1945. Topics include proposed facilities, very-long-baseline interferometric array, millimeter-wave telescope, submillimeter-wave telescope, and funding for radioastronomy facilities and projects. (JN)

  12. ANTARES : The first undersea neutrino telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ageron, M.; Aguilar, J. A.; Al Samarai, I.; Albert, A.; Ameli, F.; Andre, M.; Anghinolfi, M.; Anton, G.; Anvar, S.; Ardid, M.; Arnaud, K.; Aslanides, E.; Jesus, A. C. Assis; Astraatmadja, T.; Aubert, J. -J.; Auer, R.; Barbarito, E.; Baret, B.; Basa, S.; Bazzotti, M.; Becherini, Y.; Beltramelli, J.; Bersani, A.; Bertin, V.; Beurthey, S.; Biagi, S.; Bigongiari, C.; Billault, M.; Blaes, R.; Bogazzi, C.; de Botton, N.; Bou-Cabo, M.; Boudahef, B.; Bouwhuis, M. C.; Brown, A. M.; Brunner, J.; Busto, J.; Caillat, L.; Calzas, A.; Camarena, F.; Capone, A.; Caponetto, L.; Carloganu, C.; Carminati, G.; Carmona, E.; Carr, J.; Carton, P. H.; Cassano, B.; Castorina, E.; Cecchini, S.; Ceres, A.; Chaleil, Th; Charvis, Ph; Chauchot, P.; Chiarusi, T.; Circella, M.; Compere, C.; Coniglione, R.; Coppolani, X.; Cosquer, A.; Costantini, H.; Cottini, N.; Coyle, P.; Cuneo, S.; Curtil, C.; D'Amato, C.; Damy, G.; van Dantzig, R.; De Bonis, G.; Decock, G.; Decowski, M. P.; Dekeyser, I.; Delagnes, E.; Desages-Ardellier, F.; Deschamps, A.; Destelle, J. -J.; Di Maria, F.; Dinkespiler, B.; Distefano, C.; Dominique, J. -L.; Donzaud, C.; Dornic, D.; Dorosti, Q.; Drogou, J. -F.; Drouhin, D.; Druillole, F.; Durand, D.; Durand, R.; Eberl, T.; Emanuele, U.; Engelen, J. J.; Ernenwein, J. -P.; Escoffier, S.; Falchini, E.; Favard, S.; Fehr, F.; Feinstein, F.; Ferri, M.; Ferry, S.; Fiorello, C.; Flaminio, V.; Folger, F.; Fritsch, U.; Fuda, J. -L.; Galata, S.; Galeotti, S.; Gay, P.; Gensolen, F.; Giacomelli, G.; Gojak, C.; Gomez-Gonzalez, J. P.; Goret, Ph.; Graf, K.; Guillard, G.; Halladjian, G.; Hallewell, G.; van Haren, H.; Hartmann, B.; Heijboer, A. J.; Heine, E.; Hello, Y.; Henry, S.; Hernandez-Rey, J. J.; Herold, B.; Hoessl, J.; Hogenbirk, J.; Hsu, C. C.; Hubbard, J. R.; Jaquet, M.; Jaspers, M.; de Jong, M.; Jourde, D.; Kadler, M.; Kalantar-Nayestanaki, N.; Kalekin, O.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karkar, S.; Karolak, M.; Katz, U.; Keller, P.; Kestener, P.; Kok, E.; Kok, H.; Kooijman, P.; Kopper, C.; Kouchner, A.; Kretschmer, W.; Kruijer, A.; Kuch, S.; Kulikovskiy, V.; Lachartre, D.; Lafoux, H.; Lagier, P.; Lahmann, R.; Lahonde-Hamdoun, C.; Lamare, P.; Lambard, G.; Languillat, J-C; Larosa, G.; Lavalle, J.; Le Guen, Y.; Le Provost, H.; LeVanSuu, A.; Lefevre, D.; Legou, T.; Lelaizant, G.; Leveque, C.; Lim, G.; Lo Presti, D.; Loehner, H.; Loucatos, S.; Louis, F.; Lucarelli, F.; Lyashuk, V.; Magnier, P.; Mangano, S.; Marcel, A.; Marcelin, M.; Margiotta, A.; Martinez-Mora, J. A.; Masullo, R.; Mazeas, F.; Mazure, A.; Meli, A.; Melissas, M.; Migneco, E.; Mongelli, M.; Montaruli, T.; Morganti, M.; Moscoso, L.; Motz, H.; Musumeci, M.; Naumann, C.; Naumann-Godo, M.; Neff, M.; Niess, V.; Nooren, G. J. L.; Oberski, J. E. J.; Olivetto, C.; Palanque-Delabrouille, N.; Patioselitis, D.; Papaleo, R.; Pavalas, G. E.; Payet, K.; Payre, P.; Peek, H.; Petrovic, J.; Piattelli, P.; Picot-Clemente, N.; Picq, C.; Piret, Y.; Poinsignon, J.; Popa, V.; Pradier, T.; Presani, E.; Prono, G.; Racca, C.; Raia, G.; van Randwijk, J.; Real, D.; Reed, C.; Rethore, F.; Rewiersma, P.; Riccobene, G.; Richardt, C.; Richter, R.; Ricol, J. S.; Rigaud, V.; Roca, V.; Roensch, K.; Rolin, J. -F.; Rostovtsev, A.; Rottura, A.; Roux, J.; Rujoiu, M.; Ruppi, M.; Russo, G. V.; Salesa, F.; Salomon, K.; Sapienza, P.; Schmitt, F.; Schoeck, F.; Schuller, J. -P.; Schuessler, F.; Sciliberto, D.; Shanidze, R.; Shirokov, E.; Simeone, F.; Sottoriva, A.; Spies, A.; Spona, T.; Spurio, M.; Steijger, J. J. M.; Stolarczyk, Th; Streeb, K.; Sulak, L.; Taiuti, M.; Tamburini, C.; Tao, C.; Tasca, L.; Terreni, G.; Tezier, D.; Toscano, S.; Urbano, F.; Valdy, P.; Vallage, B.; Van Elewyck, V.; Vannoni, G.; Vecchi, M.; Venekamp, G.; Verlaat, B.; Vernin, P.; Virique, E.; de Vries, G.; Wijnker, G.; Wobbe, G.; de Wolf, E.; Yakovenko, Y.; Yepes, H.; Zaborov, D.; Zaccone, H.; Zornoza, J. D.; Zuniga, J.; van Wijk, R.

    2011-01-01

    The ANTARES Neutrino Telescope was completed in May 2008 and is the first operational Neutrino Telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. The main purpose of the detector is to perform neutrino astronomy and the apparatus also offers facilities for marine and Earth sciences. This paper describes the

  13. ANTARES: The first undersea neutrino telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ageron, M.; Aguilar, J. A.; Al Samarai, I.; Albert, A.; Ameli, F.; André, M.; Anghinolfi, M.; Anton, G.; Anvar, S.; Ardid, M.; Arnaud, K.; Aslanides, E.; Assis Jesus, A. C.; Astraatmadja, T.; Aubert, J.-J.; Auer, R.; Barbarito, E.; Baret, B.; Basa, S.; Bazzotti, M.; Becherini, Y.; Beltramelli, J.; Bersani, A.; Bertin, V.; Beurthey, S.; Biagi, S.; Bigongiari, C.; Billault, M.; Blaes, R.; Bogazzi, C.; de Botton, N.; Bou-Cabo, M.; Boudahef, B.; Bouwhuis, M. C.; Brown, A. M.; Brunner, J.; Busto, J.; Caillat, L.; Calzas, A.; Camarena, F.; Capone, A.; Caponetto, L.; Cârloganu, C.; Carminati, G.; Carmona, E.; Carr, J.; Carton, P. H.; Cassano, B.; Castorina, E.; Cecchini, S.; Ceres, A.; Chaleil, Th.; Charvis, Ph.; Chauchot, P.; Chiarusi, T.; Circella, M.; Compère, C.; Coniglione, R.; Coppolani, X.; Cosquer, A.; Costantini, H.; Cottini, N.; Coyle, P.; Cuneo, S.; Curtil, C.; D'Amato, C.; Damy, G.; van Dantzig, R.; de Bonis, G.; Decock, G.; Decowski, M. P.; Dekeyser, I.; Delagnes, E.; Desages-Ardellier, F.; Deschamps, A.; Destelle, J.-J.; di Maria, F.; Dinkespiler, B.; Distefano, C.; Dominique, J.-L.; Donzaud, C.; Dornic, D.; Dorosti, Q.; Drogou, J.-F.; Drouhin, D.; Druillole, F.; Durand, D.; Durand, R.; Eberl, T.; Emanuele, U.; Engelen, J. J.; Ernenwein, J.-P.; Escoffier, S.; Falchini, E.; Favard, S.; Fehr, F.; Feinstein, F.; Ferri, M.; Ferry, S.; Fiorello, C.; Flaminio, V.; Folger, F.; Fritsch, U.; Fuda, J.-L.; Galatá, S.; Galeotti, S.; Gay, P.; Gensolen, F.; Giacomelli, G.; Gojak, C.; Gómez-González, J. P.; Goret, Ph.; Graf, K.; Guillard, G.; Halladjian, G.; Hallewell, G.; van Haren, H.; Hartmann, B.; Heijboer, A. J.; Heine, E.; Hello, Y.; Henry, S.; Hernández-Rey, J. J.; Herold, B.; Hößl, J.; Hogenbirk, J.; Hsu, C. C.; Hubbard, J. R.; Jaquet, M.; Jaspers, M.; de Jong, M.; Jourde, D.; Kadler, M.; Kalantar-Nayestanaki, N.; Kalekin, O.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Karkar, S.; Karolak, M.; Katz, U.; Keller, P.; Kestener, P.; Kok, E.; Kok, H.; Kooijman, P.; Kopper, C.; Kouchner, A.; Kretschmer, W.; Kruijer, A.; Kuch, S.; Kulikovskiy, V.; Lachartre, D.; Lafoux, H.; Lagier, P.; Lahmann, R.; Lahonde-Hamdoun, C.; Lamare, P.; Lambard, G.; Languillat, J.-C.; Larosa, G.; Lavalle, J.; Le Guen, Y.; Le Provost, H.; Levansuu, A.; Lefèvre, D.; Legou, T.; Lelaizant, G.; Lévéque, C.; Lim, G.; Lo Presti, D.; Loehner, H.; Loucatos, S.; Louis, F.; Lucarelli, F.; Lyashuk, V.; Magnier, P.; Mangano, S.; Marcel, A.; Marcelin, M.; Margiotta, A.; Martinez-Mora, J. A.; Masullo, R.; Mazéas, F.; Mazure, A.; Meli, A.; Melissas, M.; Migneco, E.; Mongelli, M.; Montaruli, T.; Morganti, M.; Moscoso, L.; Motz, H.; Musumeci, M.; Naumann, C.; Naumann-Godo, M.; Neff, M.; Niess, V.; Nooren, G. J. L.; Oberski, J. E. J.; Olivetto, C.; Palanque-Delabrouille, N.; Palioselitis, D.; Papaleo, R.; Păvălaş, G. E.; Payet, K.; Payre, P.; Peek, H.; Petrovic, J.; Piattelli, P.; Picot-Clemente, N.; Picq, C.; Piret, Y.; Poinsignon, J.; Popa, V.; Pradier, T.; Presani, E.; Prono, G.; Racca, C.; Raia, G.; van Randwijk, J.; Real, D.; Reed, C.; Réthoré, F.; Rewiersma, P.; Riccobene, G.; Richardt, C.; Richter, R.; Ricol, J. S.; Rigaud, V.; Roca, V.; Roensch, K.; Rolin, J.-F.; Rostovtsev, A.; Rottura, A.; Roux, J.; Rujoiu, M.; Ruppi, M.; Russo, G. V.; Salesa, F.; Salomon, K.; Sapienza, P.; Schmitt, F.; Schöck, F.; Schuller, J.-P.; Schüssler, F.; Sciliberto, D.; Shanidze, R.; Shirokov, E.; Simeone, F.; Sottoriva, A.; Spies, A.; Spona, T.; Spurio, M.; Steijger, J. J. M.; Stolarczyk, Th.; Streeb, K.; Sulak, L.; Taiuti, M.; Tamburini, C.; Tao, C.; Tasca, L.; Terreni, G.; Tezier, D.; Toscano, S.; Urbano, F.; Valdy, P.; Vallage, B.; van Elewyck, V.; Vannoni, G.; Vecchi, M.; Venekamp, G.; Verlaat, B.; Vernin, P.; Virique, E.; de Vries, G.; van Wijk, R.; Wijnker, G.; Wobbe, G.; de Wolf, E.; Yakovenko, Y.; Yepes, H.; Zaborov, D.; Zaccone, H.; Zornoza, J. D.; Zúñiga, J.

    2011-11-01

    The ANTARES Neutrino Telescope was completed in May 2008 and is the first operational Neutrino Telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. The main purpose of the detector is to perform neutrino astronomy and the apparatus also offers facilities for marine and Earth sciences. This paper describes the design, the construction and the installation of the telescope in the deep sea, offshore from Toulon in France. An illustration of the detector performance is given.

  14. ANTARES: The first undersea neutrino telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ageron, M.; Aguilar, J.A.; Al Samarai, I.; Albert, A.; Ameli, F.; Andre, M.; Anghinolfi, M.; Anton, G.; Anvar, S.; Ardid, M.; Arnaud, K.; Aslanides, E.; Assis Jesus, A.C.; Astraatmadja, T.; Aubert, J.-J.; Auer, R.; Barbarito, E.; Baret, B.

    2011-01-01

    The ANTARES Neutrino Telescope was completed in May 2008 and is the first operational Neutrino Telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. The main purpose of the detector is to perform neutrino astronomy and the apparatus also offers facilities for marine and Earth sciences. This paper describes the design, the construction and the installation of the telescope in the deep sea, offshore from Toulon in France. An illustration of the detector performance is given.

  15. European Extremely Large Telescope: progress report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamai, R.; Spyromilio, J.

    2014-07-01

    The European Extremely Large Telescope is a project of the European Southern Observatory to build and operate a 40-m class optical near-infrared telescope. The telescope design effort is largely concluded and construction contracts are being placed with industry and academic/research institutes for the various components. The siting of the telescope in Northern Chile close to the Paranal site allows for an integrated operation of the facility providing significant economies. The progress of the project in various areas is presented in this paper and references to other papers at this SPIE meeting are made.

  16. Construction of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rimmele, T. R.; Keil, S.; McMullin, J.; Knölker, M.; Kuhn, J. R.; Goode, P. R.; Rosner, R.; Casini, R.; Lin, H.; Tritschler, A.; Wöger, F.; ATST Team

    2012-12-01

    The 4m Advance Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) will be the most powerful solar telescope and the world's leading ground-based resource for studying solar magnetism that controls the solar wind, flares, coronal mass ejections and variability in the Sun's output. The project has entered its construction phase. Major subsystems have been contracted. As its highest priority science driver ATST shall provide high resolution and high sensitivity observations of the dynamic solar magnetic fields throughout the solar atmosphere, including the corona at infrared wavelengths. With its 4m aperture, ATST will resolve features at 0.″03 at visible wavelengths and obtain 0.″1 resolution at the magnetically highly sensitive near infrared wavelengths. A high order adaptive optics system delivers a corrected beam to the initial set of state-of-the-art, facility class instrumentation located in the Coudé laboratory facility. The initial set of first generation instruments consists of five facility class instruments, including imagers and spectro-polarimeters. The high polarimetric sensitivity and accuracy required for measurements of the illusive solar magnetic fields place strong constraints on the polarization analysis and calibration. Development and construction of a four-meter solar telescope presents many technical challenges, including thermal control of the enclosure, telescope structure and optics and wavefront control. A brief overview of the science goals and observational requirements of the ATST will be given, followed by a summary of the design status of the telescope and its instrumentation, including design status of major subsystems, such as the telescope mount assembly, enclosure, mirror assemblies, and wavefront correction

  17. Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) - Operations concept. [decreasing development and operations cost

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Richard B.

    1992-01-01

    The development and operations costs of the Space IR Telescope Facility (SIRTF) are discussed in the light of minimizing total outlays and optimizing efficiency. The development phase cannot extend into the post-launch segment which is planned to only support system verification and calibration followed by operations with a 70-percent efficiency goal. The importance of reducing the ground-support staff is demonstrated, and the value of the highly sensitive observations to the general astronomical community is described. The Failure Protection Algorithm for the SIRTF is designed for the 5-yr lifetime and the continuous venting of cryogen, and a science driven ground/operations system is described. Attention is given to balancing cost and performance, prototyping during the development phase, incremental development, the utilization of standards, and the integration of ground system/operations with flight system integration and test.

  18. The NASA Spitzer Space Telescope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gehrz, R D; Roellig, T L; Werner, M W; Fazio, G G; Houck, J R; Low, F J; Rieke, G H; Soifer, B T; Levine, D A; Romana, E A

    2007-01-01

    The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) is the fourth and final facility in the Great Observatories Program, joining Hubble Space Telescope (1990), the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (1991-2000), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (1999). Spitzer, with a sensitivity that is almost three orders of magnitude greater than that of any previous ground-based and space-based infrared observatory, is expected to revolutionize our understanding of the creation of the universe, the formation and evolution of primitive galaxies, the origin of stars and planets, and the chemical evolution of the universe. This review presents a brief overview of the scientific objectives and history of infrared astronomy. We discuss Spitzer's expected role in infrared astronomy for the new millennium. We describe pertinent details of the design, construction, launch, in-orbit checkout, and operations of the observatory and summarize some science highlights from the first two and a half years of Spitzer operations. More information about Spitzer can be found at http://spitzer.caltech.edu/.

  19. NASA/University Joint Venture (JOVE) Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magee-Sauer, Karen P.

    1999-01-01

    Hale-Bopp observations at the NASA IRTF concluded in September 1997. For the post Hale-Bopp period, telescope time was awarded to study comet Giacobini-Zinner in October 1998 at the NASA IRTF. A total of 6 nights were awarded to our team to study the comet where 2 of those 6 nights were awarded to Magee-Sauer as the principal investigator. Other observing trips were awarded to study YSOs (October 1998) and Mars (spring 1999) were Magee-Sauer was a co-investigator. An observing run from July 4 -7 1999 included study of Mars and YSOS. Our group has started to use the NIRSPEC instrument on the Keck II telescope. In collaboration with the development team from UCLA, we obtained images of comet Lee in August 1999. Telescope proposals are submitted each semester for targeted comet observations when a comet is bright enough to observe.

  20. VizieR Online Data Catalog: Low-resolution near-infrared stellar spectra from CIBER (Kim+, 2017)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, M. G.; Lee, H. M.; Arai, T.; Bock, J.; Cooray, A.; Jeong, W.-S.; Kim, S. J.; Korngut, P.; Lanz, A.; Lee, D. H.; Lee, M. G.; Matsumoto, T.; Matsuura, S.; Nam, U. W.; Onishi, Y.; Shirahata, M.; Smidt, J.; Tsumura, K.; Yamamura, I.; Zemcov, M.

    2017-06-01

    We present flux-calibrated near-infrared spectra of 105 stars from 0.8{skin, we do not use the first flight data in this work. The star spectral types are determined by fitting known spectral templates to the measured LRS spectra. We use the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) and Pickles 1998 (Cat. J/PASP/110/863) templates for the SED fitting. The SpeX instrument installed on the IRTF observed stars using a medium-resolution spectrograph (R=2000). The template library contains spectra for 210 cool stars (F to M type) with wavelength coverage from 0.8 to 2.5μm (Cushing 2005ApJ...623.1115C; Rayner 2009ApJS..185..289R). The Pickles library is a synthetic spectral library that combines spectral data from various observations to achieve wavelength coverage from the UV (0.115μm) to the near-infrared (2.5μm). It contains 131 spectral templates for all star types (i.e., O to M type) with a uniform sampling interval of 5Å. (6 data files).

  1. An innovative telescope control system architecture for SST-GATE telescopes at the CTA Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fasola, Gilles; Mignot, Shan; Laporte, Philippe; Abchiche, Abdel; Buchholtz, Gilles; Jégouzo, Isabelle

    2014-07-01

    SST-GATE (Small Size Telescope - GAmma-ray Telescope Elements) is a 4-metre telescope designed as a prototype for the Small Size Telescopes (SST) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), a major facility for the very high energy gamma-ray astronomy of the next three decades. In this 100-telescope array there will be 70 SSTs, involving a design with an industrial view aiming at long-term service, low maintenance effort and reduced costs. More than a prototype, SST-GATE is also a fully functional telescope that shall be usable by scientists and students at the Observatoire de Meudon for 30 years. The Telescope Control System (TCS) is designed to work either as an element of a large array driven by an array controller or in a stand-alone mode with a remote workstation. Hence it is built to be autonomous with versatile interfacing; as an example, pointing and tracking —the main functions of the telescope— are managed onboard, including astronomical transformations, geometrical transformations (e.g. telescope bending model) and drive control. The core hardware is a CompactRIO (cRIO) featuring a real-time operating system and an FPGA. In this paper, we present an overview of the current status of the TCS. We especially focus on three items: the pointing computation implemented in the FPGA of the cRIO —using CORDIC algorithms— since it enables an optimisation of the hardware resources; data flow management based on OPCUA with its specific implementation on the cRIO; and the use of an EtherCAT field-bus for its ability to provide real-time data exchanges with the sensors and actuators distributed throughout the telescope.

  2. Global TIE Observatories: Real Time Observational Astronomy Through a Robotic Telescope Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, G.; Mayo, L. A.

    2001-12-01

    Astronomy in grades K-12 is traditionally taught (if at all) using textbooks and a few simple hands-on activities. Teachers are generally not trained in observational astronomy techniques and are unfamiliar with the most basic astronomical concepts. In addition, most students, by High School graduation, will never have even looked through the eyepiece of a telescope. The problem becomes even more challenging in inner cities, remote rural areas and low socioeconomic communities where educational emphasis on topics in astronomy as well as access to observing facilities is limited or non existent. Access to most optical telescope facilities is limited to monthly observing nights that cater to a small percentage of the general public living near the observatory. Even here, the observing experience is a one-time event detached from the process of scientific enquiry and sustained educational application. Additionally, a number of large, "research grade" observatory facilities are largely unused, partially due to the slow creep of light pollution around the facilities as well as the development of newer, more capable telescopes. Though cutting edge science is often no longer possible at these sights, real research opportunities in astronomy remain numerous for these facilities as educational tools. The possibility now exists to establish a network of research grade telescopes, no longer useful to the professional astronomical community, that can be made accessible through classrooms, after school, and community based programs all across the country through existing IT technologies and applications. These telescopes could provide unparalleled research and educational opportunities for a broad spectrum of students and turns underutilized observatory facilities into valuable, state-of-the-art teaching centers. The NASA sponsored Telescopes In Education project has been wildly successful in engaging the K-12 education community in real-time, hands-on, interactive astronomy

  3. Astrometry of the Orcus/Vanth occultation on UT 7 March 2017

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bosh, Amanda S.; Zuluaga, Carlos; Levine, Stephen; Sickafoose, Amanda A.; Genade, Anja; Schindler, Karsten; Lister, Tim; Person, Michael J.

    2017-10-01

    On UT 7 March 2017, Orcus was predicted to occult a star with m=14.3. Observations were made at five observatories: the 0.6-m Astronomical Telescope of the University of Stuttgart (ATUS) at Sierra Remote Observatories (SRO), California; Las Cumbres Observatory’s 1-m telescope (ELP) at McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Texas; NASA’s 3-m InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; the 4.1-m Southern Astrophysical Research telescope (SOAR) on Cerro Pachón, Chile; and the 0.6-m Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy telescope (SARA-CT) at Cerro Tololo, Chile. While observations at all sites were successful, only two—ELP and IRTF—observed solid-body occultation signatures. We will discuss the various predictions for this event and the reasons for the differences among them, including an offset of 130 mas for the star position from the position in the Gaia catalog. The sum of the positive and negative detections place constraints on the geometry of the Orcus/Vanth system, and we present our astrometric results for the geometric solution for this occultation. The implications of the light curve analyses are presented by Sickafoose et al., this conference.

  4. The Liverpool Telescope: rapid follow-up observation of targets of opportunity with a 2 m robotic telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gomboc, Andreja; Bode, Michael F.; Carter, David; Mundell, Carol G.; Newsam, Andrew; Smith, Robert J.; Steele, Iain A.

    2004-01-01

    The Liverpool Telescope, situated at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Canaries, is the first 2-m, fully instrumented robotic telescope. It recently began observations. Among Liverpool Telescope's primary scientific goals is to monitor variable objects on all timescales from seconds to years. An additional benefit of its robotic operation is rapid reaction to unpredictable phenomena and their systematic follow up, simultaneous or coordinated with other facilities. The Target of Opportunity Programme of the Liverpool Telescope includes the prompt search for and observation of GRB and XRF counterparts. A special over-ride mode implemented for GRB/XRF follow-up enables observations commencing less than a minute after the alert, including optical and near infrared imaging and spectroscopy. In particular, the moderate aperture and rapid automated response make the Liverpool Telescope excellently suited to help solving the mystery of optically dark GRBs and for the investigation of currently unstudied short bursts and XRFs

  5. The quest for H_3^+ at Neptune: deep burn observations with NASA IRTF iSHELL

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melin, H.; Fletcher, L. N.; Stallard, T. S.; Johnson, R. E.; O'Donoghue, J.; Moore, L.; Donnelly, P. T.

    2018-03-01

    Emission from the molecular ion H_3^+ is a powerful diagnostic of the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, but it remains undetected at Neptune. In search of this emission, we present near-infrared spectral observations of Neptune between 3.93 and 4.00 μm taken with the newly commissioned iSHELL instrument on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii, obtained 2017 August 17-20. We spent 15.4 h integrating across the disc of the planet, yet were unable to unambiguously identify any H_3^+ line emissions. Assuming a temperature of 550 K, we derive an upper limit on the column integrated density of 1.0^{+1.2}_{-0.8}× 10^{13} m-2, which is an improvement of 30 per cent on the best previous observational constraint. This result means that models are overestimating the density by at least a factor of 5, highlighting the need for renewed modelling efforts. A potential solution is strong vertical mixing of polyatomic neutral species from Neptune's upper stratosphere to the thermosphere, reacting with H_3^+, thus greatly reducing the column integrated H_3^+ densities. This upper limit also provide constraints on future attempts at detecting H_3^+ using the James Webb Space Telescope.

  6. X-ray study of a test quadrant of the SODART telescopes using the expanded beam x-ray optics facility at the Daresbury synchrotron

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Finn Erland; Hornstrup, Allan; Frederiksen, P.

    1994-01-01

    The imaging properties of a test model of the SODART telescopes have been studied using an expanded beam X-ray facility at the Daresbury synchrotron. The encircled power and the point spread function at three energies 6.627 keV, 8.837 keV and 11.046 keV have been measured using 1D and 2D position...

  7. The RCT 1.3 m robotic telescope: broadband color transformation and extinction calibration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Strolger, L.-G.; Gott, A. M.; Carini, M.; Gelderman, R.; Laney, C. D.; McGruder, C. [Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101 (United States); Engle, S.; Guinan, E. [Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085 (United States); Treffers, R. R. [Starman Systems, LLC, Alamo, CA 94507 (United States); Walter, D. K., E-mail: strolger@stsci.edu [South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC 29117 (United States)

    2014-03-01

    The Robotically Controlled Telescope (RCT) 1.3 m telescope, formerly known as the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) 50 inch telescope, has been refurbished as a fully robotic telescope, with an autonomous scheduler to take full advantage of the observing site without the requirement of a human presence. Here we detail the current configuration of the RCT and present, as a demonstration of its high-priority science goals, the broadband UBVRI photometric calibration of the optical facility. In summary, we find the linear color transformation and extinction corrections to be consistent with similar optical KPNO facilities, to within a photometric precision of 10% (at 1σ). While there were identified instrumental errors that likely added to the overall uncertainty, associated with since-resolved issues in engineering and maintenance of the robotic facility, a preliminary verification of this calibration gave a good indication that the solution is robust, perhaps to a higher precision than this initial calibration implies. The RCT has been executing regular science operations since 2009 and is largely meeting the science requirements set during its acquisition and redesign.

  8. EUSO-TA prototype telescope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bisconti, Francesca, E-mail: francesca.bisconti@kit.edu

    2016-07-11

    EUSO-TA is one of the prototypes developed for the JEM-EUSO project, a space-based large field-of-view telescope to observe the fluorescence light emitted by cosmic ray air showers in the atmosphere. EUSO-TA is a ground-based prototype located at the Telescope Array (TA) site in Utah, USA, where an Electron Light Source and a Central Laser Facility are installed. The purpose of the EUSO-TA project is to calibrate the prototype with the TA fluorescence detector in presence of well-known light sources and cosmic ray air showers. In 2015, the detector started the first measurements and tests using the mentioned light sources have been performed successfully. A first cosmic ray candidate has been observed, as well as stars of different magnitude and color index. Since Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) are very promising for fluorescence telescopes of next generation, they are under consideration for the realization of a new prototype of EUSO Photo Detector Module (PDM). The response of this sensor type is under investigation through simulations and laboratory experimentation.

  9. EUSO-TA prototype telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bisconti, Francesca; JEM-EUSO Collaboration

    2016-07-01

    EUSO-TA is one of the prototypes developed for the JEM-EUSO project, a space-based large field-of-view telescope to observe the fluorescence light emitted by cosmic ray air showers in the atmosphere. EUSO-TA is a ground-based prototype located at the Telescope Array (TA) site in Utah, USA, where an Electron Light Source and a Central Laser Facility are installed. The purpose of the EUSO-TA project is to calibrate the prototype with the TA fluorescence detector in presence of well-known light sources and cosmic ray air showers. In 2015, the detector started the first measurements and tests using the mentioned light sources have been performed successfully. A first cosmic ray candidate has been observed, as well as stars of different magnitude and color index. Since Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) are very promising for fluorescence telescopes of next generation, they are under consideration for the realization of a new prototype of EUSO Photo Detector Module (PDM). The response of this sensor type is under investigation through simulations and laboratory experimentation.

  10. (abstract) Cryogenic Telescope Test Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luchik, T. S.; Chave, R. G.; Nash, A. E.

    1995-01-01

    An optical test Dewar is being constructed with the unique capability to test mirrors of diameter less than or equal to 1 m, f less than or equal to 6, at temperatures from 300 to 4.2 K with a ZYGO Mark IV interferometer. The design and performance of this facility will be presented.

  11. REMOTES: reliable and modular telescope solution for seamless operation and monitoring of various observation facilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jakubec, M.; Skala, P.; Sedlacek, M.; Nekola, M.; Strobl, J.; Blazek, M.; Hudec, R.

    2012-09-01

    Astronomers often need to put several pieces of equipment together and have to deploy them at a particular location. This task could prove to be a really tough challenge, especially for distant observing facilities with intricate operating conditions, poor communication infrastructure and unreliable power source. To have this task even more complicated, they also expect secure and reliable operation in both attended and unattended mode, comfortable software with user-friendly interface and full supervision over the observation site at all times. During reconstruction of the D50 robotic telescope facility, we faced many of the issues mentioned above. To get rid of them, we based our solution on a flexible group of hardware modules controlling the equipment of the observation site, connected together by the Ethernet network and orchestrated by our management software. This approach is both affordable and powerful enough to fulfill all of the observation requirements at the same time. We quickly figured out that the outcome of this project could also be useful for other observation facilities, because they are probably facing the same issues we have solved during our project. In this contribution, we will point out the key features and benefits of the solution for observers. We will demonstrate how the solution works at our observing location. We will also discuss typical management and maintenance scenarios and how we have supported them in our solution. Finally, the overall architecture and technical aspects of the solution will be presented and particular design and technology decisions will be clarified.

  12. Calibration strategies for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gaug, M.; Berge, D.; Daniel, M.; Doro, M.; Förster, A.; Hofmann, W.; Maccarone, M.C.; Parsons, D.; de los Reyes Lopez, R.; van Eldik, C.

    2014-01-01

    The Central Calibration Facilities workpackage of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory for very high energy gamma ray astronomy defines the overall calibration strategy of the array, develops dedicated hardware and software for the overall array calibration and coordinates the calibration

  13. Hungaria Asteroid Region Telescopic Spectral Survey (HARTSS): Stony Asteroids Abundant in the Background and Family Populations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, Michael P.; Emery, Joshua P.; Pinilla-Alonso, Noemi; Lindsay, Sean S.; Lorenzi, Vania

    2016-10-01

    The Hungaria region represents a "purgatory" for the closest, preserved samples of the material from which the terrestrial planets accreted. The Hungaria region harbors a collisional family of Xe-type asteroids, which are situated among a background of predominantly S-complex asteroids. Deciphering their surface composition may provide constraints on the nature of the primordial building blocks of the terrestrial planets. We hypothesize that planetesimals in the inner part of the primordial asteroid belt experienced partial- to full-melting and differentiation, the Hungaria region should retain any petrologically-evolved material that formed there.We have undertaken an observational campaign entitled the Hungaria Asteroid Region Telescopic Spectral Survey (HARTSS) to record near-infrared (NIR) spectra to characterize taxonomy, surface mineralogy, and potential meteorite analogs. We used NIR instruments at two ground-based facilities (NASA IRTF; TNG). Our data set includes spectra of 82 Hungaria asteroids (61 background; 21 family), 65 were observed during HARTSS. We compare S-complex background asteroids to calibrations developed via laboratory analyses of ordinary chondrites, and to our analyses (EPMA, XRD, VIS+NIR spectra) of 11 primitive achondrite (acapulcoite-lodranite clan) meteorites.We find that stony S-complex asteroids dominate the Hungaria background population (~80%). Background objects exhibit considerable spectral diversity, when quantified by spectral band parameter measurements, translates to a variety of surface compositions. Two main meteorite groups are represented within the Hungaria background: unmelted, nebular L chondrites (and/or L chondrites), and partially-melted primitive achondrites. H-chondrite mineralogies appear to be absent from the Hungaria background. Xe-type Hungaria family members exhibit spectral homogeneity, consistent with the hypothesis that the family was derived from the disruption of a parent body analogous to an enstatite

  14. Mid-infrared mapping of Jupiter's temperatures, aerosol opacity and chemical distributions with IRTF/TEXES

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fletcher, Leigh N.; Greathouse, T. K.; Orton, G. S.; Sinclair, J. A.; Giles, R. S.; Irwin, P. G. J.; Encrenaz, T.

    2016-11-01

    Global maps of Jupiter's atmospheric temperatures, gaseous composition and aerosol opacity are derived from a programme of 5-20 μm mid-infrared spectroscopic observations using the Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES) on NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). Image cubes from December 2014 in eight spectral channels, with spectral resolutions of R ∼2000 - 12 , 000 and spatial resolutions of 2-4° latitude, are inverted to generate 3D maps of tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures, 2D maps of upper tropospheric aerosols, phosphine and ammonia, and 2D maps of stratospheric ethane and acetylene. The results are compared to a re-analysis of Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) observations acquired during Cassini's closest approach to Jupiter in December 2000, demonstrating that this new archive of ground-based mapping spectroscopy can match and surpass the quality of previous investigations, and will permit future studies of Jupiter's evolving atmosphere. The visibility of cool zones and warm belts varies from channel to channel, suggesting complex vertical variations from the radiatively-controlled upper troposphere to the convective mid-troposphere. We identify mid-infrared signatures of Jupiter's 5-μm hotspots via simultaneous M, N and Q-band observations, which are interpreted as temperature and ammonia variations in the northern Equatorial Zone and on the edge of the North Equatorial Belt (NEB). Equatorial plumes enriched in NH3 gas are located south-east of NH3-desiccated 'hotspots' on the edge of the NEB. Comparison of the hotspot locations in several channels across the 5-20 μm range indicate that these anomalous regions tilt westward with altitude. Aerosols and PH3 are both enriched at the equator but are not co-located with the NH3 plumes. The equatorial temperature minimum and PH3/aerosol maxima have varied in amplitude over time, possibly as a result of periodic equatorial brightenings and the fresh updrafts of

  15. IRTF/SPEX OBSERVATIONS OF THE UNUSUAL KEPLER LIGHT CURVE SYSTEM KIC 8462852

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lisse, C. M. [JHU-APL, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723 (United States); Sitko, M. L. [Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0011 (United States); Marengo, M., E-mail: carey.lisse@jhuapl.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, 12 Physics Hall, Ames, IA 50010 (United States)

    2015-12-20

    We have utilized the NASA/IRTF 3 m SpeX instrument’s high-resolution spectral mode to observe and characterize the near-infrared flux emanating from the unusual Kepler light curve system KIC 8462852. By comparing the resulting 0.8–4.2 μm spectrum to a mesh of model photospheric spectra, the 6 emission line analyses of the Rayner et al. catalog, and the 25 system collections of debris disks we have observed to date using SpeX under the Near InfraRed Debris disk Survey, we have been able to additionally characterize the system. Within the errors of our measurements, this star looks like a normal solar abundance main-sequence F1V to F3V dwarf star without any obvious traces of significant circumstellar dust or gas. Using Connelley and Greene’s emission measures, we also see no evidence of significant ongoing accretion onto the star nor any stellar outflow away from it. Our results are inconsistent with large amounts of static close-in obscuring material or the unusual behavior of a YSO system, but are consistent with the favored episodic giant comet models of a Gyr old stellar system favored by Boyajian et al. We speculate that KIC 8462852, like the ∼1.4 Gyr old F2V system η Corvi, is undergoing a late heavy bombardment, but is only in its very early stages.

  16. Muon telescope based on Micromegas detectors: From design to data acquisition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lázaro Ignacio

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We describe the basis of the muon telescope used within the Temporal Tomography Densitometric by the Measure of Muons (T2DM2 project developed in the LSBB URL facilities. The telescope allows measuring the flux of muons, as well as their energy and origin for the characterization of spatial and temporal rock density variations.

  17. Asteroid Observations with NCSFCT’s AZT-8 Telescope

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kozhukhov, O.M.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The asteroid observations of the small Solar System bodies were carried out with the AZT-8 telescope (D=0.7 m, f/4 of the National Center of Space Facilities Control and Testing (NCSFCT during 2010-2013. The telescope is located near Yevpatoria, the observatory code according IAU is B17. The observational program included perturbed main belt asteroids and NEO’s for the GAIA FUN-SSO Company. The MPC database contains more than 4500 asteroids positions and magnitudes obtained during this period at AZT-8 telescope. The article presents analysis of the positional accuracy of B17 observations obtained from the comparison with the JPL HORIZONS ephemeris, and data from AstDyS-2 and NEODyS-2 web services.

  18. The Planck Telescope reflectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stute, Thomas

    2004-09-01

    The mechanical division of EADS-Astrium GmbH, Friedrichshafen is currently engaged with the development, manufacturing and testing of the advanced dimensionally stable composite reflectors for the ESA satellite borne telescope Planck. The objective of the ESA mission Planck is to analyse the first light that filled the universe, the cosmic microwave background radiation. Under contract of the Danish Space Research Institute and ESA EADS-Astrium GmbH is developing the all CFRP primary and secondary reflectors for the 1.5-metre telescope which is the main instrument of the Planck satellite. The operational frequency ranges from to 25 GHz to 1000 GHz. The demanding high contour accuracy and surface roughness requirements are met. The design provides the extreme dimensional stability required by the cryogenic operational environment at around 40 K. The elliptical off-axis reflectors display a classical lightweight sandwich design with CFRP core and facesheets. Isostatic mounts provide the interfaces to the telescope structure. Protected VDA provides the reflecting surface. The manufacturing is performed at the Friedrichshafen premises of EADS-Space Transportation GmbH, the former Dornier composite workshops. Advanced manufacturing technologies like true angle lay-up by CNC fibre placement and filament winding are utilized. The protected coating is applied at the CAHA facilities at the Calar Alto Observatory, Spain. The exhaustive environmental testing is performed at the facilities of IABG, Munich (mechanical testing) and for the cryo-optical tests at CSL Liege. The project is in advanced state with both Qualification Models being under environmental testing. The flight models will be delivered in 2004. The paper gives an overview over the requirements and the main structural features how these requirements are met. Special production aspects and available test results are reported.

  19. The zenithal 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope: a unique facility for supernova studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Brajesh; Pandey, Kanhaiya L.; Pandey, S. B.; Hickson, P.; Borra, E. F.; Anupama, G. C.; Surdej, J.

    2018-05-01

    The 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) will soon become operational at the newly developed Devasthal observatory near Nainital (Uttarakhand, India). Coupled with a 4k × 4k pixels CCD detector and TDI optical corrector, it will reach approximately 22.8, 22.3, and 21.4 mag in the g΄, r΄, and i΄ spectral bands, respectively, in a single scan. The limiting magnitudes can be further improved by co-adding the consecutive night images in particular filters. The uniqueness to observe the same sky region by looking towards the zenith direction every night makes the ILMT a unique instrument to detect new supernovae (SNe) by applying the image subtraction technique. High cadence (˜24 h) observations will help to construct dense sampling multi-band SNe light curves. We discuss the importance of the ILMT facility in the context of SNe studies. Considering the various plausible cosmological parameters and observational constraints, we perform detailed calculations of the expected SNe rate that can be detected with the ILMT in different spectral bands.

  20. Binary energy source of the HH 250 outflow and its circumstellar environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Comerón, Fernando; Reipurth, Bo; Yen, Hsi-Wei; Connelley, Michael S.

    2018-04-01

    Aims: Herbig-Haro flows are signposts of recent major accretion and outflow episodes. We aim to determine the nature and properties of the little-known outflow source HH 250-IRS, which is embedded in the Aquila clouds. Methods: We have obtained adaptive optics-assisted L-band images with the NACO instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), together with N- and Q-band imaging with VISIR also on the VLT. Using the SINFONI instrument on the VLT we carried out H- and K-band integral field spectroscopy of HH 250-IRS, complemented with spectra obtained with the SpeX instrument at the InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) in the JHKL bands. Finally, the SubMillimeter Array (SMA) interferometer was used to study the circumstellar environment of HH 250-IRS at 225 and 351 GHz with CO (2-1) and CO (3-2) maps and 0.9 mm and 1.3 mm continuum images. Results: The HH 250-IRS source is resolved into a binary with 0.''53 separation, corresponding to 120 AU at the adopted distance of 225 pc. The individual components show heavily veiled spectra with weak CO absorption indicative of late-type stars. Both are Class I sources, but their spectral energy distributions between 1.5 μm and 19 μm differ markedly and suggest the existence of a large cavity around one of the components. The millimeter interferometric observations indicate that the gas mainly traces a circumbinary envelope or disk, while the dust emission is dominated by one of the circumstellar envelopes. Conclusions: HH 250-IRS is a new addition to the handful of multiple systems where the individual stellar components, the circumstellar disks and a circumbinary disk can be studied in detail, and a rare case among those systems in which a Herbig-Haro flow is present. Based on observations obtained with the VLT (Cerro Paranal, Chile) in programs 089.C-0196(A), 095.C-0488(A), and 095.C-0488(B), as well as with IRTF (Mauna Kea, Hawaii), SMA (Mauna Kea, Hawaii), and the Nordic Optical Telescope (La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain

  1. Advanced X-Ray Telescope Mirrors Provide Sharpest Focus Ever

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-03-01

    Performing beyond expectations, the high- resolution mirrors for NASA's most powerful orbiting X-ray telescope have successfully completed initial testing at Marshall Space Flight Center's X-ray Calibration Facility, Huntsville, AL. "We have the first ground test images ever generated by the telescope's mirror assembly, and they are as good as -- or better than -- expected," said Dr. Martin Weisskopf, Marshall's chief scientist for NASA's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF). The mirror assembly, four pairs of precisely shaped and aligned cylindrical mirrors, will form the heart of NASA's third great observatory. The X-ray telescope produces an image by directing incoming X-rays to detectors at a focal point some 30 feet beyond the telescope's mirrors. The greater the percentage of X-rays brought to focus and the smaller the size of the focal spot, the sharper the image. Tests show that on orbit, the mirror assembly of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility will be able to focus approximately 70 percent of X-rays from a source to a spot less than one-half arc second in radius. The telescope's resolution is equivalent to being able to read the text of a newspaper from half a mile away. "The telescope's focus is very clear, very sharp," said Weisskopf. "It will be able to show us details of very distant sources that we know are out there, but haven't been able to see clearly." In comparison, previous X-ray telescopes -- Einstein and Rosat -- were only capable of focusing X- rays to five arc seconds. The Advanced X-ray Telescope's resolving power is ten times greater. "Images from the new telescope will allow us to make major advances toward understanding how exploding stars create and disperse many of the elements necessary for new solar systems and for life itself," said Dr. Harvey Tananbaum, director of the Advanced X- ray Astrophysics Facility Science Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, in Cambridge, MA -- responsible for the telescope

  2. A Status Report on the Thirty Meter Telescope Adaptive Optics

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-01-27

    Jan 27, 2016 ... We provide an update on the recent development of the adaptive optics (AO) systems for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) since mid-2011. The first light AO facility for TMT consists of the Narrow Field Infra-Red AO System (NFIRAOS) and the associated Laser Guide Star Facility (LGSF). This order 60 × 60 ...

  3. Urania In The Marketplace: Telescopes, Real And Fantastic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rumstay, Kenneth S.

    2012-01-01

    During the twentieth century astronomical imagery was frequently incorporated, by a variety of industrial manufacturers, into advertisements which appeared in popular magazines. Images of great telescopes, especially, were often invoked to capture the public imagination and to associate a product or service with the noble pursuit of astronomical knowledge. These advertisements fall into three general categories: 1)In many cases the advertiser may have participated directly in the construction or operation of a new telescope or observatory. That astronomical facility would then be accurately rendered, usually by a photograph, and often identified. 2) In the case of a product or service which had at best a tangential relation to astronomy, a generic telescope or observatory dome might be pictured, with no identification. The intent would be to co-opt the qualities of precision and timeliness, commonly associated with astronomy, for the advertiser's product. In some cases a well-known observatory (most notably the ones atop Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar) would provide a backdrop, thereby linking the manufacturer with a facility in the public eye. 3) In some cases, a service or product might have no astronomical association whatever. Nonetheless, the advertiser might employ an image of a large telescope to invoke a sense of grandeur which would somehow be transferred, in the reader's mind, to that product. In these cases an artist's conception of some fantastic device would often be prepared. In some cases the artist may have had only the vaguest idea of how telescopes were designed, and as a result some remarkably imaginative examples of astronomical engineering graced the pages of our periodicals. Examples of magazine advertisements from each category, spanning nearly a century, are presented for comparison.

  4. The readout and control system of the mid-size telescope prototype of the Cherenkov telescope array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oya, I; Anguner, O; Birsin, E; Schwanke, U; Behera, B; Melkumyan, D; Schmidt, T; Sternberger, R; Wegner, P; Wiesand, S; Fuessling, M

    2014-01-01

    The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is one of the major ground-based astronomy projects being pursued and will be the largest facility for ground-based y-ray observations ever built. CTA will consist of two arrays: one in the Northern hemisphere composed of about 20 telescopes, and the other one in the Southern hemisphere composed of about 100 telescopes, both arrays containing telescopes of different type and size. A prototype for the Mid-Size Telescope (MST) with a diameter of 12 m has been installed in Berlin and is currently being commissioned. This prototype is composed of a mechanical structure, a drive system and mirror facets mounted with powered actuators to enable active control. Five Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) cameras, and a wide set of sensors allow the evaluation of the performance of the instrument. The design of the control software is following concepts and tools under evaluation within the CTA consortium in order to provide a realistic test-bed for the middleware: 1) The readout and control system for the MST prototype is implemented with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Common Software (ACS) distributed control middleware; 2) the OPen Connectivity-Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is used for hardware access; 3) the document oriented MongoDB database is used for an efficient storage of CCD images, logging and alarm information: and 4) MySQL and MongoDB databases are used for archiving the slow control monitoring data and for storing the operation configuration parameters. In this contribution, the details of the implementation of the control system for the MST prototype telescope are described.

  5. The readout and control system of the mid-size telescope prototype of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oya, I.; Anguner, O.; Behera, B.; Birsin, E.; Fuessling, M.; Melkumyan, D.; Schmidt, T.; Schwanke, U.; Sternberger, R.; Wegner, P.; Wiesand, S.; Cta Consortium,the

    2014-06-01

    The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is one of the major ground-based astronomy projects being pursued and will be the largest facility for ground-based y-ray observations ever built. CTA will consist of two arrays: one in the Northern hemisphere composed of about 20 telescopes, and the other one in the Southern hemisphere composed of about 100 telescopes, both arrays containing telescopes of different type and size. A prototype for the Mid-Size Telescope (MST) with a diameter of 12 m has been installed in Berlin and is currently being commissioned. This prototype is composed of a mechanical structure, a drive system and mirror facets mounted with powered actuators to enable active control. Five Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) cameras, and a wide set of sensors allow the evaluation of the performance of the instrument. The design of the control software is following concepts and tools under evaluation within the CTA consortium in order to provide a realistic test-bed for the middleware: 1) The readout and control system for the MST prototype is implemented with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Common Software (ACS) distributed control middleware; 2) the OPen Connectivity-Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is used for hardware access; 3) the document oriented MongoDB database is used for an efficient storage of CCD images, logging and alarm information: and 4) MySQL and MongoDB databases are used for archiving the slow control monitoring data and for storing the operation configuration parameters. In this contribution, the details of the implementation of the control system for the MST prototype telescope are described.

  6. DKIST facility management system integration

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Charles R.; Phelps, LeEllen

    2016-07-01

    The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) Observatory is under construction at Haleakalā, Maui, Hawai'i. When complete, the DKIST will be the largest solar telescope in the world. The Facility Management System (FMS) is a subsystem of the high-level Facility Control System (FCS) and directly controls the Facility Thermal System (FTS). The FMS receives operational mode information from the FCS while making process data available to the FCS and includes hardware and software to integrate and control all aspects of the FTS including the Carousel Cooling System, the Telescope Chamber Environmental Control Systems, and the Temperature Monitoring System. In addition it will integrate the Power Energy Management System and several service systems such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), the Domestic Water Distribution System, and the Vacuum System. All of these subsystems must operate in coordination to provide the best possible observing conditions and overall building management. Further, the FMS must actively react to varying weather conditions and observational requirements. The physical impact of the facility must not interfere with neighboring installations while operating in a very environmentally and culturally sensitive area. The FMS system will be comprised of five Programmable Automation Controllers (PACs). We present a pre-build overview of the functional plan to integrate all of the FMS subsystems.

  7. Focusing Telescopes in Nuclear Astrophysics

    CERN Document Server

    Ballmoos, Peter von

    2007-01-01

    This volume is the first of its kind on focusing gamma-ray telescopes. Forty-eight refereed papers provide a comprehensive overview of the scientific potential and technical challenges of this nascent tool for nuclear astrophysics. The book features articles dealing with pivotal technologies such as grazing incident mirrors, multilayer coatings, Laue- and Fresnel-lenses - and even an optic using the curvature of space-time. The volume also presents an overview of detectors matching the ambitious objectives of gamma ray optics, and facilities for operating such systems on the ground and in space. The extraordinary scientific potential of focusing gamma-ray telescopes for the study of the most powerful sources and the most violent events in the Universe is emphasized in a series of introductory articles. Practicing professionals, and students interested in experimental high-energy astrophysics, will find this book a useful reference

  8. Cross-Calibrating Sunspot Magnetic Field Strength Measurements from the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope and the Dunn Solar Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, Fraser T.; Beck, Christian; Penn, Matthew J.; Tritschler, Alexandra; Pillet, Valentín Martinez; Livingston, William C.

    2015-11-01

    In this article we describe a recent effort to cross-calibrate data from an infrared detector at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope and the Facility InfraRed Spectropolarimeter (FIRS) at the Dunn Solar Telescope. A synoptic observation program at the McMath-Pierce has measured umbral magnetic field strengths since 1998, and this data set has recently been compared with umbral magnetic field observations from SOHO/MDI and SDO/HMI. To further improve on the data from McMath-Pierce, we compared the data with measurements taken at the Dunn Solar Telescope with far greater spectral resolution than has been possible with space instrumentation. To minimise potential disruption to the study, concurrent umbral measurements were made so that the relationship between the two datasets can be most accurately characterised. We find that there is a strong agreement between the umbral magnetic field strengths recorded by each instrument, and we reduced the FIRS data in two different ways to successfully test this correlation further.

  9. Simbol-X Telescope Scientific Calibrations: Requirements and Plans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malaguti, G.; Raimondi, L.; Trifoglio, M.; Angelini, L.; Moretti, A.

    2009-01-01

    The Simbol-X telescope characteristics and the mission scientific requirements impose a challenging calibration plan with a number of unprecedented issues. The 20 m focal length implies for the incoming X-ray beam a divergence comparable to the incidence angle of the mirror surface also for 100 m-long facilities. Moreover this is the first time that a direct focussing X-ray telescope will be calibrated on an energy band covering about three decades, and with a complex focal plane. These problems require a careful plan and organization of the measurements, together with an evaluation of the calibration needs in terms of both hardware and software.

  10. Simbol-X Telescope Scientific Calibrations: Requirements and Plans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malaguti, G.; Angelini, L.; Raimondi, L.; Moretti, A.; Trifoglio, M.

    2009-05-01

    The Simbol-X telescope characteristics and the mission scientific requirements impose a challenging calibration plan with a number of unprecedented issues. The 20 m focal length implies for the incoming X-ray beam a divergence comparable to the incidence angle of the mirror surface also for 100 m-long facilities. Moreover this is the first time that a direct focussing X-ray telescope will be calibrated on an energy band covering about three decades, and with a complex focal plane. These problems require a careful plan and organization of the measurements, together with an evaluation of the calibration needs in terms of both hardware and software.

  11. Lunar-based optical telescopes: Planning astronomical tools of the twenty-first century

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hilchey, J. D.; Nein, M. E.

    1995-02-01

    A succession of optical telescopes, ranging in aperture from 1 to 16 m or more, can be deployed and operated on the lunar surface over the next half-century. These candidates to succeed NASA's Great Observatories would capitalize on the unique observational advantages offered by the Moon. The Lunar Telescope Working Group and the LUTE Task Team of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) have assessed the feasibility of developing and deploying these facilities. Studies include the 16-m Large Lunar Telescope (LLT); the Lunar Cluster Telescope Experiment (LCTE), a 4-m precursor to the LLT; the 2-m Lunar Transit Telescope (LTT); and its precursor, the 1-m Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope Experiment (LUTE). The feasibility of developing and deploying each telescope was assessed and system requirements and options for supporting technologies, subsystems, transportation, and operations were detailed. Influences of lunar environment factors and site selection on telescope design and operation were evaluated, and design approaches and key tradeoffs were established. This paper provides an overview of the study results. Design concepts and brief system descriptions are provided, including subsystem and mission options selected for the concepts.

  12. Ghost telescope and ghost Fourier telescope with thermal light

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gong Wenlin; Han Shensheng

    2011-01-01

    As important observation tools, telescopes are very useful in remote observations. We report a proof-of-principle experimental demonstration of ghost telescope scheme and show that, by measuring the intensity correlation of two light fields and only changing the position of the detector in the reference path, ghost telescope and ghost Fourier telescope can be obtained even if a single-pixel detector is fixed in Fresnel region of the object. Differences between conventional telescope and ghost telescope are also discussed.

  13. Hungaria asteroid region telescopic spectral survey (HARTSS) I: Stony asteroids abundant in the Hungaria background population

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, Michael P.; Emery, Joshua P.; Pinilla-Alonso, Noemi; Lindsay, Sean S.; Lorenzi, Vania

    2017-07-01

    The Hungaria asteroids remain as survivors of late giant planet migration that destabilized a now extinct inner portion of the primordial asteroid belt and left in its wake the current resonance structure of the Main Belt. In this scenario, the Hungaria region represents a ;purgatory; for the closest, preserved samples of the asteroidal material from which the terrestrial planets accreted. Deciphering the surface composition of these unique samples may provide constraints on the nature of the primordial building blocks of the terrestrial planets. We have undertaken an observational campaign entitled the Hungaria Asteroid Region Telescopic Spectral Survey (HARTSS) to record near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectra in order to characterize their taxonomy, surface mineralogy, and potential meteorite analogs. The overall objective of HARTSS is to evaluate the compositional diversity of asteroids located throughout the Hungaria region. This region harbors a collisional family of Xe-type asteroids, which are situated among a background (i.e., non-family) of predominantly S-complex asteroids. In order to assess the compositional diversity of the Hungaria region, we have targeted background objects during Phase I of HARTSS. Collisional family members likely reflect the composition of one original homogeneous parent body, so we have largely avoided them in this phase. We have employed NIR instruments at two ground-based telescope facilities: the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), and the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG). Our data set includes the NIR spectra of 42 Hungaria asteroids (36 background; 6 family). We find that stony S-complex asteroids dominate the Hungaria background population (29/36 objects; ∼80%). C-complex asteroids are uncommon (2/42; ∼5%) within the Hungaria region. Background S-complex objects exhibit considerable spectral diversity as band parameter measurements of diagnostic absorption features near 1- and 2-μm indicate that several

  14. Calibration strategies for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaug, Markus; Berge, David; Daniel, Michael; Doro, Michele; Förster, Andreas; Hofmann, Werner; Maccarone, Maria C.; Parsons, Dan; de los Reyes Lopez, Raquel; van Eldik, Christopher

    2014-08-01

    The Central Calibration Facilities workpackage of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory for very high energy gamma ray astronomy defines the overall calibration strategy of the array, develops dedicated hardware and software for the overall array calibration and coordinates the calibration efforts of the different telescopes. The latter include LED-based light pulsers, and various methods and instruments to achieve a calibration of the overall optical throughput. On the array level, methods for the inter-telescope calibration and the absolute calibration of the entire observatory are being developed. Additionally, the atmosphere above the telescopes, used as a calorimeter, will be monitored constantly with state-of-the-art instruments to obtain a full molecular and aerosol profile up to the stratosphere. The aim is to provide a maximal uncertainty of 10% on the reconstructed energy-scale, obtained through various independent methods. Different types of LIDAR in combination with all-sky-cameras will provide the observatory with an online, intelligent scheduling system, which, if the sky is partially covered by clouds, gives preference to sources observable under good atmospheric conditions. Wide-field optical telescopes and Raman Lidars will provide online information about the height-resolved atmospheric extinction, throughout the field-of-view of the cameras, allowing for the correction of the reconstructed energy of each gamma-ray event. The aim is to maximize the duty cycle of the observatory, in terms of usable data, while reducing the dead time introduced by calibration activities to an absolute minimum.

  15. VLBI observations with the Kunming 40-meter radio telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hao Longfei; Wang Min; Yang Jun

    2010-01-01

    The Kunming 40-meter radio telescope is situated in the yard of the Yunnan Astronomical Observatory (Longitude: 102.8 0 East, Latitude: 25.0 0 North) and saw its first light in 2006 May. The Kunming station successfully joined the VLBI tracking of China's first lunar probe 'Chang'E-1 together with the other Chinese telescopes: the Beijing Miyun 50-meter radio telescope, Urumqi Nanshan 25-meter radio telescope, and Shanghai Sheshan 25-meter radio telescope, and received the downlinked scientific data together with the Miyun station from October of 2007 to March of 2009. We give an introduction to the new Chinese VLBI facility and investigate its potential applications. Due to its location, the Kunming station can significantly improve the u - v coverage of the European VLBI Network (EVN), in particular, in long baseline observations. We also report the results of the first EVN fringe-test experiment of N09SX1 with the Kunming station. The first fringes in the European telescopes were successfully detected at 2.3 GHz with the ftp-transferred data on 2009 June 17. From scheduling the observations to performing the post correlations, the Kunming station shows its good compatibility to work with the EVN. The imaging result of the extended source 1156+295 further demonstrates that the Kunming station greatly enhances the EVN performance. (research papers)

  16. Characterization of Jupiter's Atmosphere from Observation of Thermal Emission by Juno and Ground-Based Supporting Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orton, G. S.; Momary, T.; Tabataba-Vakili, F.; Janssen, M. A.; Hansen, C. J.; Bolton, S. J.; Li, C.; Adriani, A.; Mura, A.; Grassi, D.; Fletcher, L. N.; Brown, S. T.; Fujiyoshi, T.; Greathouse, T. K.; Kasaba, Y.; Sato, T. M.; Stephens, A.; Donnelly, P.; Eichstädt, G.; Rogers, J.

    2017-12-01

    Ground-breaking measurements of thermal emission at very long wavelengths have been made by the Juno mission's Microwave Radiometer (MWR). We examine the relationship between these and other thermal emission measurements by the Jupiter Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) at 5 µm and ground-based supporting observations in the thermal infrared that cover the 5-25 µm range. The relevant ground-based observations of thermal emission are constituted from imaging and scanning spectroscopy obtained at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), the Gemini North Telescope, the Subaru Telescope and the Very Large Telescope. A comparison of these results clarifies the physical properties responsible for the observed emissions, i.e. variability of the temperature field, the cloud field or the distribution of gaseous ammonia. Cross-references to the visible cloud field from Juno's JunoCam experiment and Earth-based images are also useful. This work continues an initial comparison by Orton et al. (2017, GRL 44, doi: 10.1002/2017GL073019) between MWR and JIRAM results, together with ancillary 5-µm IRTF imaging and with JunoCam and ground-based visible imaging. These showed a general agreement between MWR and JIRAM results for the 5-bar NH3 abundance in specific regions of low cloud opacity but only a partial correlation between MWR and 5-µm radiances emerging from the 0.5-5 bar levels of the atmosphere in general. Similar to the latter, there appears to be an inconsistent correlation between MWR channels sensitive to 0.5-10 bars and shorter-wavelength radiances in the "tails" of 5-µm hot spots , which may be the result of the greater sensitivity of the latter to particulate opacity that could depend on the evolution history of the particular features sampled. Of great importance is the interpretation of MWR radiances in terms of the variability of temperature vs. NH3 abundances in the 0.5-5 bar pressure range. This is particularly important to understand MWR results in

  17. A 0.8-2.4 μm Transmission spectrum of the hot Jupiter CoRoT-1b

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schlawin, E.; Herter, T. [Astronomy Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Zhao, M. [Department of Astronomy, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Teske, J. K. [Astronomy Department, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

    2014-03-01

    Hot Jupiters with brightness temperatures ≳2000 K can have TiO and VO molecules as gaseous species in their atmospheres. The TiO and VO molecules can potentially induce temperature inversions in hot Jupiter atmospheres and also have an observable signature of large optical to infrared transit depth ratios. Previous transmission spectra of very hot Jupiters have shown a lack of TiO and VO, but only in planets that also appear to lack temperature inversions. We measure the transmission spectrum of CoRoT-1b, a hot Jupiter that was predicted to have a temperature inversion potentially due to significant TiO and VO in its atmosphere. We employ the multi-object spectroscopy method using the SpeX and MORIS instruments on the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) and the Gaussian process method to model red noise. By using a simultaneous reference star on the slit for calibration and a wide slit to minimize slit losses, we achieve transit depth precision of 0.03%-0.09%, comparable to the atmospheric scale height but detect no statistically significant molecular features. We combine our IRTF data with optical CoRoT transmission measurements to search for differences in the optical and near-infrared absorption that would arise from TiO/VO. Our IRTF spectrum and the CoRoT photometry disfavor a TiO/VO-rich spectrum for CoRoT-1b, suggesting that the atmosphere has another absorber that could create a temperature inversion or that the blackbody-like emission from the planet is due to a spectroscopically flat cloud, dust, or haze layer that smoothes out molecular features in both CoRoT-1b's emission and transmission spectra. This system represents the faintest planet hosting star (K = 12.2) with a measured planetary transmission spectrum.

  18. ATST telescope mount: telescope of machine tool

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffers, Paul; Stolz, Günter; Bonomi, Giovanni; Dreyer, Oliver; Kärcher, Hans

    2012-09-01

    The Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) will be the largest solar telescope in the world, and will be able to provide the sharpest views ever taken of the solar surface. The telescope has a 4m aperture primary mirror, however due to the off axis nature of the optical layout, the telescope mount has proportions similar to an 8 meter class telescope. The technology normally used in this class of telescope is well understood in the telescope community and has been successfully implemented in numerous projects. The world of large machine tools has developed in a separate realm with similar levels of performance requirement but different boundary conditions. In addition the competitive nature of private industry has encouraged development and usage of more cost effective solutions both in initial capital cost and thru-life operating cost. Telescope mounts move relatively slowly with requirements for high stability under external environmental influences such as wind buffeting. Large machine tools operate under high speed requirements coupled with high application of force through the machine but with little or no external environmental influences. The benefits of these parallel development paths and the ATST system requirements are being combined in the ATST Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA). The process of balancing the system requirements with new technologies is based on the experience of the ATST project team, Ingersoll Machine Tools who are the main contractor for the TMA and MT Mechatronics who are their design subcontractors. This paper highlights a number of these proven technologies from the commercially driven machine tool world that are being introduced to the TMA design. Also the challenges of integrating and ensuring that the differences in application requirements are accounted for in the design are discussed.

  19. Progress on the New York State Observatory: a new 12-meter astronomical telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebring, T.; O'Dea, C.; Baum, S.; Teran, J.; Loewen, N.; Stutzki, C.; Egerman, R.; Bonomi, G.

    2014-07-01

    Over the past two years, the New York Astronomical Corporation (NYAC), the business arm of the Astronomical Society of New York (ASNY), has continued planning and technical studies toward construction of a 12-meter class optical telescope for the use of all New York universities and research institutions. Four significant technical studies have been performed investigating design opportunities for the facility, the dome, the telescope optics, and the telescope mount. The studies were funded by NYAC and performed by companies who have provided these subsystems for large astronomical telescopes in the past. In each case, innovative and cost effective approaches were identified, developed, analyzed, and initial cost estimates developed. As a group, the studies show promise that this telescope could be built at historically low prices. As the project continues forward, NYAC intends to broaden the collaboration, pursue funding, to continue to develop the telescope and instrument designs, and to further define the scientific mission. The vision of a historically large telescope dedicated to all New York institutions continues to grow and find new adherents.

  20. Deploying the NASA Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) on Ascension Island

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lederer, S. M.; Pace, L.; Hickson, P.; Cowardin, H. M.; Frith, J.; Buckalew, B.; Glesne, T.; Maeda, R.; Douglas, D.; Nishimoto, D.

    2015-01-01

    NASA has successfully constructed the 1.3m Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) facility on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. MCAT is an optical telescope designed specifically to collect ground-based data for the statistical characterization of orbital debris ranging from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) through Middle Earth Orbits (MEO) and beyond to Geo Transfer and Geosynchronous Orbits (GTO/GEO). The location of Ascension Island has two distinct advantages. First, the near-equatorial location fills a significant longitudinal gap in the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) network of telescopes, and second, it allows access to objects in Low Inclination Low-Earth Orbits (LILO). The MCAT facility will be controlled by a sophisticated software suite that operates the dome and telescope, assesses sky and weather conditions, conducts all necessary calibrations, defines an observing strategy (as dictated by weather, sky conditions and the observing plan for the night), and carries out the observations. It then reduces the collected data via four primary observing modes ranging from tracking previously cataloged objects to conducting general surveys for detecting uncorrelated debris. Nightly observing plans, as well as the resulting text file of reduced data, will be transferred to and from Ascension, respectively, via a satellite connection. Post-processing occurs at NASA Johnson Space Center. Construction began in September, 2014 with dome and telescope installation occurring in April through early June, 2015. First light was achieved in June, 2015. Acceptance testing, full commissioning, and calibration of this soon-to-be fully autonomous system commenced in summer 2015. The initial characterization of the system from these tests is presented herein.

  1. Space astronomical telescopes and instruments; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr. 1-4, 1991

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bely, Pierre Y.; Breckinridge, James B.

    The present volume on space astronomical telescopes and instruments discusses lessons from the HST, telescopes on the moon, future space missions, and mirror fabrication and active control. Attention is given to the in-flight performance of the Goddard high-resolution spectrograph of the HST, the initial performance of the high-speed photometer, results from HST fine-guidance sensors, and reconstruction of the HST mirror figure from out-of-focus stellar images. Topics addressed include system concepts for a large UV/optical/IR telescope on the moon, optical design considerations for next-generation space and lunar telescopes, the implications of lunar dust for astronomical observatories, and lunar liquid-mirror telescopes. Also discussed are space design considerations for the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, the Hubble extrasolar planet interferometer, Si:Ga focal-plane arrays for satellite and ground-based telescopes, microchannel-plate detectors for space-based astronomy, and a method for making ultralight primary mirrors.

  2. The SOAR Telescope Project Southern Observatory for Astronomical Research (SOAR)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2003-03-21

    completed SOAR dome and facility. 2. Dome The preliminary design of the dome was handled by M3 (US). A Brazilian firm, Equatorial Sistemas led the...for the Gemini Telescope during construction, now Project Manager at the National Solar Observatory • Robert Shelton, Provost of the University on

  3. Status And Performance Of The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope at Etelman Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, David C.; Gendre, Bruce; Neff, James E.; Giblin, Timothy W.

    2016-01-01

    The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope is an 0.5m robotic telescope located at the easternmost and southernmost optical observatory in the United States at a latitude of 18.5N and longitude of 65W. The observatory is located on the island of St Thomas in the USVI. Astronomers from the College of Charleston, the US Air Force Academy, and the University of the Virgin Islands collaborate to maintain and operate the facility. The primary scientific focus of the facility is the optical follow-up of high-energy transients though a variety of other science interests are also being pursued including follow-up of candidate extra-solar planets, rotation studies of cool stars, and near-Earth asteroid and space situational awareness studies. The facility also supports a wide-reaching education and outreach program dedicated to raising the level of STEAM engagement and enrichment in the USVI. We detail the characteristics, capabilities, and early results from the observatory. The observatory is growing its staff and science activities and potential topics for collaboration will be discussed.

  4. The Timepix Telescope for High Performance Particle Tracking

    CERN Document Server

    Akiba, Kazuyoshi; van Beuzekom, Martin; van Beveren, Vincent; Borghi, Silvia; Boterenbrood, Henk; Buytaert, Jan; Collins, Paula; Dosil Suárez, Alvaro; Dumps, Raphael; Eklund, Lars; Esperante, Daniel; Gallas, Abraham; Gordon, Hamish; van der Heijden, Bas; Hombach, Christoph; Hynds, Daniel; John, Malcolm; Leflat, Alexander; Li, Yi Ming; Longstaff, Ian; Morton, Alexander; Nakatsuka, Noritsugu; Nomerotski, Andre; Parkes, Chris; Perez Trigo, Eliseo; Plackett, Richard; Reid, Matthew M; Rodriguez Perez, Pablo; Schindler, Heinrich; Szumlak, Tomasz; Tsopelas, Panagiotis; Vázquez Sierra, Carlos; Velthuis, Jaap; Wysokinski, Michal

    2013-01-01

    The Timepix particle tracking telescope has been developed as part of the LHCb VELO Upgrade project, supported by the Medipix Collaboration and the AIDA framework. It is a primary piece of infrastructure for the VELO Upgrade project and is being used for the development of new sensors and front end technologies for several upcoming LHC trackers and vertexing systems. The telescope is designed around the dual capability of the Timepix ASICs to provide information about either the deposited charge or the timing information from tracks traversing the 14 x 14mm matrix of 55 x 55 um pixels. The rate of reconstructed tracks available is optimised by taking advantage of the shutter driven readout architecture of the Timepix chip, operated with existing readout systems. Results of tests conducted in the SPS North Area beam facility at CERN show that the telescope typically provides reconstructed track rates during the beam spills of between 3.5 and 7.5 kHz, depending on beam conditions. The tracks are time stamped wi...

  5. Software and control system for the VLT Survey Telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schipani, P; Marty, L; Dall'Ora, M; D'Orsi, S; Argomedo, J; Arcidiacono, C; Farinato, J; Magrin, D; Ragazzoni, R; Umbriaco, G

    2013-01-01

    The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) has started the regular operations in 2011 after a successful commissioning at Cerro Paranal (Chile), the site which hosts the best facilities for optical astronomy operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). After a short description of the instrument, this paper mainly focuses on the telescope control software, which is in charge of the real-time control of the hardware and of the overall coordination of the operations, including pointing and tracking, active optics and presets. We describe the main features of the software implementation in the context of the ESO observatory standards, and the goals reached during the commissioning phase and in the first year of operations.

  6. A multipurpose TIM-based optical telescope for Omega and the Trident laser facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oertel, J.A.; Murphy, T.J.; Berggren, R.R.

    1998-01-01

    The authors have recently designed and are building a telescope which acts as an imaging light collector relaying the image to an optical table for experiment dependent analysis and recording. The expected primary use of this instrument is a streaked optical pyrometer for witness plate measurements of Hohlraum drive temperature. The telescope is based on University of Rochester's Ten-Inch Manipulator (TIM) which allows compatibility between Omega, Trident, and the NIF lasers. The optics capture a f/7 cone of light, have a field of view of 6-mm, have a spatial resolution of 5 to 7-microm per line pair at the object plane, and are optimized for operation at 280-nm. The image is at a magnification of 11.7x, which is convenient for many experiments, but can be changed using additional optics that reside outside the TIM

  7. Black holes at neutrino telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kowalski, M.; Ringwald, A.; Tu, H.

    2002-01-01

    In scenarios with extra dimensions and TeV-scale quantum gravity, black holes are expected to be produced in the collision of light particles at center-of-mass energies above the fundamental Planck scale with small impact parameters. Black hole production and evaporation may thus be studied in detail at the large hadron collider (LHC). But even before the LHC starts operating, neutrino telescopes such as AMANDA/IceCube, ANTARES, Baikal, and RICE have an opportunity to search for black hole signatures. Black hole production in the scattering of ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos on nucleons in the ice or water may initiate cascades and through-going muons with distinct characteristics above the Standard Model rate. In this Letter, we investigate the sensitivity of neutrino telescopes to black hole production and compare it to the one expected at the Pierre Auger Observatory, an air shower array currently under construction, and at the LHC. We find that, already with the currently available data, AMANDA and RICE should be able to place sensible constraints in black hole production parameter space, which are competitive with the present ones from the air shower facilities Fly's Eye and AGASA. In the optimistic case that a ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrino flux significantly higher than the one expected from cosmic ray interactions with the cosmic microwave background radiation is realized in nature, one even has discovery potential for black holes at neutrino telescopes beyond the reach of LHC. (orig.)

  8. A scientific operations plan for the NASA space telescope. [ground support systems, project planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, D. K.; Costa, S. R.

    1975-01-01

    A ground system is described which is compatible with the operational requirements of the space telescope. The goal of the ground system is to minimize the cost of post launch operations without seriously compromising the quality and total throughput of space telescope science, or jeopardizing the safety of the space telescope in orbit. The resulting system is able to accomplish this goal through optimum use of existing and planned resources and institutional facilities. Cost is also reduced and efficiency in operation increased by drawing on existing experience in interfacing guest astronomers with spacecraft as well as mission control experience obtained in the operation of present astronomical spacecraft.

  9. Title Requested

    Science.gov (United States)

    Limaye, S. S.; Prabhu, T.; Bhatt, B. C.; Anandrao, B. G.; Emerson, G.; Young, E. F.

    2004-11-01

    In order to obtain a better dataset for tracking features in near infrared images of Venus, coordinated observations were made from two telescopes in India - the 1m Mt. Abu telescope at Gurushikhar (Location: 24o 39' 8.8" North Latitude, 72o 46' 47.47", 1680 m above MSL, NICMOS III camera, 0.5 arcsec/pixel) and the 2m Optical-Infrared Himalayan Chandra Telescope at Hanle, Ladakh (32o 35' 46" North Latitude and 78o 57' 51" East Longitude, 4500 m above MSL, NIR Camera, 0.21 arcsec/pixel) during 4-10 May 2004 and 6 -10 July 2004 when similar observations were also made from IRTF (Young et al., 2004) and Nordic Optical Telescope (Warell et al., 2004) as well as APO and AAT. Images were obtained at 2.29 micron wavelength using the filters available at the telescopes and show considerable variability from day to day in the atmospheric features. Yet there is enough retention of structural features that suggest a lifetime of 7 days indicating one complete rotation as observed from HCT data taken in May 2004. These features are believed to originate at 52 km level above the Venus surface and the motions are consistent with a rotation rate of 63 m/s at the equator. When combined with those from NOT, IRTF, APO and AAT these observations will yield better information about the circulation at 52 km altitude than has been possible from previous observations. We acknowledge the support and hospitality extended to us to obtain these observations by the staff of Mt. Abu and the Chandra telescopes, in particular Rajesh Shat and Jinesh Jain. Mt. Abu Telescope is operated by Physical Research Laboratory (Ahmedabad, India) and the Chandra Telescope is operated by Center for Research and Education in Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Astrophysics (Bangalore, India). Both are supported by the Indian Space Research Organization

  10. Real-time data acquisition and control system for the 349-pixel TACTIC atmospheric Cherenkov imaging telescope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yadav, K.K.; Koul, R.; Kanda, A.; Kaul, S.R.; Tickoo, A.K. E-mail: aktickoo@apsara.barc.ernet.in; Rannot, R.C.; Chandra, P.; Bhatt, N.; Chouhan, N.; Venugopal, K.; Kothari, M.; Goyal, H.C.; Dhar, V.K.; Kaul, S.K

    2004-07-21

    An interrupt-based multinode data acquisition and control system has been developed for the imaging element of the TACTIC {gamma}-ray telescope. The system which has been designed around a 3-node network of PCs running the QNX real-time operating system, provides single-point control with elaborate GUI facilities for operating the multi-pixel camera of the telescope. In addition to acquiring data from the 349-pixel photomultiplier tube based imaging camera in real time, the system also provides continuous monitoring and control of several vital parameters of the telescope for ensuring the quality of the data. The paper describes the salient features of the hardware and software of the data acquisition and control system of the telescope.

  11. Assembly of NASA's Most Powerful X-Ray Telescope Completed

    Science.gov (United States)

    1998-03-01

    Assembly of the world's most powerful X-ray telescope, NASA's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, was completed last week with the installation of its power-generating twin solar panels. The observatory is scheduled for launch aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-93, in December 1998. The last major components of the observatory were bolted and pinned into place March 4 at TRW Space & Electronics Group in Redondo Beach, Calif., and pre-launch testing of the fully assembled observatory began March 7. "Completion of the observatory's assembly process is a big step forward toward launch scheduled for the end of this year," said Fred Wojtalik, manager of the Observatory Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "With all the major components in place, we are now concentrating on a thorough pre-launch checkout of the observatory." "We're delighted to reach this major milestone for the program," said Craig Staresinich, TRW's Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility program manager. "The entire observatory team has worked hard to get to this point and will continue an exhaustive test program to ensure mission success. We're looking forward to delivering a truly magnificent new space capability to NASA later this summer." The first pre-launch test of the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility was an acoustic test, which simulated the sound pressure environment inside the Space Shuttle cargo bay during launch. A thorough electrical checkout before and after the acoustic test verifies that the observatory and its science instruments can withstand the extreme sound levels and vibrations that accompany launch. "With 10 times the resolution and 50-100 times the sensitivity of any previous X-ray telescope, this observatory will provide us with a new perspective of our universe," said the project's chief scientist, Dr. Martin Weisskopf of Marshall Center. "We'll be able to study sources of X-rays throughout the universe, like colliding galaxies and black

  12. Estimates of the atmospheric parameters of M-type stars: a machine-learning perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarro, L. M.; Ordieres-Meré, J.; Bello-García, A.; González-Marcos, A.; Solano, E.

    2018-05-01

    Estimating the atmospheric parameters of M-type stars has been a difficult task due to the lack of simple diagnostics in the stellar spectra. We aim at uncovering good sets of predictive features of stellar atmospheric parameters (Teff, log (g), [M/H]) in spectra of M-type stars. We define two types of potential features (equivalent widths and integrated flux ratios) able to explain the atmospheric physical parameters. We search the space of feature sets using a genetic algorithm that evaluates solutions by their prediction performance in the framework of the BT-Settl library of stellar spectra. Thereafter, we construct eight regression models using different machine-learning techniques and compare their performances with those obtained using the classical χ2 approach and independent component analysis (ICA) coefficients. Finally, we validate the various alternatives using two sets of real spectra from the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) and Dwarf Archives collections. We find that the cross-validation errors are poor measures of the performance of regression models in the context of physical parameter prediction in M-type stars. For R ˜ 2000 spectra with signal-to-noise ratios typical of the IRTF and Dwarf Archives, feature selection with genetic algorithms or alternative techniques produces only marginal advantages with respect to representation spaces that are unconstrained in wavelength (full spectrum or ICA). We make available the atmospheric parameters for the two collections of observed spectra as online material.

  13. Strong Solar Control of Infrared Aurora on Jupiter: Correlation Since the Last Solar Maximum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kostiuk, T.; Livengood, T. A.; Hewagama, T.

    2009-01-01

    Polar aurorae in Jupiter's atmosphere radiate throughout the electromagnetic spectrum from X ray through mid-infrared (mid-IR, 5 - 20 micron wavelength). Voyager IRIS data and ground-based spectroscopic measurements of Jupiter's northern mid-IR aurora, acquired since 1982, reveal a correlation between auroral brightness and solar activity that has not been observed in Jovian aurora at other wavelengths. Over nearly three solar cycles, Jupiter auroral ethane emission brightness and solar 10.7 cm radio flux and sunspot number are positively correlated with high confidence. Ethane line emission intensity varies over tenfold between low and high solar activity periods. Detailed measurements have been made using the GSFC HIPWAC spectrometer at the NASA IRTF since the last solar maximum, following the mid-IR emission through the declining phase toward solar minimum. An even more convincing correlation with solar activity is evident in these data. Current analyses of these results will be described, including planned measurements on polar ethane line emission scheduled through the rise of the next solar maximum beginning in 2009, with a steep gradient to a maximum in 2012. This work is relevant to the Juno mission and to the development of the Europa Jupiter System Mission. Results of observations at the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) operated by the University of Hawaii under Cooperative Agreement no. NCC5-538 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Science Mission Directorate, Planetary Astronomy Program. This work was supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program.

  14. The Vortex Formerly Known as White Oval BA: Temperature Structure, CloudProperties and Dynamical Simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orton, Glenn S.; Yanamandra-Fisher, P. A.; Parrish, P. D.; Mousis, O.; Pantin, E.; Fuse, T.; Fujiyoshi, T.; Simon-Miller, A.; Morales-Juberias, R.; Tollestrup, E.; Connelley, M.; Trujillo, C.; Hora, J.; Irwin, P.; Fletcher, L.; Hill, D.; Kollmansberger, S.

    2006-09-01

    White Oval BA, constituted from 3 predecessor vortices (known as Jupiter's "classical" White Ovals) after successive mergers in 1998 and 2000, became second-largest vortex in the atmosphere of Jupiter (and possibly the solar system) at the time of its formation. While it continues in this distinction,it required a name change after a 2005 December through 2006 February transformation which made it appear visually the same color as the Great Red Spot. Our campaign to understand the changes involved examination of the detailed color and wind field using Hubble Space Telescope instrumentation on several orbits in April. The field of temperatures, ammonia distribution and clouds were also examined using the mid-infrared VISIR camera/spectrometer on ESO's 8.2-m Very Large Telescope, the NASA Infrared telescope with the mid-infrared MIRSI instrument and the refurbished near-infrared facility camera NSFCam2. High-resolution images of the Oval were made before the color change with the COMICS mid-infrared facility on the 8.2-m Subaru telescope.We are using these images, togther with images acquired at the IRTF and with the Gemini/North NIRI near-infrared camera between January, 2005, and August, 2006, to characterize the extent to which changes in storm strength (vorticity, postive vertical motion) influenced (i) the depth from which colored cloud particles may have been "dredged up" from depth or (ii) the altitude to which particles may have been lofted and subject to high-energy UV radiation which caused a color change, as alternative explanations for the phenomenon. Clues to this will provide clues to the chemistry of Jupiter's cloud system and its well-known colors in general. The behavior of Oval BA, its interaction with the Great Red Spot in particular,are also being compared with dynamical models run with the EPIC code.

  15. The future of small telescopes in the new millennium

    CERN Document Server

    2003-01-01

    The motivation for these volumes is to provide a vision for the future of small telescopes. While this is an admirable task, ultimately I believe that­ as happens all the time in science - the prognostications will be overtaken by a rapidly changing scientific reality. As Virginia Trimble points out in chapter 1, the kinds of big questions that face us as astronomers today are rather different than the ones that drove the construction of astronomical facilities through much of the twentieth century. Right now, it appears that small telescopes will not have a lot of influence in answering those questions, though they will of course contribute enormously to the many issues discussed throughout the three volumes. Weare on the verge of opening a whole new parameter space that may revolutionize the way we think of small telescopes and their role in astronomy - the domain of the rapidly variable sky. While the LSST is the most prominent example, it is a long way in the future. Nemiroff & Rafert (chapter 2) con...

  16. Mechanical conceptual design of 6.5 meter telescope: Telescopio San Pedro Mártir (TSPM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uribe, Jorge; Bringas, Vicente; Reyes, Noe; Tovar, Carlos; López, Aldo; Caballero, Xóchitl; Martínez, César; Toledo, Gengis; Lee, William; Carramiñana, Alberto; González, Jesús; Richer, Michael; Sánchez, Beatriz; Lucero, Diana; Manuel, Rogelio; Rubio, Saúl; González, Germán.; Hernández, Obed; Segura, José; Macias, Eduardo; García, Mary; Lazaro, José; Rosales, Fabián.; del Llano, Luis

    2016-07-01

    Telescopio San Pedro Mártir (TSPM) project intends to build a 6.5 meters telescope with alt-azimuth design, currently at the conceptual design. The project is an association between Instituto de Astronomía de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IA-UNAM) and the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica Electrónica (INAOE) in partnership with department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory of University of Arizona and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory of Harvard University. Conceptual design of the telescope is lead and developed by the Centro de Ingeniería y Desarrollo Industrial (CIDESI). An overview of the feasibility study and the structural conceptual design are summarized in this paper. The telescope concept is based on telescopes already commissioned such as MMT and the Baade and Clay Magellan telescopes, building up on these proven concepts. The main differences relative to the Magellan pair are; the elevation axis is located 1 meter above the primary mirror vertex, allowing for a similar field of view at the Cassegrain and both Nasmyth focal stations; instead of using a vane ends to position the secondary mirror TSPM considers an Steward platform like MMT; finally TSPM has a larger floor distance to m1 cell than Magellans and MMT. Initially TSPM will operate with an f/5 Cassegrain station, but the design considers further Nasmyth configurations from a Cassegrain f/5 up to a Gregorian f/11. The telescope design includes 7 focal stations: 1 Cassegrain; 2 Nasmyth; and 4 folded-Cassegrain. The telescope will be designed and manufactured in Mexico, will be design in Queretaro by CIDESI and built between Queretaro and Michoacán manufacturing facilities; it will be preassembled in these facilities and disassembled to send it to the San Pedro Mártir Observatory for final integration. The azimuth and altitude structure is planned to be constructed in modules and transported by truck and shipped to Ensenada and finally to the OAN where is going

  17. Launch Will Create a Radio Telescope Larger than Earth

    Science.gov (United States)

    NASA and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory are joining with an international consortium of space agencies to support the launch of a Japanese satellite next week that will create the largest astronomical "instrument" ever built -- a radio telescope more than two-and-a-half times the diameter of the Earth that will give astronomers their sharpest view yet of the universe. The launch of the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Space Observatory Program (VSOP) satellite by Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) is scheduled for Feb. 10 at 11:50 p.m. EST (1:50 p.m. Feb. 11, Japan time.) The satellite is part of an international collaboration led by ISAS and backed by Japan's National Astronomical Observatory; NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA; the National Science Foundation's National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Socorro, NM; the Canadian Space Agency; the Australia Telescope National Facility; the European VLBI Network and the Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry in Europe. Very long baseline interferometry is a technique used by radio astronomers to electronically link widely separated radio telescopes together so they work as if they were a single instrument with extraordinarily sharp "vision," or resolving power. The wider the distance between telescopes, the greater the resolving power. By taking this technique into space for the first time, astronomers will approximately triple the resolving power previously available with only ground-based telescopes. The satellite system will have resolving power almost 1,000 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope at optical wavelengths. The satellite's resolving power is equivalent to being able to see a grain of rice in Tokyo from Los Angeles. "Using space VLBI, we can probe the cores of quasars and active galaxies, believed to be powered by super massive black holes," said Dr. Robert Preston, project scientist for the U.S. Space Very Long

  18. Performance of the EUDET-type beam telescopes

    CERN Document Server

    Jansen, H; Bulgheroni, A.; Claus, G.; Corrin, E.; Cussans, D.G.; Dreyling-Eschweiler, J.; Eckstein, D.; Eichhorn, T.; Goffe, M.; Gregor, I.M.; Haas, D.; Muhl, C.; Perrey, H.; Peschke, R.; Roloff, P.; Rubinskiy, I.; Winter, M.

    2016-01-01

    Test beam measurements at the test beam facilities of DESY have been conducted to characterise the performance of the EUDET-type beam telescopes originally developed within the EUDET project. The beam telescopes are equipped with six sensor planes using MIMOSA26 monolithic active pixel devices. A programmable Trigger Logic Unit provides trigger logic and time stamp information on particle passage. Both data acquisition framework and offline reconstruction software packages are available. User devices are easily integrable into the data acquisition framework via predefined interfaces. The biased residual distribution is studied as a function of the beam energy, plane spacing and sensor threshold. Its width at the two centre pixel planes using all six planes for tracking in a 6 GeV electron/positron-beam is measured to be $(2.88\\,\\pm\\,0.08)\\,\\upmu\\meter$. Iterative track fits using the formalism of General Broken Lines are performed to estimate the intrinsic resolution of the individual pixel planes. The mean i...

  19. Observational results of a multi-telescope campaign in search of interstellar urea [(NH2)2CO

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Remijan, Anthony J.; Snyder, Lewis E.; Kuo, Hsin-Lun; Looney, Leslie W.; Friedel, Douglas N.; McGuire, Brett A.; Golubiatnikov, G. Yu; Lovas, Frank J.; Ilyushin, V. V.; Alekseev, E. A.; Dyubko, S. F.; McCall, Benjamin J.; Hollis, Jan M.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we present the results of an observational search for gas phase urea [(NH 2 ) 2 CO] observed toward the Sgr B2(N-LMH) region. We show data covering urea transitions from ∼100 GHz to 250 GHz from five different observational facilities: the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland-Association (BIMA) Array, the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA), the NRAO 12 m telescope, the IRAM 30 m telescope, and the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter Telescope (SEST). The results show that the features ascribed to urea can be reproduced across the entire observed bandwidth and all facilities by best-fit column density, temperature, and source size parameters which vary by less than a factor of two between observations merely by adjusting for telescope-specific parameters. Interferometric observations show that the emission arising from these transitions is cospatial and compact, consistent with the derived source sizes and emission from a single species. Despite this evidence, the spectral complexity of both (NH 2 ) 2 CO and of Sgr B2(N) makes the definitive identification of this molecule challenging. We present observational spectra, laboratory data, and models, and discuss our results in the context of a possible molecular detection of urea.

  20. Observing the Sun with Coronado telescopes telescopes

    CERN Document Server

    Pugh, Philip

    2007-01-01

    The Sun provides amateur astronomers with one of the few opportunities for daytime astronomy. In order to see the major features of our nearest star, special telescopes that have a very narrow visible bandwidth are essential. The bandwidth has to be as narrow as 1 A- 10-10 m (1 Angstrom) and centred on the absorption line of neutral hydrogen. This makes many major features of the Suna (TM)s chromosphere visible to the observer. Such narrow-band "Fabry-Perot etalon filters" are high technology, and until the introduction of the Coronado range of solar telescopes, were too expensive for amateur use. The entry-level Coronado telescope, the PST (Personal Solar Telescope) costs under 500. Solar prominences (vast columns of plasma, best seen at the edge of the solar disk), filaments, flares, sunspots, plage and active regions are all visible and can be imaged to produce spectacular solar photographs. Philip Pugh has assembled a team of contributors who show just how much solar work can be done with Coronado telesco...

  1. The SARA Consortium: Providing Undergraduate Access to a 0.9-m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, M. A.

    2003-12-01

    The Southeastern Research for Astronomy (SARA) operates a 0.9-m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO). The member institutions are Florida Institute of Technology, East Tennessee State University, Florida International University, The University of Georgia at Athens, Valdosta State University, and Clemson University. The NSF awarded the KPNO #1 0.9-m telescope to the SARA Consortium in 1990. We built a new facility and began routine on-site observations in 1995. We began routine remote observations in 1999 using VNC to export the telescope and CCD control screens, and a web-cam in the dome to provide critical visual feedback on the status of the telescope and dome. The mission of the SARA Consortium is to foster astronomical research and education in the Southeastern United States. Although only two of the member institutions have no graduate programs, all six have a strong emphasis on undergraduate research and education. By pooling our resources, we are able to operate a research-grade facility that none of the individual schools could manage by itself, and in the process we can offer our undergraduate students the opportunity to assist in our research projects as well as to complete their own independent research projects using a facility at a premier site. The SARA Consortium also hosts a NSF REU Summer Intern Program in Astronomy, in which we support 11-12 students that work one-on-one with a SARA faculty mentor. Most of these interns are selected from primarily undergraduate institutions, and have not had significant previous research experience. As part of the program, interns and mentors travel to KPNO for a 4-5 night observing run at the telescope. The SARA NSF REU Program is funded through NSF grant AST-0097616.

  2. The Rainwater Memorial Calibration Facility for X-Ray Optics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brejnholt, Nicolai; Christensen, Finn Erland; Hailey, Charles J.

    2011-01-01

    The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray (NuSTAR) is a NASA Small Explorer mission that will carry the first focusing hard X-ray (5–80 keV) telescope to orbit. The ground calibration of the optics posed a challenge as the need to suppress finite source distance effects over the full optic...... and the energy range of interest were unique requirements not met by any existing facility. In this paper we present the requirements for the NuSTAR optics ground calibration, and how the Rainwater Memorial Calibration Facility, RaMCaF, is designed to meet the calibration requirements. The nearly 175 m long...

  3. Science with the solar optical telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, S. D.; Hogan, G. D.

    1984-01-01

    The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) is designed to provide the solar physics community with the data necessary for solving several fundamental problems in the energetics and dynamics of the solar atmosphere. Among these problems are questions on the origin and evolution of the sun's magnetic field, heating of the outer solar atmosphere, and sources of the solar wind in the lower lying regions of the outer atmosphere. The SOT will be built under the management of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with science instruments provided by teams led by Principal Investigators. The telescope will be built by the Perkin-Elmer Corporation, and the science instruments selected for the first flight will be provided by the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory (LPARL) and the California Institute of Technology, with actual construction of a combined science instrument taking place at the LPARL. The SOT has a 1.3-meter-diameter primary mirror that will be capable of achieving diffraction-limited viewing in the visible of 0.1 arc-second. This dimension is less than a hydrodynamic scale-height or a mean-free-path of a continuum photon in the solar atmosphere. Image stability will be achieved by a control system in the telescope, which moves both the primary and tertiary mirrors in tandem, and will be further enhanced by a correlation tracker in the combined science instrument. The SOT Facility is currently scheduled for its first flight on Spacelab at the beginning of the 1990's.

  4. Automation of the Lowell Observatory 0.8-m Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buie, M. W.

    2001-11-01

    In the past year I have converted the Lowell Observatory 0.8-m telescope from a classically scheduled and operated telescope to an automated facility. The new setup uses an existing CCD camera and the existing telescope control system. The key steps in the conversion were writing a new CCD control and data acquisition module plus writing communication and queue control software. The previous CCD control program was written for DOS and much of the code was reused for this project. The entire control system runs under Linux and consists of four daemons: MOVE, PCCD, CMDR, and PCTL. The MOVE daemon is a process that communciates with the telescope control system via an RS232 port, keeping track of its state and forwarding commands from other processes to the telescope. The PCCD daemon controls the CCD camera and collects data. The CMDR daemon maintains a FIFO queue of commands to be executed during the night. The PCTL daemon receives notification from any other deamon of execution failures and sends an error code to the on-duty observer via a numeric pager. This system runs through the night much as you would traditionally operate a telescope. However, this system permits queuing up all the commands for a night and they execute one after another in sequence. Additional commands are needed to replace the normal human interaction during observing (ie., target acquisition, field registration, focusing). Also, numerous temporal synchronization commands are required so that observations happen at the right time. The system was used for this year's photometric monitoring of Pluto and Triton and is in general use for 2/3 of time on the telescope. Pluto observations were collected on 30 nights out of a potential pool of 90 nights. Detailed system design and capabilites plus sample observations will be presented. Also, a live demonstration will be provided if the weather is good. This work was supported by NASA Grant NAG5-4210 and the NSF REU Program grant to NAU.

  5. The Atacama Large Aperture Submm/mm Telescope (AtLAST) Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bertoldi, Frank

    2018-01-01

    In the past decade a strong case has been made for the construction of a next generation, 25 to 40-meter large submillimeter telescope, most notably through the CCAT and the Japanese LST projects. Although much effort had been spent on detailed science cases and technological studies, none of these projects have yet secured funding to advance to construction. We invite the interested community to join a study of the scientific merit, technical implementation, and financial path toward what we coin the "Atacama Large Submillimeter Telescope" (AtLAST). Through this community workshop, working groups, and a final report to be released in early 2019, we hope to motivate the global astronomy community to value and support the realization of such a facility.

  6. Orbit and geometry constraints on the design and operation of a long-life SIRTF mission. [Shuttle Infrared Telescope Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, R. W.

    1984-01-01

    For a long-life SIRTF mission, the ability of the telescope to observe targets everywhere in the sky is an important requirement. For low-inclination orbits, a telescope aperture shade must be designed for Sun and Earth Limb avoidance angles of 50 deg to 60 deg to prevent unwanted radiation from entering the telescope. The minimum orbit inclination depends on the Earth Limb avoidance angle. About 30 percent of the sky will be prohibited for observations during any day in orbit, with about 100 days in orbit required to observe the entire sky.

  7. Gaia science alerts and the observing facilities of the Serbian-Bulgarian mini-network telescopes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Damljanović G.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The astrometric European Space Agency (ESA Gaia mission was launched in December 19, 2013. One of the tasks of the Gaia mission is production of an astrometric catalog of over one billion stars and more than 500000 extragalactic sources. The quasars (QSOs, as extragalactic sources and radio emitters, are active galactic nuclei objects (AGNs whose coordinates are well determined via Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI technique and may reach sub-milliarcsecond accuracy. The QSOs are the defining sources of the quasi-inertial International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF because of their core radio morphology, negligible proper motions (until sub-milliarcsecond per year, and apparent point-like nature. Compact AGNs, visible in optical domain, are useful for a direct link of the future Gaia optical reference frame with the most accurate radio one. Apart from the above mentioned activities, Gaia has other goals such as follow-up of transient objects. One of the most important Gaia's requirements for photometric alerts is a fast observation and reduction response, that is, submition of observations within 24 hours. For this reason we have developed a pipeline. In line with possibilities of our new telescope (D(cm/F(cm=60/600 at the Astronomical Station Vidojevica (ASV, of the Astronomical Observatory in Belgrade, we joined the Gaia-Follow-Up Network for Transients Objects (Gaia-FUN-TO for the photometric alerts. Moreover, in view of the cooperation with Bulgarian colleagues (in the frst place, SV, one of us (GD initiated a local mini-network of Serbian { Bulgarian telescopes useful for the Gaia-FUN-TO and other astronomical purposes. During the next year we expect a new 1.4 m telescope at ASV site. The speed of data processing (from observation to calibration server could be one day. Here, we present an overview of our activities in the Gaia-FUN-TO which includes establishing Serbian { Bulgarian mini-network (of five telescopes at three sites

  8. Multipurpose 10 in. manipulator-based optical telescope for Omega and the Trident laser facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oertel, J.A.; Murphy, T.J.; Berggren, R.R.; Faulkner, J.; Schmell, R.; Little, D.; Archuleta, T.; Lopez, J.; Velarde, J.; Horton, R.F.

    1999-01-01

    We have recently designed and are building a telescope which acts as an imaging light collector relaying the image to an optical table for experiment dependent analysis and recording. The expected primary use of this instrument is a streaked optical pyrometer for witness plate measurements of the hohlraum drive temperature. The telescope is based on the University of Rochester close-quote s 10 in. manipulator (TIM) which allows compatibility between Omega, Trident, and the NIF lasers. The optics capture a f/7 cone of light, have a field of view of 6 mm, have a spatial resolution of 5 - 7 μm per line pair at the object plane, and are optimized for operation at 280 nm. The image is at a magnification of 11.7x, which is convenient for many experiments, but can be changed using additional optics that reside outside the TIM. copyright 1999 American Institute of Physics

  9. LSST summit facility construction progress report: reacting to design refinements and field conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barr, Jeffrey D.; Gressler, William; Sebag, Jacques; Seriche, Jaime; Serrano, Eduardo

    2016-07-01

    The civil work, site infrastructure and buildings for the summit facility of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) are among the first major elements that need to be designed, bid and constructed to support the subsequent integration of the dome, telescope, optics, camera and supporting systems. As the contracts for those other major subsystems now move forward under the management of the LSST Telescope and Site (T and S) team, there has been inevitable and beneficial evolution in their designs, which has resulted in significant modifications to the facility and infrastructure. The earliest design requirements for the LSST summit facility were first documented in 2005, its contracted full design was initiated in 2010, and construction began in January, 2015. During that entire development period, and extending now roughly halfway through construction, there continue to be necessary modifications to the facility design resulting from the refinement of interfaces to other major elements of the LSST project and now, during construction, due to unanticipated field conditions. Changes from evolving interfaces have principally involved the telescope mount, the dome and mirror handling/coating facilities which have included significant variations in mass, dimensions, heat loads and anchorage conditions. Modifications related to field conditions have included specifying and testing alternative methods of excavation and contending with the lack of competent rock substrate where it was predicted to be. While these and other necessary changes are somewhat specific to the LSST project and site, they also exemplify inherent challenges related to the typical timeline for the design and construction of astronomical observatory support facilities relative to the overall development of the project.

  10. Manufacturing and control of the aspherical mirrors for the telescope of the satellite Pleiades

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ducollet, Hélène; du Jeu, Christian; Fermé, Jean-Jacques

    2017-11-01

    For the Pleiades space program, SESO has been awarded the contract (fully completed), for the manufacturing of the whole set of telescope mirrors (4 mirrors, 2 flight models). These works did also include the mechanical design, manufacturing and mounting of the attachment flexures between the mirrors and the telescope main structure. This presentation is focused on the different steps of lightweighting, polishing, integration and control of these mirrors as well as a presentation of the existing SESO facilities and capabilities to produce such kind of aspherical components/sub-assemblies.

  11. High spatial and spectral resolution measurements of Jupiter's auroral regions using Gemini-North-TEXES

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinclair, J. A.; Orton, G. S.; Greathouse, T. K.; Lacy, J.; Giles, R.; Fletcher, L. N.; Vogt, M.; Irwin, P. G.

    2017-12-01

    Jupiter exhibits auroral emission at a multitude of wavelengths. Auroral emission at X-ray, ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths demonstrate the precipitation of ion and electrons in Jupiter's upper atmosphere, at altitudes exceeding 250 km above the 1-bar level. Enhanced mid-infrared emission of CH4, C2H2, C2H4 and further hydrocarbons is also observed coincident with Jupiter's auroral regions. Retrieval analyses of infrared spectra from IRTF-TEXES (Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph on NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility) indicate strong heating at the 1-mbar level and evidence of ion-neutral chemistry, which enriches the abundances of unsaturated hydrocarbons (Sinclair et al., 2017b, doi:10.1002/2017GL073529, Sinclair et al., 2017c (under review)). The extent to which these phenomena in the stratosphere are correlated and coupled physically with the shorter-wavelength auroral emission originating from higher altitudes has been a challenge due to the limited spatial resolution available on the IRTF. Smaller-scale features observed in the near-infrared and ultraviolet emission, such as the main `oval', transient `swirls' and dusk-active regions within the main oval (e.g. Stallard et al., 2014, doi:10.1016/j/Icarus.2015.12.044, Nichols et al., 2017, doi: 10.1002/2017GL073029) are potentially being blurred in the mid-infrared by the diffraction-limited resolution (0.7") of IRTF's 3-metre primary aperture. However, on March 17-19th 2017, we obtained spectral measurements of H2 S(1), CH4, C2H2, C2H4 and C2H6 emission of Jupiter's high latitudes using TEXES on Gemini-North, which has a 8-metre primary aperture. This rare opportunity combines the superior spectral resolving power of TEXES and the high spatial resolution provided by Gemini-North's 8-metre aperture. We will perform a retrieval analyses to determine the 3D distributions of temperature, C2H2, C2H4 and C2H6. The morphology will be compared with near-contemporaneous measurements of H3+ emission from

  12. The Atmospheric Monitoring Strategy for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel, M. K.; CTA Consortium

    2015-04-01

    The Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique (IACT) is unusual in astronomy as the atmosphere actually forms an intrinsic part of the detector system, with telescopes indirectly detecting very high energy particles by the generation and transport of Cherenkov photons deep within the atmosphere. This means that accurate measurement, characterisation and monitoring of the atmosphere is at the very heart of successfully operating an IACT system. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation IACT observatory with an ambitious aim to improve the sensitivity of an order of magnitude over current facilities, along with corresponding improvements in angular and energy resolution and extended energy coverage, through an array of Large (23 m), Medium (12 m) and Small (4 m) sized telescopes spread over an area of order ~km2. Whole sky coverage will be achieved by operating at two sites: one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere. This proceedings will cover the characterisation of the candidate sites and the atmospheric calibration strategy. CTA will utilise a suite of instrumentation and analysis techniques for atmospheric modelling and monitoring regarding pointing forecasts, intelligent pointing selection for the observatory operations and for offline data correction.

  13. Astronomers Make First Images With Space Radio Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    1997-07-01

    Marking an important new milestone in radio astronomy history, scientists at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, New Mexico, have made the first images using a radio telescope antenna in space. The images, more than a million times more detailed than those produced by the human eye, used the new Japanese HALCA satellite, working in conjunction with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and Very Large Array (VLA) ground-based radio telescopes. The landmark images are the result of a long-term NRAO effort supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). "This success means that our ability to make detailed radio images of objects in the universe is no longer limited by the size of the Earth," said NRAO Director Paul Vanden Bout. "Astronomy's vision has just become much sharper." HALCA, launched on Feb. 11 by Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), is the first satellite designed for radio astronomy imaging. It is part of an international collaboration led by ISAS and backed by NRAO; Japan's National Astronomical Observatory; NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); the Canadian Space Agency; the Australia Telescope National Facility; the European VLBI Network and the Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry in Europe. On May 22, HALCA observed a distant active galaxy called PKS 1519-273, while the VLBA and VLA also observed it. Data from the satellite was received by a tracking station at the NRAO facility in Green Bank, West Virginia. Tape-recorded data from the satellite and from the radio telescopes on the ground were sent to NRAO's Array Operations Center (AOC) in Socorro, NM. In Socorro, astronomers and computer scientists used a special-purpose computer to digitally combine the signals from the satellite and the ground telescopes to make them all work together as a single, giant radio telescope. This dedicated machine, the VLBA Correlator, built as

  14. The DAG project, a 4m class telescope: the telescope main structure performances

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchiori, G.; Busatta, A.; Ghedin, L.; Marcuzzi, E.; Manfrin, C.; Battistel, C.; Pirnay, O.; Flebus, Carlo; Yeşilyaprak, C.; Keskin, O.; Yerli, S.

    2016-07-01

    Dogu Anatolu Gözlemevi (DAG-Eastern Anatolia Observatory) Project is a 4m class optical, near-infrared Telescope and suitable enclosure which will be located at an altitude of 3.170m in Erzurum, Turkey. The DAG telescope is a project fully funded by Turkish Ministry of Development and the Atatürk University of Astrophysics Research Telescope - ATASAM. The Project is being developed by the Belgian company AMOS (project leader), which is also the optics supplier and EIE GROUP, the Telescope Main Structure supplier and responsible for the final site integration. The design of the Telescope Main Structure fits in the EIE TBO Program which aims at developing a Dome/Telescope systemic optimization process for both performances and competitive costs based on previous project commitments like NTT, VLT, VST and ASTRI. The optical Configuration of the DAG Telescope is a Ritchey-Chretien with two Nasmyth foci and a 4m primary thin mirror controlled in shape and position by an Active Optic System. The main characteristics of the Telescope Main Structure are an Altitude-Azimuth light and rigid structure system with Direct Drive Systems for both axis, AZ Hydrostatic Bearing System and Altitude standard bearing system; both axes are equipped with Tape Encoder System. An innovative Control System characterizes the telescope performance.

  15. Particle Beam Tests of the Calorimetric Electron Telescope

    CERN Document Server

    Tamura, Tadahisa

    The Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) is a new mission addressing outstanding astrophysics questions including the nature of dark matter, the sources of high-energy particles and photons, and the details of particle acceleration and transport in the galaxy by measuring the high-energy spectra of electrons, nuclei, and gamma-rays. It will launch on HTV-5 (H-II Transfer Vehicle 5) in 2014 for installation on the Japanese Experiment Module–Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) of the International Space Station. The CALET collaboration is led by JAXA and includes researchers from Japan, the U.S. and Italy. The CALET Main Telescope uses a plastic scintillator charge detector followed by a 30 radiation-length (X0) deep particle calorimeter divided into a 3 X0 imaging calorimeter, with scintillating optical fibers interleaved with thin tungsten sheets, and a 27 X0 fully-active total-absorption calorimeter made of lead tungstate scintillators. CALET prototypes were tested at the CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Ph...

  16. Silicon pore optics for future x-ray telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wille, Eric; Bavdaz, Marcos; Wallace, Kotska; Shortt, Brian; Collon, Maximilien; Ackermann, Marcelo; Günther, Ramses; Olde Riekerink, Mark; Koelewijn, Arenda; Haneveld, Jeroen; van Baren, Coen; Erhard, Markus; Kampf, Dirk; Christensen, Finn; Krumrey, Michael; Freyberg, Michael; Burwitz, Vadim

    2017-11-01

    Lightweight X-ray Wolter optics with a high angular resolution will enable the next generation of X-ray telescopes in space. The candidate mission ATHENA (Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics) required a mirror assembly of 1 m2 effective area (at 1 keV) and an angular resolution of 10 arcsec or better. These specifications can only be achieved with a novel technology like Silicon Pore Optics, which is being developed by ESA together with a consortium of European industry. Silicon Pore Optics are made of commercial Si wafers using process technology adapted from the semiconductor industry. We present the recent upgrades made to the manufacturing processes and equipment, ranging from the manufacture of single mirror plates towards complete focusing mirror modules mounted in flight configuration, and results from first vibration tests. The performance of the mirror modules is tested at X-ray facilities that were recently extended to measure optics at a focal distance up to 20 m.

  17. Using ISS to develop telescope technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saenz-Otero, Alvar; Miller, David W.

    2005-08-01

    Future space telescope missions concepts have introduced new technologies such as precision formation flight, optical metrology, and segmented mirrors. These new technologies require demonstration and validation prior to deployment in final missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope, Terrestrial Planet Finder, and Darwin. Ground based demonstrations do not provide the precision necessary to obtain a high level of confidence in the technology; precursor free flyer space missions suffer from the same problems as the final missions. Therefore, this paper proposes the use of the International Space Station as an intermediate research environment where these technologies can be developed, demonstrated, and validated. The ISS provides special resources, such as human presence, communications, power, and a benign atmosphere which directly reduce the major challenges of space technology maturation: risk, complexity, cost, remote operations, and visibility. Successful design of experiments for use aboard the space station, by enabling iterative research and supporting multiple scientists, can further reduce the effects of these challenges of space technology maturation. This paper presents results of five previous MIT Space Systems Laboratory experiments aboard the Space Shuttle, MIR, and the ISS to illustrate successful technology maturation aboard these facilities.

  18. The distribution of water frost on Charon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buie, Marc W.; Shriver, Scott K.

    1994-01-01

    We present high-spatial-resolution imaging observations of the Pluto-Charon system taken with ProtoCAM on the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). Our dataset consists of measurements from eight nights at widely separated rotational longitudes and covering five wavelengths -- standard J, H, and K, plus two special narrow band filters at 1.5 and 1.75 microns. The relative flux contributions of Pluto and Charon were extracted, when possible, by fitting a two-source Gaussian image model to the observed images. At K, we find the Charon-Pluto magnitude difference to be on average 1.8 mag, somewhat less than the value of 2.2 mag found by Bosh et al. (1992). The average differential magnitude at 1.5 and 1.75 microns is 2.0 and 1.6, respectively. The larger magnitude difference at 1.5 microns is due to a water-frost absorption band on the surface of Charon. Our observations are consistent with a surface of Charon dominated by water frost at all longitudes.

  19. VizieR Online Data Catalog: NIR spectroscopy of new L and T dwarf candidates (Kellogg+, 2017)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kellogg, K.; Metchev, S.; Miles-Paez, P. A.; Tannock, M. E.

    2018-02-01

    We implemented a photometric search for peculiar L and T dwarfs using combined optical (SDSS), near-infrared (2MASS) and mid-infrared (WISE) fluxes. In Paper I (Kellogg et al. 2015AJ....150..182K), we reported a sample of 314 objects that passed all of our selection criteria and visual verification. After refining our visual verification, our total candidate L and T dwarf list was cut to 156 objects including 104 new candidates. We obtained near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the remaining 104 objects in our survey (66 peculiarly red, 13 candidate binary, and 25 general ultra-cool dwarf candidates) using the SpeX instrument on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) and the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) instrument on the Gemini North telescope. We obtained the majority of our follow-up observations (91 of 104) with the SpeX spectrograph on the IRTF in prism mode (0.75-2.5μm; R~75-150), between 2014 October and 2016 April. The observing sequences and instrument settings were the same as those in Paper I (Kellogg et al. 2015AJ....150..182K). Table1 gives observation epochs and SpeX instrument settings for each science target. We followed-up the remaining 13 objects in our candidate list using the Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) on Gemini North (0.9-2.5μm). We observed these objects in queue mode between 2015 October and 2017 May. We took the observations in cross-dispersed mode with the short-blue camera with 32l/mm grating and a 1.0''*7.0'' slit, resulting in a resolution of R~500. We used a standard A-B-B-A nodding sequence along the slit to record object and sky spectra. Individual exposure times were 120s per pointing. Table2 gives Gemini/GNIRS observation epochs for each science target. (4 data files).

  20. The large binocular telescope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, John M

    2010-06-01

    The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) Observatory is a collaboration among institutions in Arizona, Germany, Italy, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Virginia. The telescope on Mount Graham in Southeastern Arizona uses two 8.4 m diameter primary mirrors mounted side by side. A unique feature of the LBT is that the light from the two Gregorian telescope sides can be combined to produce phased-array imaging of an extended field. This cophased imaging along with adaptive optics gives the telescope the diffraction-limited resolution of a 22.65 m aperture and a collecting area equivalent to an 11.8 m circular aperture. This paper describes the design, construction, and commissioning of this unique telescope. We report some sample astronomical results with the prime focus cameras. We comment on some of the technical challenges and solutions. The telescope uses two F/15 adaptive secondaries to correct atmospheric turbulence. The first of these adaptive mirrors has completed final system testing in Firenze, Italy, and is planned to be at the telescope by Spring 2010.

  1. Celebrating 30 years of science from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robson, Ian; Friberg, Per

    2017-01-01

    The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) has been the world’s most successful single-dish telescope at submillimetre wavelengths since it began operations in 1987. From the pioneering days of single-element photometers and mixers, through to the state-of-the-art imaging and spectroscopic cameras, the JCMT has been associated with a number of major scientific discoveries. Famous for the discovery of ‘SCUBA’ galaxies, which are responsible for a large fraction of the far-infrared background, the JCMT has pushed the sensitivity limits arguably more than any other facility in this most difficult of wavebands in which to observe. Closer to home, the first images of huge discs of cool debris around nearby stars gave us clues to the evolution of planetary systems, further evidence of the importance of studying astrophysics in the submillimetre region. Now approaching the 30th anniversary of the first observations, the telescope continues to carry out unique and innovative science. In this review article, we look back on some of the major scientific highlights from the past 30 years. PMID:28989775

  2. Celebrating 30 years of science from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robson, Ian; Holland, Wayne S.; Friberg, Per

    2017-09-01

    The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) has been the world's most successful single-dish telescope at submillimetre wavelengths since it began operations in 1987. From the pioneering days of single-element photometers and mixers, through to the state-of-the-art imaging and spectroscopic cameras, the JCMT has been associated with a number of major scientific discoveries. Famous for the discovery of `SCUBA' galaxies, which are responsible for a large fraction of the far-infrared background, the JCMT has pushed the sensitivity limits arguably more than any other facility in this most difficult of wavebands in which to observe. Closer to home, the first images of huge discs of cool debris around nearby stars gave us clues to the evolution of planetary systems, further evidence of the importance of studying astrophysics in the submillimetre region. Now approaching the 30th anniversary of the first observations, the telescope continues to carry out unique and innovative science. In this review article, we look back on some of the major scientific highlights from the past 30 years.

  3. A 16-m Telescope for the Advanced Technology Large Aperture Telescope (ATLAST) Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lillie, Charles F.; Dailey, D. R.; Polidan, R. S.

    2010-01-01

    Future space observatories will require increasingly large telescopes to study the earliest stars and galaxies, as well as faint nearby objects. Technologies now under development will enable telescopes much larger than the 6.5-meter diameter James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to be developed at comparable costs. Current segmented mirror and deployable optics technology enables the 6.5 meter JWST telescope to be folded for launch in the 5-meter diameter Ariane 5 payload fairing, and deployed autonomously after reaching orbit. Late in the next decade, when the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle payload fairing becomes operational, even larger telescope can be placed in orbit. In this paper we present our concept for a 16-meter JWST derivative, chord-fold telescope which could be stowed in the 10-m diameter Ares V fairing, plus a description of the new technologies that enable ATLAST to be developed at an affordable price.

  4. Evolution of H2O, CO, and CO2 production in Comet C/2009 P1 Garradd during the 2011-2012 apparition

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKay, Adam J.; Cochran, Anita L.; DiSanti, Michael A.; Villanueva, Geronimo; Russo, Neil Dello; Vervack, Ronald J.; Morgenthaler, Jeffrey P.; Harris, Walter M.; Chanover, Nancy J.

    2015-04-01

    We present analysis of high spectral resolution NIR spectra of CO and H2O in Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) taken during its 2011-2012 apparition with the CSHELL instrument on NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). We also present analysis of observations of atomic oxygen in Comet Garradd obtained with the ARCES echelle spectrometer mounted on the ARC 3.5-m telescope at Apache Point Observatory and the Tull Coude spectrograph on the Harlan J. Smith 2.7-m telescope at McDonald Observatory. The observations of atomic oxygen serve as a proxy for H2O and CO2. We confirm the high CO abundance in Comet Garradd and the asymmetry in the CO/H2O ratio with respect to perihelion reported by previous studies. From the oxygen observations, we infer that the CO2/H2O ratio decreased as the comet moved towards the Sun, which is expected based on current sublimation models. We also infer that the CO2/H2O ratio was higher pre-perihelion than post-perihelion. We observe evidence for the icy grain source of H2O reported by several studies pre-perihelion, and argue that this source is significantly less abundant post-perihelion. Since H2O, CO2, and CO are the primary ices in comets, they drive the activity. We use our measurements of these important volatiles in an attempt to explain the evolution of Garradd's activity over the apparition.

  5. Operating performance of the gamma-ray Cherenkov telescope: An end-to-end Schwarzschild–Couder telescope prototype for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dournaux, J.L., E-mail: jean-laurent.dournaux@obspm.fr [GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Université Paris Diderot, Place J. Janssen, 92190 Meudon (France); De Franco, A. [Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); Laporte, P. [GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Université Paris Diderot, Place J. Janssen, 92190 Meudon (France); White, R. [Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Greenshaw, T. [University of Liverpool, Oliver Lodge Laboratory, P.O. Box 147, Oxford Street, Liverpool L69 3BX (United Kingdom); Sol, H. [LUTH, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, Place J. Janssen, 92190 Meudon (France); Abchiche, A. [CNRS, Division technique DT-INSU, 1 Place Aristide Briand, 92190 Meudon (France); Allan, D. [Department of Physics and Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Amans, J.P. [GEPI, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Université Paris Diderot, Place J. Janssen, 92190 Meudon (France); Armstrong, T.P. [Department of Physics and Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Balzer, A.; Berge, D. [GRAPPA, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam (Netherlands); Boisson, C. [LUTH, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, Place J. Janssen, 92190 Meudon (France); and others

    2017-02-11

    The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) consortium aims to build the next-generation ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray observatory. The array will feature different sizes of telescopes allowing it to cover a wide gamma-ray energy band from about 20 GeV to above 100 TeV. The highest energies, above 5 TeV, will be covered by a large number of Small-Sized Telescopes (SSTs) with a field-of-view of around 9°. The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope (GCT), based on Schwarzschild–Couder dual-mirror optics, is one of the three proposed SST designs. The GCT is described in this contribution and the first images of Cherenkov showers obtained using the telescope and its camera are presented. These were obtained in November 2015 in Meudon, France.

  6. 4MOST: the 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope project at preliminary design review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, Roelof S.; Barden, Samuel C.; Bellido-Tirado, Olga; Brynnel, Joar G.; Frey, Steffen; Giannone, Domenico; Haynes, Roger; Johl, Diana; Phillips, Daniel; Schnurr, Olivier; Walcher, Jakob C.; Winkler, Roland; Ansorge, Wolfgang R.; Feltzing, Sofia; McMahon, Richard G.; Baker, Gabriella; Caillier, Patrick; Dwelly, Tom; Gaessler, Wolfgang; Iwert, Olaf; Mandel, Holger G.; Piskunov, Nikolai A.; Pragt, Johan H.; Walton, Nicholas A.; Bensby, Thomas; Bergemann, Maria; Chiappini, Cristina; Christlieb, Norbert; Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.; Driver, Simon; Finoguenov, Alexis; Helmi, Amina; Irwin, Michael J.; Kitaura, Francisco-Shu; Kneib, Jean-Paul; Liske, Jochen; Merloni, Andrea; Minchev, Ivan; Richard, Johan; Starkenburg, Else

    2016-01-01

    We present an overview of the 4MOST project at the Preliminary Design Review. 4MOST is a major new wide-field, high-multiplex spectroscopic survey facility under development for the VISTA telescope of ESO. 4MOST has a broad range of science goals ranging from Galactic Archaeology and stellar physics

  7. Developments in fiber-positioning technology for the WEAVE instrument at the William Herschel Telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schallig, Ellen; Lewis, Ian J.; Gilbert, James; Dalton, Gavin; Brock, Matthew; Abrams, Don Carlos; Middleton, Kevin; Aguerri, J. Alfonso L.; Bonifacio, Piercarlo; Carrasco, Esperanza; Trager, Scott C.; Vallenari, Antonella

    2016-01-01

    WEAVE is the next-generation wide-field optical spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. It is a multi-object "pick-and-place" fibre-fed spectrograph with a 1000 fibre multiplex behind a new dedicated 2° prime focus corrector. The WEAVE

  8. Research of remote control for Chinese Antarctica Telescope based on iridium satellite communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Lingzhe; Yang, Shihai

    2010-07-01

    Astronomers are ever dreaming of sites with best seeing on the Earth surface for celestial observation, and the Antarctica is one of a few such sites only left owing to the global air pollution. However, Antarctica region is largely unaccessible for human being due to lacking of fundamental living conditions, travel facilities and effective ways of communication. Worst of all, the popular internet source as a general way of communication scarcely exists there. Facing such a dilemma and as a solution remote control and data transmission for telescopes through iridium satellite communication has been put forward for the Chinese network Antarctic Schmidt Telescopes 3 (AST3), which is currently under all round research and development. This paper presents iridium satellite-based remote control application adapted to telescope control. The pioneer work in China involves hardware and software configuration utilizing techniques for reliable and secure communication, which is outlined in the paper too.

  9. The "Very Cool" James Webb Space Telescope!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teague, Peter J. B.

    2018-01-01

    For over twenty years, scientists, engineers, technicians, and other personnel have been working on the next generation space telescope. As a partnership between NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), CSA (Canadian Space Agency), and ESA (European Space Angency), the James Webb Space Telescope will complement the previous research performed by the Hubble by utilizing a larger primary mirror, which will also be optimized for infrared wavelengths. This combination will allow JWST to collect data and take images of light having traveled over 13.7 billion light years. This presentation will focus on the mission, as well as the contamination control challenges during the integration and testing in the NASA Goddard Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility (SSDIF), one of the largest cleanrooms in the world. Additional information will be presented regarding space simulation testing down to a cool 20 degrees Kelvin [-424 degrees Fahrenheit] that will occur at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, and more testing and integration to happen at Northrop Grumman Corp., in Redondo Beach, CA. Launch of the JWST is currently scheduled for the spring of 2019 at Ariane Spaceport in French Guiana, South America.

  10. Classic Telescopes A Guide to Collecting, Restoring, and Using Telescopes of Yesteryear

    CERN Document Server

    English, Neil

    2013-01-01

    Classic Telescopes explores the exciting world of telescopes past, as well as the possibilities involved in acquiring these instruments. What are classic telescopes? First, the book takes a look at the more traditional telescopes built by the great instrument makers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the dynastic houses founded by the likes of John Dollond, Alvan Clark, Thomas Cooke & Sons and Carl Zeiss, plus some lesser-known luminaries, including John Brashear, John Calver, and Henry Fitz. Instruments constructed from the 1950s until as recently as the early 1990s are now also considered 'classic.' There is thus a very active market for buying and selling these 'modern' classics. The author examines some of the most talked about instruments on the amateur Internet forums, including the Unitron refractors, the Questar 90, a classic 6-inch reflector, the RV-6; a 3-inch F/15 achromat by Fullerscopes; the time-honored AstroScan Richfield reflector; and many, many more. Classic telescopes are of...

  11. Britain Approaches ESO about Installation of Major New Telescope at Paranal

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-02-01

    The Executive Board of the UK Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope (VISTA) project announced today [1] that it is aiming at the installation of a new and powerful astronomical telescope at the ESO Paranal Observatory (Chile). This 4-metre telescope is a specialised wide-angle facility equipped with powerful cameras and efficient detectors that will enable it to obtain deep images of large sky areas in short time. These survey observations will be made in several wavebands in the optical and, in particular, the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. VISTA will become the largest and most effective telescope of its type when it enters into operation in 2004. It is a project of a consortium of 18 UK universities [2]. Construction is expected to start in spring 2000. Funding of the project was announced in May 1999, as one of the first allocations from the "Joint Infrastructure Fund (JIF)", an initiative of the UK Government's Department of Trade and Industry, the Wellcome Trust, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. ESO's Director General, Dr. Catherine Cesarsky , is very pleased with this decision. She received a mandate from the ESO Council in December 1999 to negotiate a contract with the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) , acting on behalf of the VISTA Executive Board, for the installation of VISTA at Paranal and now looks forward to settle the associated legal and operational details with her British counterparts at good pace. "The installation of VISTA at Paranal will be of great benefit to all European astronomers", she says. "The placement of a survey telescope of this size next to ESO's VLT, the world's largest optical telescope, opens a plethora of exciting opportunities for joint research projects. Deep observations with VISTA, especially in infrared wavebands, will provide a most valuable, first census of large regions of space. This will most certainly lead to the discoveries of many new and

  12. Decision Announced in Green Bank Telescope Arbitration Case

    Science.gov (United States)

    2001-02-01

    A decision has been reached by the arbitrator in the dispute between COMSAT Corporation, now part of Lockheed-Martin Global Telecommunications, and Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) regarding additional costs on the contract to design and construct the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The GBT, in West Virginia, is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope, the newest facility in the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's (NRAO) suite of astronomical instruments. The decision, released by the American Arbitration Association (AAA), calls for AUI, which operates the NRAO, to pay COMSAT 4.07 million over the fixed-price contract amount. The contract had standard provisions for disputes, which specify binding arbitration through the AAA for matters that could not be resolved in negotiation. The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope The contract to design and construct the GBT had an agreed fixed price of 55 million, with work to begin on December 19, 1990 and to be completed by the end of 1994. The contract terms required the telescope to be designed and built to performance specifications, placing most of the performance risks associated with the project on the contractor. The telescope was accepted from the contractor on October 13, 2000, nearly six years later than the original contract delivery date. During the entire period of contract work the only agreed change in scope was a single change order for 150,000 executed in August of 1993. In 1998, COMSAT sought an additional payment of approximately 29 million above the contracted amount, alleging that AUI/NRAO had forced it to conduct unnecessary work on the telescope design and to build the telescope to an unreasonable life cycle (fatigue) specification. COMSAT also claimed that AUI/NRAO was obligated to pay the costs of accommodating what it claimed to be additional wind loads. COMSAT blamed these circumstances for its delay in completing the project on time and within the contract price. AUI

  13. Safety management of an underground-based gravitational wave telescope: KAGRA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohishi, Naoko; Miyoki, Shinji; Uchiyama, Takashi; Miyakawa, Osamu; Ohashi, Masatake

    2014-08-01

    KAGRA is a unique gravitational wave telescope with its location underground and use of cryogenic mirrors. Safety management plays an important role for secure development and operation of such a unique and large facility. Based on relevant law in Japan, Labor Standard Act and Industrial Safety and Health Law, various countermeasures are mandated to avoid foreseeable accidents and diseases. In addition to the usual safety management of hazardous materials, such as cranes, organic solvents, lasers, there are specific safety issues in the tunnel. Prevention of collapse, flood, and fire accidents are the most critical issues for the underground facility. Ventilation is also important for prevention of air pollution by carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, organic solvents and radon. Oxygen deficiency should also be prevented.

  14. Alignment and phasing of deployable telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woolf, N. J.; Ulich, B. L.

    1983-01-01

    The experiences in coaligning and phasing the Multi-Mirror Telescope (MMT), together with studies in setting up radio telescopes, are presented. These experiences are discussed, and on the basis they furnish, schemes are suggested for coaligning and phasing four large future telescopes with complex primary mirror systems. These telescopes are MT2, a 15-m-equivalent MMT, the University of California Ten Meter Telescope, the 10 m sub-mm wave telescope of the University of Arizona and the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy, and the Large Deployable Reflector, a future space telescope for far-IR and sub-mm waves.

  15. OVERVIEW OF THE ATACAMA COSMOLOGY TELESCOPE: RECEIVER, INSTRUMENTATION, AND TELESCOPE SYSTEMS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Swetz, D. S.; Devlin, M. J.; Dicker, S. R.; Ade, P. A. R.; Amiri, M.; Battistelli, E. S.; Burger, B.; Halpern, M.; Hasselfield, M.; Appel, J. W.; Essinger-Hileman, T.; Fisher, R. P.; Fowler, J. W.; Hincks, A. D.; Jarosik, N.; Chervenak, J.; Doriese, W. B.; Hilton, G. C.; Irwin, K. D.; Duenner, R.

    2011-01-01

    The Atacama Cosmology Telescope was designed to measure small-scale anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background and detect galaxy clusters through the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. The instrument is located on Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert, at an altitude of 5190 m. A 6 m off-axis Gregorian telescope feeds a new type of cryogenic receiver, the Millimeter Bolometer Array Camera. The receiver features three 1000-element arrays of transition-edge sensor bolometers for observations at 148 GHz, 218 GHz, and 277 GHz. Each detector array is fed by free space millimeter-wave optics. Each frequency band has a field of view of approximately 22' x 26'. The telescope was commissioned in 2007 and has completed its third year of operations. We discuss the major components of the telescope, camera, and related systems, and summarize the instrument performance.

  16. Overview of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Receiver, Instrumentation, and Telescope Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swetz, D. S.; Ade, P. A. R.; Amiri, M.; Appel, J. W.; Battistelli, E. S.; Burger, B.; Chervenak, J.; Devlin, M. J.; Dicker, S. R.; Doriese, W. B.; Dünner, R.; Essinger-Hileman, T.; Fisher, R. P.; Fowler, J. W.; Halpern, M.; Hasselfield, M.; Hilton, G. C.; Hincks, A. D.; Irwin, K. D.; Jarosik, N.; Kaul, M.; Klein, J.; Lau, J. M.; Limon, M.; Marriage, T. A.; Marsden, D.; Martocci, K.; Mauskopf, P.; Moseley, H.; Netterfield, C. B.; Niemack, M. D.; Nolta, M. R.; Page, L. A.; Parker, L.; Staggs, S. T.; Stryzak, O.; Switzer, E. R.; Thornton, R.; Tucker, C.; Wollack, E.; Zhao, Y.

    2011-06-01

    The Atacama Cosmology Telescope was designed to measure small-scale anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background and detect galaxy clusters through the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. The instrument is located on Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert, at an altitude of 5190 m. A 6 m off-axis Gregorian telescope feeds a new type of cryogenic receiver, the Millimeter Bolometer Array Camera. The receiver features three 1000-element arrays of transition-edge sensor bolometers for observations at 148 GHz, 218 GHz, and 277 GHz. Each detector array is fed by free space millimeter-wave optics. Each frequency band has a field of view of approximately 22' × 26'. The telescope was commissioned in 2007 and has completed its third year of operations. We discuss the major components of the telescope, camera, and related systems, and summarize the instrument performance.

  17. Alt-Az Spacewatch Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gehrels, Tom

    1997-01-01

    This grant funded about one third of the cost of the construction of a telescope with an aperture 1.8 meters in diameter to discover asteroids and comets and investigate the statistics of their populations and orbital distributions. This telescope has been built to the PI's specifications and installed in a dome on Kitt Peak mountain in Arizona. Funds for the dome and building were provided entirely by private sources. The dome building and telescope were dedicated in a ceremony at the site on June 7, 1997. The attached abstract describes the parameters of the telescope. The telescope is a new item of capital property. It is permanently located in University of Arizona building number 910 in the Steward Observatory compound on Kitt Peak mountain in the Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona. fts property tag number is A252107. This grant did not include funds for the coma corrector lens, instrument derotator, CCD detector, detector electronics, or computers to acquire or process the data. It also did not include funds to operate the telescope or conduct research with it. Funds for these items and efforts are pending from NASA and other sources.

  18. Supernovae and cosmology with future European facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hook, I M

    2013-06-13

    Prospects for future supernova surveys are discussed, focusing on the European Space Agency's Euclid mission and the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), both expected to be in operation around the turn of the decade. Euclid is a 1.2 m space survey telescope that will operate at visible and near-infrared wavelengths, and has the potential to find and obtain multi-band lightcurves for thousands of distant supernovae. The E-ELT is a planned, general-purpose ground-based, 40-m-class optical-infrared telescope with adaptive optics built in, which will be capable of obtaining spectra of type Ia supernovae to redshifts of at least four. The contribution to supernova cosmology with these facilities will be discussed in the context of other future supernova programmes such as those proposed for DES, JWST, LSST and WFIRST.

  19. The great Melbourne telescope

    CERN Document Server

    Gillespie, Richard

    2011-01-01

    Erected at Melbourne Observatory in 1869, the telescope was the second largest in the world, designed to explore the nature of the nebulae in the southern skies. Richard Gillespie, head of the History and Technology department at the Melbourne museum has written an entertaining account of the telescope's extraordinary history and tells the story through an amazing cast of characters whose lives intersected with the telescope.

  20. Customized overhead cranes for installation of India's largest 3.6m optical telescope at Devasthal, Nainital, India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bangia, Tarun; Yadava, Shobhit; Kumar, Brijesh; Ghanti, A. S.; Hardikar, P. M.

    2016-07-01

    India's largest 3.6 m aperture optical telescope facility has been recently established at Devasthal site by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observation Sciences (ARIES), an autonomous Institute under Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The telescope is equipped with active optics and it is designed to be used for seeinglimited observations at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. A steel building with rotating cylindrical steel Dome was erected to house 3.6m telescope and its accessories at hilltop of Devasthal site. Customized cranes were essentially required inside the building as there were space constraints around the telescope building for operating big external heavy duty cranes from outside, transportation constraints in route for bringing heavy weight cranes, altitude of observatory, and sharp bends etc. to site. To meet the challenge of telescope installation from inside the telescope building by lifting components through its hatch, two Single Girder cranes and two Under Slung cranes of 10 MT capacity each were specifically designed and developed. All the four overhead cranes were custom built to achieve the goal of handling telescope mirror and its various components during installation and assembly. Overhead cranes were installed in limited available space inside the building and tested as per IS 3177. Cranes were equipped with many features like VVVFD compatibility, provision for tandem operation, digital load display, anti-collision mechanism, electrical interlocks, radio remote, low hook height and compact carriage etc. for telescope integration at site.

  1. State-of-the-art Space Telescope Digicon performance data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginaven, R. O.; Choisser, J. P.; Acton, L.; Wysoczanski, W.; Alting-Mees, H. R.; Smith, R. D., II; Beaver, E. A.; Eck, H. J.; Delamere, A.; Shannon, J. L.

    1980-01-01

    The Digicon has been chosen as the detector for the High Resolution Spectrograph and the Faint Object Spectrograph of the Space Telescope. Both tubes are 512 channel, parallel-output devices and feature CsTe photocathodes on MgF2 faceplates. Using a computer-assisted test facility, the tubes have been characterized with respect to diode array performance, photocathode response (1100-9000 A), and imaging capability. Data are presented on diode dark current and capacitance distributions, pulse height resolution, photocathode quantum efficiency, uniformity and blemishes, dark count rate, distortion, resolution, and crosstalk.

  2. Scientific Performance Analysis of the SYZ Telescope Design versus the RC Telescope Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Donglin; Cai, Zheng

    2018-02-01

    Recently, Su et al. propose an innovative design, referred as the “SYZ” design, for China’s new project of a 12 m optical-infrared telescope. The SYZ telescope design consists of three aspheric mirrors with non-zero power, including a relay mirror below the primary mirror. SYZ design yields a good imaging quality and has a relatively flat field curvature at Nasmyth focus. To evaluate the science-compatibility of this three-mirror telescope, in this paper, we thoroughly compare the performance of SYZ design with that of Ritchey–Chrétien (RC) design, a conventional two-mirror telescope design. Further, we propose the Observing Information Throughput (OIT) as a metric for quantitatively evaluating the telescopes’ science performance. We find that although a SYZ telescope yields a superb imaging quality over a large field of view, a two-mirror (RC) telescope design holds a higher overall throughput, a better diffraction-limited imaging quality in the central field of view (FOV < 5‧) which is better for the performance of extreme Adaptive Optics (AO), and a generally better scientific performance with a higher OIT value. D. Ma & Z. Cai contributed equally to this paper.

  3. Development of a EUV Test Facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, Edward; Pavelitz, Steve; Kobayashi, Ken; Robinson, Brian; Cirtain, Johnathan; Gaskin, Jessica; Winebarger, Amy

    2011-01-01

    This paper will describe a new EUV test facility that is being developed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to test EUV telescopes. Two flight programs, HiC - high resolution coronal imager (sounding rocket) and SUVI - Solar Ultraviolet Imager (GOES-R), set the requirements for this new facility. This paper will discuss those requirements, the EUV source characteristics, the wavelength resolution that is expected and the vacuum chambers (Stray Light Facility, Xray Calibration Facility and the EUV test chamber) where this facility will be used.

  4. A novel DC Magnetron sputtering facility for space research and synchrotron radiation optics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hussain, A.M.; Christensen, Finn Erland; Pareschi, G.

    1998-01-01

    A new DC magnetron sputtering facility has been build up at the Danish Space Research Institute (DSRI), specially designed to enable uniform coatings of large area curved optics, such as Wolter-I mirror optics used in space telescopes and curved optics used in synchrotron radiation facilities...

  5. The Northwest Indiana Robotic Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slavin, Shawn D.; Rengstorf, A. W.; Aros, J. C.; Segally, W. B.

    2011-01-01

    The Northwest Indiana Robotic (NIRo) Telescope is a remote, automated observing facility recently built by Purdue University Calumet (PUC) at a site in Lowell, IN, approximately 30 miles from the PUC campus. The recently dedicated observatory will be used for broadband and narrowband optical observations by PUC students and faculty, as well as pre-college students through the implementation of standards-based, middle-school modules developed by PUC astronomers and education faculty. The NIRo observatory and its web portal are the central technical elements of a project to improve astronomy education at Purdue Calumet and, more broadly, to improve science education in middle schools of the surrounding region. The NIRo Telescope is a 0.5-meter (20-inch) Ritchey-Chrétien design on a Paramount ME robotic mount, featuring a seven-position filter wheel (UBVRI, Hα, Clear), Peltier (thermoelectrically) cooled CCD camera with 3056 x 3056, square, 12 μm pixels, and off-axis guiding. It provides a coma-free imaging field of 0.5 degrees square, with a plate scale of 0.6 arcseconds per pixel. The observatory has a wireless internet connection, local weather station which publishes data to an internet weather site, and a suite of CCTV security cameras on an IP-based, networked video server. Control of power to every piece of instrumentation is maintained via internet-accessible power distribution units. The telescope can be controlled on-site, or off-site in an attended fashion via an internet connection, but will be used primarily in an unattended mode of automated observation, where queued observations will be scheduled daily from a database of requests. Completed observational data from queued operation will be stored on a campus-based server, which also runs the web portal and observation database. Partial support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation's Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program under Award No. 0736592.

  6. ALMA Telescope Reaches New Heights

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-09-01

    (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is the North American partner in ALMA. ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence, is a revolutionary telescope, comprising an array of 66 giant 40-foot and 23-foot diameter antennas. Russell noted that the first antenna's move to the high site illustrates the international nature of the project. "A Japanese antenna with North American electronics was carried by a European transporter," he explained.

  7. Developing a NASA strategy for the verification of large space telescope observatories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crooke, Julie A.; Gunderson, Johanna A.; Hagopian, John G.; Levine, Marie

    2006-06-01

    In July 2005, the Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation (PA&E) at NASA Headquarters was directed to develop a strategy for verification of the performance of large space telescope observatories, which occurs predominantly in a thermal vacuum test facility. A mission model of the expected astronomical observatory missions over the next 20 years was identified along with performance, facility and resource requirements. Ground testing versus alternatives was analyzed to determine the pros, cons and break points in the verification process. Existing facilities and their capabilities were examined across NASA, industry and other government agencies as well as the future demand for these facilities across NASA's Mission Directorates. Options were developed to meet the full suite of mission verification requirements, and performance, cost, risk and other analyses were performed. Findings and recommendations from the study were presented to the NASA Administrator and the NASA Strategic Management Council (SMC) in February 2006. This paper details the analysis, results, and findings from this study.

  8. Remote observing with the Keck Telescopes from the U.S. mainland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kibrick, Robert I.; Allen, Steve L.; Conrad, Albert

    2000-06-01

    We describe the current status of efforts to establish a high-bandwidth network from the U.S. mainland to Mauna Kea and a facility in California to support Keck remote observing and engineering via the Internet. The California facility will be an extension of the existing Keck remote operations facility located in Waimea, Hawaii. It will be targeted towards short-duration observing runs which now comprise roughly half of all scheduled science runs on the Keck Telescope. Keck technical staff in Hawaii will support remote observers on the mainland via video conferencing and collaborative software tools. Advantages and disadvantages of remote operation from California versus Hawaii are explored, and costs of alternative communication paths examined. We describe a plan for a backup communications path to protect against failure of the primary network. Alternative software models for remote operation are explored, and recent operational results described.

  9. ESO Telescope Designer Raymond Wilson Wins Prestigious Kavli Award for Astrophysics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-01

    with four individual telescopes with 17.5 cm thick 8.2-metre mirrors. Active optics has contributed towards making the VLT the world's most successful ground-based observatory and will be an integral part of ESO's European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) project. Active optics technology is also part of the twin 10-metre Keck telescopes, the Subaru telescope's 8.2-metre mirror and the two 8.1-metre Gemini telescopes. Co-prize winners Jerry Nelson and Roger Angel respectively pioneered the use of segmentation in telescope primary mirrors - as used on the Keck telescopes, and the development of lightweight mirrors with short focal ratios. A webcast from Oslo, Norway, announcing the prize winners is available at www.kavlifoundation.org and www.kavliprize.no. More information ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and VISTA, the world's largest survey telescope. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 42-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".

  10. Telescope Array Control System Based on Wireless Touch Screen Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Xia-nan; Huang, Lei; Wei, Jian-yan

    2017-10-01

    Ground-based Wide Angle Cameras (GMAC) are the ground-based observational facility for the SVOM (Space Variable Object Monitor) astronomical satellite of Sino-French cooperation, and Mini-GWAC is the pathfinder and supplement of GWAC. In the context of the Mini-GWAC telescope array, this paper introduces the design and implementation of a kind of telescope array control system based on the wireless touch screen platform. We describe the development and implementation of the system in detail in terms of control system principle, system hardware structure, software design, experiment, and test etc. The system uses a touch-control PC which is based on the Windows CE system as the upper computer, while the wireless transceiver module and PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) are taken as the system kernel. It has the advantages of low cost, reliable data transmission, and simple operation. And the control system has been applied to the Mini-GWAC successfully.

  11. Facilities for High Resolution Imaging of the Sun

    Science.gov (United States)

    von der Lühe, Oskar

    2018-04-01

    The Sun is the only star where physical processes can be observed at their intrinsic spatial scales. Even though the Sun in a mere 150 million km from Earth, it is difficult to resolve fundamental processes in the solar atmosphere, because they occur at scales of the order of the kilometer. They can be observed only with telescopes which have apertures of several meters. The current state-of-the-art are solar telescopes with apertures of 1.5 m which resolve 50 km on the solar surface, soon to be superseded by telescopes with 4 m apertures with 20 km resolution. The US American 4 m DSI Solar Telescope is currently constructed on Maui, Hawaii, and is expected to have first light in 2020. The European solar community collaborates intensively to pursue the 4 m European Solar Telescope with a construction start in the Canaries early in the next decade. Solar telescopes with slightly smaller are also in the planning by the Russian, Indian and Chinese communities. In order to achieve a resolution which approaches the diffraction limit, all modern solar telescopes use adaptive optics which compensates virtually any scene on the solar disk. Multi-conjugate adaptive optics designed to compensate fields of the order on one minute of arc have been demonstrated and will become a facility feature of the new telescopes. The requirements for high precision spectro-polarimetry – about one part in 104 – makes continuous monitoring of (MC)AO performance and post-processing image reconstruction methods a necessity.

  12. Virtual Telescope Alignment System

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Next-generation space telescopes require two spacecraft to fly in a coordinated fashion in space forming a virtual telescope. Achieving and maintaining this precise...

  13. James Webb Space Telescope Optical Telescope Element Mirror Development History and Results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feinber, Lee D.; Clampin, Mark; Keski-Kuha, Ritva; Atkinson, Charlie; Texter, Scott; Bergeland, Mark; Gallagher, Benjamin B.

    2012-01-01

    In a little under a decade, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program has designed, manufactured, assembled and tested 21 flight beryllium mirrors for the James Webb Space Telescope Optical Telescope Element. This paper will summarize the mirror development history starting with the selection of beryllium as the mirror material and ending with the final test results. It will provide an overview of the technological roadmap and schedules and the key challenges that were overcome. It will also provide a summary or the key tests that were performed and the results of these tests.

  14. The SpeX Prism Library for Ultracool Dwarfs: A Resource for Stellar, Exoplanet and Galactic Science and Student-Led Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgasser, Adam

    The NASA Infrared Telescope Facility's (IRTF) SpeX spectrograph has been an essential tool in the discovery and characterization of ultracool dwarf (UCD) stars, brown dwarfs and exoplanets. Over ten years of SpeX data have been collected on these sources, and a repository of low-resolution (R 100) SpeX prism spectra has been maintained by the PI at the SpeX Prism Spectral Libraries website since 2008. As the largest existing collection of NIR UCD spectra, this repository has facilitated a broad range of investigations in UCD, exoplanet, Galactic and extragalactic science, contributing to over 100 publications in the past 6 years. However, this repository remains highly incomplete, has not been uniformly calibrated, lacks sufficient contextual data for observations and sources, and most importantly provides no data visualization or analysis tools for the user. To fully realize the scientific potential of these data for community research, we propose a two-year program to (1) calibrate and expand existing repository and archival data, and make it virtual-observatory compliant; (2) serve the data through a searchable web archive with basic visualization tools; and (3) develop and distribute an open-source, Python-based analysis toolkit for users to analyze the data. These resources will be generated through an innovative, student-centered research model, with undergraduate and graduate students building and validating the analysis tools through carefully designed coding challenges and research validation activities. The resulting data archive, the SpeX Prism Library, will be a legacy resource for IRTF and SpeX, and will facilitate numerous investigations using current and future NASA capabilities. These include deep/wide surveys of UCDs to measure Galactic structure and chemical evolution, and probe UCD populations in satellite galaxies (e.g., JWST, WFIRST); characterization of directly imaged exoplanet spectra (e.g., FINESSE), and development of low

  15. Mechanical design of SST-GATE, a dual-mirror telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dournaux, Jean-Laurent; Huet, Jean-Michel; Amans, Jean-Philippe; Dumas, Delphine; Laporte, Philippe; Sol, Hélène; Blake, Simon

    2014-07-01

    The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project aims to create the next generation Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray telescope array. It will be devoted to the observation of gamma rays over a wide band of energy, from a few tens of GeV to more than 100 TeV. Two sites are foreseen to view the whole sky where about 100 telescopes, composed of three different classes, related to the specific energy region to be investigated, will be installed. Among these, the Small Size class of Telescopes, SSTs, are devoted to the highest energy region, to beyond 100 TeV. Due to the large number of SSTs, their unit cost is an important parameter. At the Observatoire de Paris, we have designed a prototype of a Small Size Telescope named SST-GATE, based on the dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder optical formula, which has never before been implemented in the design of a telescope. Over the last two years, we developed a mechanical design for SST-GATE from the optical and preliminary mechanical designs made by the University of Durham. The integration of this telescope is currently in progress. Since the early stages of mechanical design of SST-GATE, finite element method has been used employing shape and topology optimization techniques to help design several elements of the telescope. This allowed optimization of the mechanical stiffness/mass ratio, leading to a lightweight and less expensive mechanical structure. These techniques and the resulting mechanical design are detailed in this paper. We will also describe the finite element analyses carried out to calculate the mechanical deformations and the stresses in the structure under observing and survival conditions.

  16. Revisiting the Effectiveness of Large Optical Telescopes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. V. Sychev

    2015-01-01

    distortions in the optical path, which includes, actually, a laser resonator, a channel for transportation of powerful laser radiation with beam-deflecting mirrors to form the telescope with a compound main mirror;- forming the efficiency criteria of adaptive optical systems;- multi-loop system for adaptive correction of distortions.The paper discusses test results of transporting powerful laser radiation in the horizontal pathway and shows visual appearance of forming optical system of the test complex bench.It is convincingly proved that the use of offered postulates in development or modernization of optical complexes ensures the minimum level of residual distortions and the overall performance of adaptive optics.The offered postulates of adaptive correction of radiation wave-front and a positive experience of their use in full-scale optical complexes will substantially reduce terms and costs in creating effective aids to watch remote objects, as well as to form and supply the energy to the space objects for its various use such as power supply, communication, fight against space debris, ensuring asteroid safety, etc.It is possible to draw a conclusion that the state of domestic optical science, its potential in creation of adaptive means to provide formation and transportation of powerful laser radiation, and results of theoretical and pilot studies, encourage a reasonable hope for future creating a multi-purpose highly effective large-size optic-electronic facility.

  17. Three Good Reasons for Celebrating at the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-12-01

    Great Demand for Data from New "Virtual Observatory" Summary Due to a happy coincidence, the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility is celebrating three different milestones at the same time: * its 10th anniversary since the establishment in 1991 * the 10,000th request for data , and * the signing-up of active user number 2000 . This Archive contains over 8 Terabytes (1 Terabyte = 1 million million bytes) of valuable observational data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and other ESO telescopes . Its success paves the way for the establishment of "Virtual Observatories" from which first-class data can be obtained by astronomers all over the world. This greatly enhances the opportunities for more (young) scientists to participate in front-line research. PR Photo 34/00 : Front-page of a new brochure, describing the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility. Just 10 years ago, on the 1st of January 1991, the ESO/ST-ECF (European Southern Observatory/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility) Science Archive Facility opened. It has since served the astronomical community with gigabyte after gigabyte of high-quality astronomical data from some of the world's leading telescopes. The Archive, which is located in Garching, just outside Munich (Germany), contains data from the 2.4-m NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope , as well as from several ESO telescopes: the four 8.2-m Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory , and the 3.5-m New Technology Telescope (NTT) , the 3.6-m telescope and the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at La Silla. The Archive is a continuously developing project - in terms of amounts of data stored, the number of users and in particular because of the current dramatic development of innovative techniques for data handling and storage. In the year 2000 more than 2 Terabytes (2000 Gigabytes) of data were distributed to users worldwide. The archiving of VLT data has been described in ESO PR

  18. The Ferrara hard X-ray facility for testing/calibrating hard X-ray focusing telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loffredo, Gianluca; Frontera, Filippo; Pellicciotta, Damiano; Pisa, Alessandro; Carassiti, Vito; Chiozzi, Stefano; Evangelisti, Federico; Landi, Luca; Melchiorri, Michele; Squerzanti, Stefano

    2005-12-01

    We will report on the current configuration of the X-ray facility of the University of Ferrara recently used to perform reflectivity tests of mosaic crystals and to calibrate the experiment JEM X aboard Integral. The facility is now located in the technological campus of the University of Ferrara in a new building (named LARIX laboratory= LARge Italian X-ray facility) that includes a tunnel 100 m long with, on the sides, two large experimental rooms. The facility is being improved for determining the optical axis of mosaic crystals in Laue configuration, for calibrating Laue lenses and hard X-ray mirror prototypes.

  19. VizieR Online Data Catalog: Spitzer MIR AGN survey. I. (Lacy+, 2013)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lacy, M.; Ridgway, S. E.; Gates, E. L.; Nielsen, D. M.; Petric, A. O.; Sajina, A.; Urrutia, T.; Cox Drews, S.; Harrison, C.; Seymour, N.; Storrie-Lombardi, L. J.

    2013-10-01

    A wide range of optical facilities and instruments were used for spectroscopic follow-up of our AGN candidates. Most of the bright samples were followed up with 3-5m telescopes and longslit spectroscopy (Hale with COSMIC, SOAR with Goodman, and Shane with Kast), whereas the fainter samples were followed up with multifiber and/or 6-8m class telescopes (Blanco with Hydra, MMT with Hectospec, and Gemini-South with GMOS (program GS-2008B-C4)). We also obtained spectra of some of the bright candidates with a successful poor weather (scheduling band 4) program at Gemini-South (program GS-2008B-Q86). Some objects had spectra available in archives from the SDSS, 2dF, (Colless et al. 2001, Cat. VII/250) or 6dF (Jones et al. 2009, Cat. VII/259) surveys and some have redshifts and classifications in the literature, all found using the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED). Table 2 gives details of the spectroscopic observations or literature references as appropriate. For some high-redshift candidates with ambiguous or low signal-to-noise optical spectra, we were able to obtain near-infrared spectra with the IRTF using SpeX (2007 June), Gemini with NIRI (program GN2009B-C-8), and Triplespec (2008 July and 2011 July) on Palomar. (5 data files).

  20. The first telescope of the HEGRA air Cherenkov imaging telescope array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mirzoyan, R.; Kankanian, R.; Krennrich, F.; Mueller, N.; Sander, H.; Sawallisch, P.; Aharonian, F.; Akhperjanian, A.; Beglarian, A.; Fernandez, J.; Fonseca, V.; Grewe, W.; Heusler, A.; Konopelko, A.K.; Lorenz, E.; Merck, M.; Plyasheshnikov, A.V.; Renker, D.; Samorski, M.; Sauerland, K.; Smarsch, E.; Stamm, W.; Ulrich, M.; Wiedner, C.A.; Wirth, H.

    1994-01-01

    In search of VHE γ ray emission from cosmic point sources a system of imaging Cherenkov telescopes is constructed at present on the Canarian island of La Palma; the first telescope has been operational since 1992. The Cherenkov light from air shower particles is collected by a 5 m 2 reflector. The camera at the focus contains 37 photomultipliers which sample the images of the Cherenkov flashes. The subsequent image analysis allows the discrimination of γ ray induced events from the much more abundant charged cosmic ray induced showers. The telescope has an effective energy threshold for γ showers of about 1.5 TeV. During the first year of operation a signal from the Crab nebula was detected. ((orig.))

  1. Hubble Space Telescope: The Telescope, the Observations & the Servicing Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-11-01

    Today the HST Archives contain more than 260 000 astronomical observations. More than 13 000 astronomical objects have been observed by hundreds of different groups of scientists. Direct proof of the scientific significance of this project is the record-breaking number of papers published : over 2400 to date. Some of HST's most memorable achievements are: * the discovery of myriads of very faint galaxies in the early Universe, * unprecedented, accurate measurements of distances to the farthest galaxies, * significant improvement in the determination of the Hubble constant and thus the age of the Universe, * confirmation of the existence of blacks holes, * a far better understanding of the birth, life and death of stars, * a very detailed look at the secrets of the process by which planets are created. Europe and HST ESA's contribution to HST represents a nominal investment of 15%. ESA provided one of the two imaging instruments - the Faint Object Camera (FOC) - and the solar panels. It also has 15 scientists and computer staff working at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore (Maryland). In Europe the astronomical community receives observational assistance from the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF) located in Garching, Munich. In return for ESA's investment, European astronomers have access to approximately 15% of the observing time. In reality the actual observing time competitively allocated to European astronomers is closer to 20%. Looking back at almost ten years of operation, the head of ST-ECF, European HST Project Scientist Piero Benvenuti states: "Hubble has been of paramount importance to European astronomy, much more than the mere 20% of observing time. It has given the opportunity for European scientists to use a top class instrument that Europe alone would not be able to build and operate. In specific areas of research they have now, mainly due to HST, achieved international leadership." One of the major reasons for

  2. First results of the Test-Bed Telescopes (TBT) project: Cebreros telescope commissioning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ocaña, Francisco; Ibarra, Aitor; Racero, Elena; Montero, Ángel; Doubek, Jirí; Ruiz, Vicente

    2016-07-01

    The TBT project is being developed under ESA's General Studies and Technology Programme (GSTP), and shall implement a test-bed for the validation of an autonomous optical observing system in a realistic scenario within the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme of the European Space Agency (ESA). The goal of the project is to provide two fully robotic telescopes, which will serve as prototypes for development of a future network. The system consists of two telescopes, one in Spain and the second one in the Southern Hemisphere. The telescope is a fast astrograph with a large Field of View (FoV) of 2.5 x 2.5 square-degrees and a plate scale of 2.2 arcsec/pixel. The tube is mounted on a fast direct-drive mount moving with speed up to 20 degrees per second. The focal plane hosts a 2-port 4K x 4K back-illuminated CCD with readout speeds up to 1MHz per port. All these characteristics ensure good survey performance for transients and fast moving objects. Detection software and hardware are optimised for the detection of NEOs and objects in high Earth orbits (objects moving from 0.1-40 arcsec/second). Nominal exposures are in the range from 2 to 30 seconds, depending on the observational strategy. Part of the validation scenario involves the scheduling concept integrated in the robotic operations for both sensors. Every night it takes all the input needed and prepares a schedule following predefined rules allocating tasks for the telescopes. Telescopes are managed by RTS2 control software, that performs the real-time scheduling of the observation and manages all the devices at the observatory.1 At the end of the night the observing systems report astrometric positions and photometry of the objects detected. The first telescope was installed in Cebreros Satellite Tracking Station in mid-2015. It is currently in the commissioning phase and we present here the first results of the telescope. We evaluate the site characteristics and the performance of the TBT Cebreros

  3. Infrared up-conversion telescope

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2014-01-01

    There is presented to an up-conversion infrared telescope (110) arranged for imaging an associated scene (130), wherein the up-conversion infrared telescope (110) comprises a non-linear crystal (120) arranged for up-conversion of infrared electromagnetic radiation, and wherein a first optical...

  4. Parametric cost models for space telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip; Henrichs, Todd; Dollinger, Courtnay

    2017-11-01

    Multivariable parametric cost models for space telescopes provide several benefits to designers and space system project managers. They identify major architectural cost drivers and allow high-level design trades. They enable cost-benefit analysis for technology development investment. And, they provide a basis for estimating total project cost. A survey of historical models found that there is no definitive space telescope cost model. In fact, published models vary greatly [1]. Thus, there is a need for parametric space telescopes cost models. An effort is underway to develop single variable [2] and multi-variable [3] parametric space telescope cost models based on the latest available data and applying rigorous analytical techniques. Specific cost estimating relationships (CERs) have been developed which show that aperture diameter is the primary cost driver for large space telescopes; technology development as a function of time reduces cost at the rate of 50% per 17 years; it costs less per square meter of collecting aperture to build a large telescope than a small telescope; and increasing mass reduces cost.

  5. Parametric Cost Models for Space Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip; Henrichs, Todd; Dollinger, Courtney

    2010-01-01

    Multivariable parametric cost models for space telescopes provide several benefits to designers and space system project managers. They identify major architectural cost drivers and allow high-level design trades. They enable cost-benefit analysis for technology development investment. And, they provide a basis for estimating total project cost. A survey of historical models found that there is no definitive space telescope cost model. In fact, published models vary greatly [1]. Thus, there is a need for parametric space telescopes cost models. An effort is underway to develop single variable [2] and multi-variable [3] parametric space telescope cost models based on the latest available data and applying rigorous analytical techniques. Specific cost estimating relationships (CERs) have been developed which show that aperture diameter is the primary cost driver for large space telescopes; technology development as a function of time reduces cost at the rate of 50% per 17 years; it costs less per square meter of collecting aperture to build a large telescope than a small telescope; and increasing mass reduces cost.

  6. On the prospects of cross-calibrating the Cherenkov Telescope Array with an airborne calibration platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Anthony M.

    2018-01-01

    Recent advances in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology have made UAVs an attractive possibility as an airborne calibration platform for astronomical facilities. This is especially true for arrays of telescopes spread over a large area such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). In this paper, the feasibility of using UAVs to calibrate CTA is investigated. Assuming a UAV at 1km altitude above CTA, operating on astronomically clear nights with stratified, low atmospheric dust content, appropriate thermal protection for the calibration light source and an onboard photodiode to monitor its absolute light intensity, inter-calibration of CTA's telescopes of the same size class is found to be achievable with a 6 - 8 % uncertainty. For cross-calibration of different telescope size classes, a systematic uncertainty of 8 - 10 % is found to be achievable. Importantly, equipping the UAV with a multi-wavelength calibration light source affords us the ability to monitor the wavelength-dependent degradation of CTA telescopes' optical system, allowing us to not only maintain this 6 - 10 % uncertainty after the first few years of telescope deployment, but also to accurately account for the effect of multi-wavelength degradation on the cross-calibration of CTA by other techniques, namely with images of air showers and local muons. A UAV-based system thus provides CTA with several independent and complementary methods of cross-calibrating the optical throughput of individual telescopes. Furthermore, housing environmental sensors on the UAV system allows us to not only minimise the systematic uncertainty associated with the atmospheric transmission of the calibration signal, it also allows us to map the dust content above CTA as well as monitor the temperature, humidity and pressure profiles of the first kilometre of atmosphere above CTA with each UAV flight.

  7. Development of a mid-sized Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cameron, Robert A.

    2012-06-28

    The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a ground-based observatory for very high-energy (10 GeV to 100 TeV) gamma rays, planned for operation starting in 2018. It will be an array of dozens of optical telescopes, known as Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (ACTs), of 8 m to 24 m diameter, deployed over an area of more than 1 square km, to detect flashes of Cherenkov light from showers initiated in the Earth's atmosphere by gamma rays. CTA will have improved angular resolution, a wider energy range, larger fields of view and an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity over current ACT arrays such as H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS. Several institutions have proposed a research and development program to eventually contribute 36 medium-sized telescopes (9 m to 12 m diameter) to CTA to enhance and optimize its science performance. The program aims to construct a prototype of an innovative, Schwarzschild-Couder telescope (SCT) design that will allow much smaller and less expensive cameras and much larger fields of view than conventional Davies-Cotton designs, and will also include design and testing of camera electronics for the necessary advances in performance, reliability and cost. We report on the progress of the mid-sized SCT development program.

  8. A telescope with augmented reality functions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hou, Qichao; Cheng, Dewen; Wang, Qiwei; Wang, Yongtian

    2016-10-01

    This study introduces a telescope with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) functions. In this telescope, information on the micro-display screen is integrated to the reticule of telescope through a beam splitter and is then received by the observer. The design and analysis of telescope optical system with AR and VR ability is accomplished and the opto-mechanical structure is designed. Finally, a proof-of-concept prototype is fabricated and demonstrated. The telescope has an exit pupil diameter of 6 mm at an eye relief of 19 mm, 6° field of view, 5 to 8 times visual magnification , and a 30° field of view of the virtual image.

  9. Pre-selecting muon events in the camera server of the ASTRI telescopes for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maccarone, Maria C.; Mineo, Teresa; Capalbi, Milvia; Conforti, Vito; Coffaro, Martina

    2016-08-01

    The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) represents the next generation of ground based observatories for very high energy gamma ray astronomy. The CTA will consist of two arrays at two different sites, one in the northern and one in the southern hemisphere. The current CTA design foresees, in the southern site, the installation of many tens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes of three different classes, namely large, medium, and small, so defined in relation to their mirror area; the northern hemisphere array would consist of few tens of the two larger telescope types. The telescopes will be equipped with cameras composed either of photomultipliers or silicon photomultipliers, and with different trigger and read-out electronics. In such a scenario, several different methods will be used for the telescopes' calibration. Nevertheless, the optical throughput of any CTA telescope, independently of its type, can be calibrated analyzing the characteristic image produced by local atmospheric highly energetic muons that induce the emission of Cherenkov light which is imaged as a ring onto the focal plane if their impact point is relatively close to the telescope optical axis. Large sized telescopes would be able to detect useful muon events under stereo coincidence and such stereo muon events will be directly addressed to the central CTA array data acquisition pipeline to be analyzed. For the medium and small sized telescopes, due to their smaller mirror area and large inter-telescope distance, the stereo coincidence rate will tend to zero; nevertheless, muon events will be detected by single telescopes that must therefore be able to identify them as possible useful calibration candidates, even if no stereo coincidence is available. This is the case for the ASTRI telescopes, proposed as pre-production units of the small size array of the CTA, which are able to detect muon events during regular data taking without requiring any dedicated trigger. We present two fast

  10. Cost Modeling for Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip

    2011-01-01

    Parametric cost models are an important tool for planning missions, compare concepts and justify technology investments. This paper presents on-going efforts to develop single variable and multi-variable cost models for space telescope optical telescope assembly (OTA). These models are based on data collected from historical space telescope missions. Standard statistical methods are used to derive CERs for OTA cost versus aperture diameter and mass. The results are compared with previously published models.

  11. Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope [WFIRST]: telescope design and simulated performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goullioud, R.; Content, D. A.; Kuan, G. M.; Moore, J. D.; Chang, Z.; Sunada, E. T.; Villalvazo, J.; Hawk, J. P.; Armani, N. V.; Johnson, E. L.; Powell, C. A.

    2012-09-01

    The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission concept was ranked first in new space astrophysics missions by the Astro2010 Decadal Survey, incorporating the Joint Dark Energy Mission payload concept and multiple science white papers. This mission is based on a space telescope at L2 studying exoplanets [via gravitational microlensing], probing dark energy, and surveying the near infrared sky. Since the release of the Astro2010 Decadal Survey, the team has been working with the WFIRST Science Definition Team to refine mission and payload concepts. We present the current interim reference mission point design of the payload, based on the use of a 1.3m unobscured aperture three mirror anastigmat form, with focal imaging and slit-less spectroscopy science channels. We also present the first results of Structural/Thermal/Optical performance modeling of the telescope point design.

  12. Hartman Testing of X-Ray Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saha, Timo T.; Biskasch, Michael; Zhang, William W.

    2013-01-01

    Hartmann testing of x-ray telescopes is a simple test method to retrieve and analyze alignment errors and low-order circumferential errors of x-ray telescopes and their components. A narrow slit is scanned along the circumference of the telescope in front of the mirror and the centroids of the images are calculated. From the centroid data, alignment errors, radius variation errors, and cone-angle variation errors can be calculated. Mean cone angle, mean radial height (average radius), and the focal length of the telescope can also be estimated if the centroid data is measured at multiple focal plane locations. In this paper we present the basic equations that are used in the analysis process. These equations can be applied to full circumference or segmented x-ray telescopes. We use the Optical Surface Analysis Code (OSAC) to model a segmented x-ray telescope and show that the derived equations and accompanying analysis retrieves the alignment errors and low order circumferential errors accurately.

  13. SCIENTIFIC EFFICIENCY OF GROUND-BASED TELESCOPES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abt, Helmut A.

    2012-01-01

    I scanned the six major astronomical journals of 2008 for all 1589 papers that are based on new data obtained from ground-based optical/IR telescopes worldwide. Then I collected data on numbers of papers, citations to them in 3+ years, the most-cited papers, and annual operating costs. These data are assigned to four groups by telescope aperture. For instance, while the papers from telescopes with an aperture >7 m average 1.29 more citations than those with an aperture of 2 to 7 m) telescopes. I wonder why the large telescopes do so relatively poorly and suggest possible reasons. I also found that papers based on archival data, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, produce 10.6% as many papers and 20.6% as many citations as those based on new data. Also, the 577.2 papers based on radio data produced 36.3% as many papers and 33.6% as many citations as the 1589 papers based on optical/IR telescopes.

  14. NRAO Response to NSF Senior Review of Astronomy Facilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-11-01

    The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Astronomy Senior Review Committee report (pdf file), released today, made major recommendations for restructuring the NSF's ground-based astronomy efforts, including significant changes for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). The committee's report urged that leadership in radio astronomy, including millimeter- and submillimeter-wave observatories, "remain centered at NRAO as it is, by far, the largest radio astronomy organization in the world." The report praised the record of management of NRAO and the scientific capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA), the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). However, the report also recommended that some reductions and changes occur at the NRAO by 2011. Specifically, the report recommended that: (a) VLBA operations make a transition to a significant reliance on international funding or risk closure; (b) GBT operations costs be reduced; and (c) NRAO scientific staff costs be reduced. "The Senior Review Committee had the very difficult task of reconciling the needs of current facilities and funding new facilities for the future of astronomy. We appreciate their efforts and look forward to working with the NSF to ensure that the valuable and unique research capabilities of our NRAO telescopes continue to serve the astronomical community," said Dr. Fred K.Y. Lo, NRAO Director. The VLBA provides the greatest angular resolution, or ability to see fine detail, of any telescope in the world, greatly exceeding the capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope and the future Square Kilometre Array. The committee recognized that, "if the VLBA is closed, a unique capability would likely be lost for decades." "The VLBA is used by scientists from around the world because of its unique capabilities. It has produced landmark research milestones and the committee recognized in its

  15. Robotic and Survey Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woźniak, Przemysław

    Robotic telescopes are revolutionizing the way astronomers collect their dataand conduct sky surveys. This chapter begins with a discussion of principles thatguide the process of designing, constructing, and operating telescopes andobservatories that offer a varying degree of automation, from instruments remotelycontrolled by observers to fully autonomous systems requiring no humansupervision during their normal operations. Emphasis is placed on designtrade-offs involved in building end-to-end systems intended for a wide range ofscience applications. The second part of the chapter contains descriptions ofseveral projects and instruments, both existing and currently under development.It is an attempt to provide a representative selection of actual systems thatillustrates state of the art in technology, as well as important ideas and milestonesin the development of the field. The list of presented instruments spans the fullrange in size starting from small all-sky monitors, through midrange robotic andsurvey telescopes, and finishing with large robotic instruments and surveys.Explosive growth of telescope networking is enabling entirely new modesof interaction between the survey and follow-up observing. Increasingimportance of standardized communication protocols and software is stressed.These developments are driven by the fusion of robotic telescope hardware,massive storage and databases, real-time knowledge extraction, and datacross-correlation on a global scale. The chapter concludes with examplesof major science results enabled by these new technologies and futureprospects.

  16. Amateur Telescope Making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tonkin, Stephen

    Many amateur astronomers make their own instruments, either because of financial considerations or because they are just interested. Amateur Telescope Making offers a variety of designs for telescopes, mounts and drives which are suitable for the home-constructor. The designs range from simple to advanced, but all are within the range of a moderately well-equipped home workshop. The book not only tells the reader what he can construct, but also what it is sensible to construct given what time is available commercially. Thus each chapter begins with reasons for undertaking the project, then looks at theoretical consideration before finishing with practical instructions and advice. An indication is given as to the skills required for the various projects. Appendices list reputable sources of (mail order) materials and components. The telescopes and mounts range from "shoestring" (very cheap) instruments to specialist devices that are unavailable commercially.

  17. Review of lunar telescope studies at MSFC

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hilchey, John D.; Nein, Max E.

    1993-09-01

    In the near future astronomers can take advantage of the lunar surface as the new 'high ground' from which to study the universe. Optical telescopes placed and operated on the lunar surface would be successors to NASA's Great Observatories. Four telescopes, ranging in aperture from a 16-m, IR/Vis/UV observatory down to a 1-m, UV 'transit' instrument, have been studied by the Lunar Telescope Working Group and the LUTE (lunar telescope ultraviolet experiment) Task Team of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). This paper presents conceptual designs of the telescopes, provides descriptions of the telescope subsystem options selected for each concept, and outlines the potential evolution of their science capabilities.

  18. The Submillimeter Telescope (SMT) project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, R.N.; Baars, J.W.M.

    1990-01-01

    To exploit the potential of submillimeter astronomy, the Submillimeter Telescope (SMT) will be located at an altitude of 3178 meters on Emerald Peak 75 miles northeast of Tucson in Southern Arizona. The instrument is an altazimuth mounted f/13.8 Cassegrain homology telescope with two Nasmyth and bent Cassegrain foci. It will have diffraction limited performance at a wavelength of 300 microns and an operating overall figure accuracy of 15 microns rms. An important feature of the SMT is the construction of the primary and secondary reflectors out of aluminum-core CFRP face sheet sandwich panels, and the reflector backup structure and secondary support out of CFRP structural elements. This modern technology provides both a means for reaching the required precision of the SMT for both night and day operation (basically because of the low coefficient of thermal expansion and high strength-to-weight ratio of CFRP) and a potential route for the realization of lightweight telescopes of even greater accuracy in the future. The SMT will be the highest accuracy radio telescope ever built (at least a factor of 2 more accurate than existing telescopes). In addition, the SMT will be the first 10 m-class submillimeter telescope with a surface designed for efficient measurements at the important 350 microns wavelength atmospheric window. 9 refs

  19. History of Robotic and Remotely Operated Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genet, Russell M.

    2011-03-01

    While automated instrument sequencers were employed on solar eclipse expeditions in the late 1800s, it wasn't until the 1960s that Art Code and associates at Wisconsin used a PDP minicomputer to automate an 8-inch photometric telescope. Although this pioneering project experienced frequent equipment failures and was shut down after a couple of years, it paved the way for the first space telescopes. Reliable microcomputers initiated the modern era of robotic telescopes. Louis Boyd and I applied single board microcomputers with 64K of RAM and floppy disk drives to telescope automation at the Fairborn Observatory, achieving reliable, fully robotic operation in 1983 that has continued uninterrupted for 28 years. In 1985 the Smithsonian Institution provided us with a suburb operating location on Mt. Hopkins in southern Arizona, while the National Science Foundation funded additional telescopes. Remote access to our multiple robotic telescopes at the Fairborn Observatory began in the late 1980s. The Fairborn Observatory, with its 14 fully robotic telescopes and staff of two (one full and one part time) illustrates the potential for low operating and maintenance costs. As the information capacity of the Internet has expanded, observational modes beyond simple differential photometry opened up, bringing us to the current era of real-time remote access to remote observatories and global observatory networks. Although initially confined to smaller telescopes, robotic operation and remote access are spreading to larger telescopes as telescopes from afar becomes the normal mode of operation.

  20. Design of a cryogenic test facility for evaluating the performance of interferometric components of the SPICA/SAFARI instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veenendaal, Ian T.; Naylor, David A.; Gom, Brad G.

    2014-08-01

    The Japanese SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA), a 3 m class telescope cooled to ~ 6 K, will provide extremely low thermal background far-infrared observations. An imaging Fourier transform spectrometer (SAFARI) is being developed to exploit the low background provided by SPICA. Evaluating the performance of the interferometer translation stage and key optical components requires a cryogenic test facility. In this paper we discuss the design challenges of a pulse tube cooled cryogenic test facility that is under development for this purpose. We present the design of the cryostat and preliminary results from component characterization and external optical metrology.

  1. Prospects for γ-ray imaging telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carter, J.N.; Dean, A.J.; Ramsden, D.

    1981-01-01

    Apart from the requirement for a new, high angular-resolution gamma-ray telescope for the more precise location of known COS-B gamma-ray sources, there is also a need for another instrument that can be used in a search for the gamma-ray emission from specific X-ray-emitting objects. If there is to be any hope of relating gamma ray emission to specific candidate X-ray objects, then an angular resolution of typically a few minutes of arc is required to resolve adjacent sources in crowded regions of the sky such as the galactic centre. Efforts to improve the angular resolution of track-chamber telescopes are compared. For energies close to 1 MeV telescopes have either used collimators to restrict the field of view or have made use of the kinematics of the Compton scattering process to determine the direction of the incident photon. The use of coded aperture techniques in high angular resolution X-ray astronomy telescopes is reviewed. A practical telescope for astronomy at high energies described by Carter is mentioned. At low energies an imaging telescope could be constructed by making use of position-sensitive detectors initially developed for use in medical physics. Such a telescope is outlined in general terms and its benefits and uses given. (U.K.)

  2. Status of the MAGIC telescopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Colin, Pierre; Carmona, Emiliano; Schweizer, Thomas; Sitarek, Julian [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Werner-Heisenberg Institut, Muenchen (Germany)

    2010-07-01

    MAGIC is a system of two 17-m Cherenkov telescopes located on La Palma (Canary islands),sensitive to gamma-rays above 30 GeV. It has been recently upgraded by a second telescope which strongly improves the sensitivity, particularly at low energy. Here we present the status of the MAGIC telescopes and an overview of the recent results obtained in single or stereoscopic mode. We also discuss the real performance of the new stereoscopic system based on Crab Nebula observations.

  3. Performance of the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array. III - Optical characteristics of the Ritchey-Chretien and Cassegrain telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoover, Richard B.; Baker, Phillip C.; Hadaway, James B.; Johnson, R. B.; Peterson, Cynthia; Gabardi, David R.; Walker, Arthur B., Jr.; Lindblom, J. F.; Deforest, Craig; O'Neal, R. H.

    1991-12-01

    The Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA), which is a sounding-rocket-borne observatory for investigating the sun in the soft X-ray/EUV and FUV regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum, utilizes single reflection multilayer coated Herschelian telescopes for wavelengths below 100 A, and five doubly reflecting multilayer coated Ritchey-Chretien and two Cassegrain telescopes for selected wavelengths in the EUV region between 100 and 1000 A. The paper discusses the interferometric alignment, testing, focusing, visible light testing, and optical performance characteristics of the Ritchey-Chretien and Cassegrain telescopes of MSSTA. A schematic diagram of the MSSTA Ritchey-Chretien telescope is presented together with diagrams of the system autocollimation testing.

  4. Telescopes and Techniques

    CERN Document Server

    Kitchin, C R

    2013-01-01

    Telescopes and Techniques has proved itself in its first two editions, having become probably one of the most widely used astronomy texts, both for amateur astronomers and astronomy and astrophysics undergraduates. Both earlier editions of the book were widely used for introductory practical astronomy courses in many universities. In this Third Edition the author guides the reader through the mathematics, physics and practical techniques needed to use today's telescopes (from the smaller models to the larger instruments installed in many colleges) and how to find objects in the sky. Most of the physics and engineering involved is described fully and requires little prior knowledge or experience. Both visual and electronic imaging techniques are covered, together with an introduction to how data (measurements) should be processed and analyzed. A simple introduction to radio telescopes is also included. Brief coverage of the more advanced topics of photometry and spectroscopy are included, but mainly to enable ...

  5. The South Pole Telescope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ruhl, J.E.; Ade, P.A.R.; Carlstrom, J.E.; Cho, H.M.; Crawford,T.; Dobbs, M.; Greer, C.H.; Halverson, N.W.; Holzapfel, W.L.; Lanting,T.M.; Lee, A.T.; Leitch, E.M.; Leong, J.; Lu, W.; Lueker, M.; Mehl, J.; Meyer, S.S.; Mohr, J.J.; Padin, S.; Plagge, T.; Pryke, C.; Runyan, M.C.; Schwan, D.; Sharp, M.K.; Spieler, H.; Staniszewski, Z.; Stark, A.A.

    2004-11-04

    A new 10 meter diameter telescope is being constructed for deployment at the NSF South Pole research station. The telescope is designed for conducting large-area millimeter and sub-millimeter wave surveys of faint, low contrast emission, as required to map primary and secondary anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. To achieve the required sensitivity and resolution, the telescope design employs an off-axis primary with a 10 m diameter clear aperture. The full aperture and the associated optics will have a combined surface accuracy of better than 20 microns rms to allow precision operation in the submillimeter atmospheric windows. The telescope will be surrounded with a large reflecting ground screen to reduce sensitivity to thermal emission from the ground and local interference. The optics of the telescope will support a square degree field of view at 2mm wavelength and will feed a new 1000-element micro-lithographed planar bolometric array with superconducting transition-edge sensors and frequency-multiplexed readouts. The first key project will be to conduct a survey over 4000 degrees for galaxy clusters using the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect. This survey should find many thousands of clusters with a mass selection criteria that is remarkably uniform with redshift. Armed with redshifts obtained from optical and infrared follow-up observations, it is expected that the survey will enable significant constraints to be placed on the equation of state of the dark energy.

  6. The Etelman Observatory and the Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope: 2017 Milestone Achievements and Determined Resilience in the USVI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, David C.; Gendre, Bruce; Orange, N. Brice; Cucchiara, Antonino; Giblin, Timothy W.; Klotz, Alain; Thierry, Pierre

    2018-01-01

    The Virgin Islands Robotic Telescope (VIRT) is an 0.5m robotic telescope located at the easternmost and southernmost optical observatory in the United States at a latitude of 18.5N and longitude of 65W. The observatory is located on the island of St Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Astronomers from the College of Charleston, the US Air Force Academy and the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) collaborate to maintain and operate the facility. Science goals of the facility include optical follow-up of high-energy transients, extra-solar planet observations, and near-Earth asteroid searches. The facility also supports a wide-reaching education and outreach program dedicated to raising the level of STEM engagement and enrichment in the USVI and is a primary research facility for students in UVI's new Physics Degree with a Concentration in Astronomy. The VIRT has begun reacting autonomously to the gamma-ray coordinates network (GCN) alerts in 2017 and, despite the challenges presented to the Caribbean region by hurricanes Irma and Maria, was a participant in the follow-up campaign of GW170817, the first source simultaneously detected in gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves. We detail the robotization and automation of the VIRT, provide an update on its characteristics and capabilities and discuss recent science results from the observatory as well as ongoing progress in the recovery from damage caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria.

  7. Commissioning and first tests of the MAGIC telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baixeras, C.; Bastieri, D.; Bigongiari, C.; Blanch, O.; Blanchot, G.; Bock, R.; Bretz, T.; Chilingarian, A.; Coarasa, J. A.; Colombo, E.; Contreras, J. C.; Corti, D.; Cortina, J.; Domingo, C.; Domingo, E.; Ferenc, D.; Fernández, E.; Flix, J.; Fonseca, V.; Font, L.; Galante, N.; Gaug, M.; Garczarczyk, M.; Gebauer, J.; Giller, M.; Goebel, F.; Hengstebeck, T.; Jacone, P.; de Jager, O. C.; Kalekin, O.; Kestel, M.; Kneiske, T.; Laille, A.; López, M.; López, J.; Lorenz, E.; Mannheim, K.; Mariotti, M.; Martínez, M.; Mase, K.; Merck, M.; Meucci, M.; Miralles, L.; Mirzoyan, R.; Moralejo, A.; Wilhelmi, E. Oña; Orduña, R.; Paneque, D.; Paoletti, R.; Pascoli, D.; Pavel, N.; Pegna, R.; Peruzzo, L.; Piccioli, A.; Roberts, A.; Reyes, R.; Saggion, A.; Sánchez, A.; Sartori, P.; Scalzotto, V.; Schweizer, T.; Sillanpaa, A.; Sobczynska, D.; Stamerra, A.; Stepanian, A.; Stiehler, R.; Takalo, L.; Teshima, M.; Tonello, N.; Torres, A.; Turini, N.; Vitale, V.; Volkov, S.; Wagner, R. M.; Wibig, T.; Wittek, W.

    2004-02-01

    Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescope is starting its operations with a set of engineering runs to tune the telescope subsystem elements to be ready for the first physics campaign. Many technical improvements have been developed and implemented in several elements of the telescope to reach the lowest energy threshold ever obtained by an Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope. A general description of the telescope is presented. The commissioning of the telescope's elements is described and the expected performances are reviewed with the final detector set-up.

  8. Preliminary Cost Model for Space Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip; Prince, F. Andrew; Smart, Christian; Stephens, Kyle; Henrichs, Todd

    2009-01-01

    Parametric cost models are routinely used to plan missions, compare concepts and justify technology investments. However, great care is required. Some space telescope cost models, such as those based only on mass, lack sufficient detail to support such analysis and may lead to inaccurate conclusions. Similarly, using ground based telescope models which include the dome cost will also lead to inaccurate conclusions. This paper reviews current and historical models. Then, based on data from 22 different NASA space telescopes, this paper tests those models and presents preliminary analysis of single and multi-variable space telescope cost models.

  9. High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Stratospheric Ethane Following the Jupiter Impact of 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fast, Kelly; Kostiuk, Theodor; Livengood, Timothy A.; Hewagama, Tilak; Amen, John

    2010-01-01

    We report on high-resolution infrared spectroscopy of ethane (C2H6) performed at the latitude of an impact site on Jupiter discovered on 19 July 2009 by A. Wesley from a location in Murrumbateman, Australia. The observations used the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary Wind and Composition (HIPWAC) at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. HIPWAC is a mid-infrared (9-12 microns) heterodyne spectrometer operating at the highest limit of spectral resolving power (lambda\\Delta\\lambda > l06), providing information on atmospheric constituent abundance and temperature through fully resolved tine shapes. Ethane is a stable trace product of methane photochemistry that is nearly uniformly mixed in Jupiter's stratosphere, providing an effective probe of that altitude region. Ethane emission line profiles near 11,74 microns in the Ug band were measured in Jupiter's stratosphere at 25 MHz (11.00083/cm) resolution. A sequence of spectra of ethane acquired over a range of longitude at the impact latitude (56S planetocentric) probes constituent abundance and temperature profile, both on and off the impact region. Near the site of the impact, ethane emission increased above levels measured well outside the impact region. Radiative transfer analysis indicates increased ethane mole fraction (30% greater). Variation in the measured continuum level and line intensities within 75deg of the impact longitude indicate the presence of an opacity source (haze) at altitudes near and above the tropopause and as high as the 10-mbar level near the impact site. The indication of possible haze opacity up to the 10-mbar level in the atmosphere is consistent with measurements made by HIPWAC's predecessor as part of the IRTF Shoemaker Levy-9 campaign in 1994.

  10. Merz telescopes a global heritage worth preserving

    CERN Document Server

    2017-01-01

    This book comprises a fascinating collection of contributions on the Merz telescopes in Italy that collectively offer the first survey on historical large refracting telescopes in the country, drawing on original documents and photographs. It opens with a general introduction on the importance of Merz telescopes in the history of astronomy and analyses of the local and international contexts in which the telescopes were made. After examination of an example of the interaction between the maker and the astronomer in the construction and maintenance of these refractors, the history of the Merz telescopes at the main Italian observatories in the nineteenth century is described in detail. Expert testimony is also provided on how these telescopes were successfully used until the second half of the twentieth century for research purposes, thus proving their excellent optical qualities.

  11. Planetary Sciences practical experiences at the Master level with small telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanchez-Lavega, A.; Perez-Hoyos, S.; del Rio-Gaztelurrutia, T.; Hueso, R.; Ordonez Etxeberria, I.; Rojas, J. F.

    2016-12-01

    The Master in Space Science and Technology of the Basque Country University UPV/EHU in Bilbao (Spain) has been taught during 7 years (A. Sanchez-Lavega et al., Eur. J. of Eng. Education. 2014). Along the different courses, a series of practical observations and studies of planetary sciences have been conducted with Master students, using telescopes with diameters in the range 28-50 cm pertaining to the Aula EspaZio Gela Observatory (http://www.ehu.eus/aula-espazio/presentacion.html). Simple instrumentation (cameras and a spectrograph) have been employed to study planetary atmospheres (dynamics and cloud structure) and orbital mechanics using the Galilean satellites. Here we present a sample of these studies, which have lead to publications in refereed journals and have been presented at different meetings with the coauthoring of the students. Plans for the future include involving the master students in high-resolution observations of Solar System planets using a remote controlled 36 cm telescope at the Calar Alto observatory in Southern Spain (separated 1000 km from the teaching facilities in Bilbao).

  12. Status Of The Development Of A Thin Foil High Throughput X-Ray Telescope For The Soviet Spectrum X-Gamma Mission

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    WESTERGAARD, NJ; BYRNAK, BP; Christensen, Finn Erland

    1989-01-01

    modification of this design is optimized with respect to high energy throughput of the telescope. The mechanical design and the status of the surface preparation technologies are described. Various X-ray and optical test facilities for the measurement of surface roughness, "orange peel", and figure errors...

  13. The UTMOST: A Hybrid Digital Signal Processor Transforms the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailes, M.; Jameson, A.; Flynn, C.; Bateman, T.; Barr, E. D.; Bhandari, S.; Bunton, J. D.; Caleb, M.; Campbell-Wilson, D.; Farah, W.; Gaensler, B.; Green, A. J.; Hunstead, R. W.; Jankowski, F.; Keane, E. F.; Krishnan, V. Venkatraman; Murphy, Tara; O'Neill, M.; Osłowski, S.; Parthasarathy, A.; Ravi, V.; Rosado, P.; Temby, D.

    2017-10-01

    The Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) is an 18000 m2 radio telescope located 40 km from Canberra, Australia. Its operating band (820-851 MHz) is partly allocated to telecommunications, making radio astronomy challenging. We describe how the deployment of new digital receivers, Field Programmable Gate Array-based filterbanks, and server-class computers equipped with 43 Graphics Processing Units, has transformed the telescope into a versatile new instrument (UTMOST) for studying the radio sky on millisecond timescales. UTMOST has 10 times the bandwidth and double the field of view compared to the MOST, and voltage record and playback capability has facilitated rapid implementaton of many new observing modes, most of which operate commensally. UTMOST can simultaneously excise interference, make maps, coherently dedisperse pulsars, and perform real-time searches of coherent fan-beams for dispersed single pulses. UTMOST operates as a robotic facility, deciding how to efficiently target pulsars and how long to stay on source via real-time pulsar folding, while searching for single pulse events. Regular timing of over 300 pulsars has yielded seven pulsar glitches and three Fast Radio Bursts during commissioning. UTMOST demonstrates that if sufficient signal processing is applied to voltage streams, innovative science remains possible even in hostile radio frequency environments.

  14. HUBBLE VISION: A Planetarium Show About Hubble Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Carolyn Collins

    1995-05-01

    In 1991, a planetarium show called "Hubble: Report From Orbit" outlining the current achievements of the Hubble Space Telescope was produced by the independent planetarium production company Loch Ness Productions, for distribution to facilities around the world. The program was subsequently converted to video. In 1994, that program was updated and re-produced under the name "Hubble Vision" and offered to the planetarium community. It is periodically updated and remains a sought-after and valuable resource within the community. This paper describes the production of the program, and the role of the astronomical community in the show's production (and subsequent updates). The paper is accompanied by a video presentation of Hubble Vision.

  15. SETIBURST: A Robotic, Commensal, Realtime Multi-science Backend for the Arecibo Telescope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chennamangalam, Jayanth; Karastergiou, Aris; Williams, Christopher [Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); MacMahon, David; Cobb, Jeff; Siemion, Andrew P. V.; Gajjar, Vishal; Werthimer, Dan [Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Rajwade, Kaustubh; Lorimer, Duncan R.; McLaughlin, Maura A. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506 (United States); Armour, Wes, E-mail: jayanth@astro.ox.ac.uk [Oxford e-Research Centre, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QG (United Kingdom)

    2017-02-01

    Radio astronomy has traditionally depended on observatories allocating time to observers for exclusive use of their telescopes. The disadvantage of this scheme is that the data thus collected is rarely used for other astronomy applications, and in many cases, is unsuitable. For example, properly calibrated pulsar search data can, with some reduction, be used for spectral line surveys. A backend that supports plugging in multiple applications to a telescope to perform commensal data analysis will vastly increase the science throughput of the facility. In this paper, we present “SETIBURST,” a robotic, commensal, realtime multi-science backend for the 305 m Arecibo Telescope. The system uses the 1.4 GHz, seven-beam Arecibo L -band Feed Array (ALFA) receiver whenever it is operated. SETIBURST currently supports two applications: SERENDIP VI, a SETI spectrometer that is conducting a search for signs of technological life, and ALFABURST, a fast transient search system that is conducting a survey of fast radio bursts (FRBs). Based on the FRB event rate and the expected usage of ALFA, we expect 0–5 FRB detections over the coming year. SETIBURST also provides the option of plugging in more applications. We outline the motivation for our instrumentation scheme and the scientific motivation of the two surveys, along with their descriptions and related discussions.

  16. SETIBURST: A Robotic, Commensal, Realtime Multi-science Backend for the Arecibo Telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chennamangalam, Jayanth; Karastergiou, Aris; Williams, Christopher; MacMahon, David; Cobb, Jeff; Siemion, Andrew P. V.; Gajjar, Vishal; Werthimer, Dan; Rajwade, Kaustubh; Lorimer, Duncan R.; McLaughlin, Maura A.; Armour, Wes

    2017-01-01

    Radio astronomy has traditionally depended on observatories allocating time to observers for exclusive use of their telescopes. The disadvantage of this scheme is that the data thus collected is rarely used for other astronomy applications, and in many cases, is unsuitable. For example, properly calibrated pulsar search data can, with some reduction, be used for spectral line surveys. A backend that supports plugging in multiple applications to a telescope to perform commensal data analysis will vastly increase the science throughput of the facility. In this paper, we present “SETIBURST,” a robotic, commensal, realtime multi-science backend for the 305 m Arecibo Telescope. The system uses the 1.4 GHz, seven-beam Arecibo L -band Feed Array (ALFA) receiver whenever it is operated. SETIBURST currently supports two applications: SERENDIP VI, a SETI spectrometer that is conducting a search for signs of technological life, and ALFABURST, a fast transient search system that is conducting a survey of fast radio bursts (FRBs). Based on the FRB event rate and the expected usage of ALFA, we expect 0–5 FRB detections over the coming year. SETIBURST also provides the option of plugging in more applications. We outline the motivation for our instrumentation scheme and the scientific motivation of the two surveys, along with their descriptions and related discussions.

  17. SETIBURST: A Robotic, Commensal, Realtime Multi-science Backend for the Arecibo Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chennamangalam, Jayanth; MacMahon, David; Cobb, Jeff; Karastergiou, Aris; Siemion, Andrew P. V.; Rajwade, Kaustubh; Armour, Wes; Gajjar, Vishal; Lorimer, Duncan R.; McLaughlin, Maura A.; Werthimer, Dan; Williams, Christopher

    2017-02-01

    Radio astronomy has traditionally depended on observatories allocating time to observers for exclusive use of their telescopes. The disadvantage of this scheme is that the data thus collected is rarely used for other astronomy applications, and in many cases, is unsuitable. For example, properly calibrated pulsar search data can, with some reduction, be used for spectral line surveys. A backend that supports plugging in multiple applications to a telescope to perform commensal data analysis will vastly increase the science throughput of the facility. In this paper, we present “SETIBURST,” a robotic, commensal, realtime multi-science backend for the 305 m Arecibo Telescope. The system uses the 1.4 GHz, seven-beam Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFA) receiver whenever it is operated. SETIBURST currently supports two applications: SERENDIP VI, a SETI spectrometer that is conducting a search for signs of technological life, and ALFABURST, a fast transient search system that is conducting a survey of fast radio bursts (FRBs). Based on the FRB event rate and the expected usage of ALFA, we expect 0-5 FRB detections over the coming year. SETIBURST also provides the option of plugging in more applications. We outline the motivation for our instrumentation scheme and the scientific motivation of the two surveys, along with their descriptions and related discussions.

  18. Cryogenic Photogrammetry and Radiometry for the James Webb Space Telescope Microshutters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chambers, Victor J.; Morey, Peter A.; Zukowski, Barbara J.; Kutyrev, Alexander S.; Collins, Nicholas R.

    2012-01-01

    The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) relies on several innovations to complete its five year mission. One vital technology is microshutters, the programmable field selectors that enable the Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec) to perform multi-object spectroscopy. Mission success depends on acquiring spectra from large numbers of galaxies by positioning shutter slits over faint targets. Precise selection of faint targets requires field selectors that are both high in contrast and stable in position. We have developed test facilities to evaluate microshutter contrast and alignment stability at their 35K operating temperature. These facilities used a novel application of image registration algorithms to obtain non-contact, sub-micron measurements in cryogenic conditions. The cryogenic motion of the shutters was successfully characterized. Optical results also demonstrated that shutter contrast far exceeds the NIRSpec requirements. Our test program has concluded with the delivery of a flight-qualified field selection subsystem to the NIRSpec bench.

  19. Open principle for large high-resolution solar telescopes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hammerschlag, R.H.; Bettonvil, F.C.M.; Jägers, A.P.L.; Sliepen, G.

    2009-01-01

    Vacuum solar telescopes solve the problem of image deterioration inside the telescope due to refractive index fluctuations of the air heated by the solar light. However, such telescopes have a practical diameter limit somewhat over 1 m. The Dutch Open Telescope (DOT) was the pioneering demonstrator

  20. Analysis of polarization introduced due to the telescope optics of the Thirty Meter Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anche, Ramya Manjunath; Sen, Asoke Kumar; Anupama, Gadiyara Chakrapani; Sankarasubramanian, Kasiviswanathan; Skidmore, Warren

    2018-01-01

    An analytical model has been developed to estimate the polarization effects, such as instrumental polarization (IP), crosstalk (CT), and depolarization, due to the optics of the Thirty Meter Telescope. These are estimated for the unvignetted field-of-view and the wavelengths of interest. The model estimates an IP of 1.26% and a CT of 44% at the Nasmyth focus of the telescope at the wavelength of 0.6 μm at field angle zero with the telescope pointing to zenith. Mueller matrices have been estimated for the primary, secondary, and Nasmyth mirrors. It is found that some of the Mueller matrix elements of the primary and secondary mirrors show a fourfold azimuthal antisymmetry, which indicates that the polarization at the Cassegrain focus is negligible. At the inclined Nasmyth mirror, there is no azimuthal antisymmetry in the matrix elements, and this results in nonzero values for IP and CT, which would negatively impact the polarization measurements at the telescope focus. The averaged Mueller matrix is estimated at the Nasmyth focus at different instrument ports and various zenith angles of the telescope. The variation in the Mueller matrix elements for different coatings is also estimated. The impact of this polarization effect on the science case requirements has been discussed. This analysis will help in achieving precise requirements for future instruments with polarimetric capability.

  1. Optical Design of the STAR-X Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saha, Timo T.; Zhang, William W.; McClelland, Ryan S.

    2017-01-01

    Top-level science goals of the Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research eXplorer (STAR-X) include: investigations of most violent explosions in the universe, study of growth of black holes across cosmic time and mass scale, and measure how structure formation heats majority of baryons in the universe. To meet these goals, the field-of-view of the telescope should be about 1 square-degree, the angular resolution should be 5 arc-seconds or below across large part of the field-of-view. The on-axis effective area at 1 KeV should be about 2,000 sq cm. Payload cost and launch considerations limit the outer diameter, focal length, and mass to 1.3 meters, 5 meters, and 250 kilograms, respectively. Telescope design is based on a segmented meta-shell approach we have developed at Goddard Space Flight Center for the STAR-X telescope. The telescope shells are divided into 30-degree segments. Individual telescopes and meta-shells are nested inside each other to meet the effective area requirements in 0.5 - 6.0 KeV range. We consider Wolter-Schwarzschild, and Modified-Wolter-Schwarzschild telescope designs as basic building blocks of the nested STAR-X telescope. These designs offer an excellent resolution over a large field of views. Nested telescopes are vulnerable to stray light problems. We have designed a multi-component baffle system to eliminate direct and single-reflection light paths inside the telescopes. Large number of internal and external baffle vane structures are required to prevent stray rays from reaching the focal plane. We have developed a simple ray-trace based tool to determine the dimensions and locations of the baffles. In this paper, we present the results of our trade studies, baffle design studies, and optical performance analyses of the STAR-X telescope.

  2. Status of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope: unraveling the mysteries the Sun.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rimmele, Thomas R.; Pillet, Valentin; Goode, Philip R.; Knoelker, Michael; Kuhn, Jeffrey Richard; Rosner, Robert; Casini, Roberto; Lin, Haosheng; von der Luehe, Oskar; Woeger, Friedrich; Tritschler, Alexandra; Fehlmann, Andre; Jaeggli, Sarah A.; Schmidt, Wolfgang; De Wijn, Alfred; Rast, Mark; Harrington, David M.; Sueoka, Stacey R.; Beck, Christian; Schad, Thomas A.; Warner, Mark; McMullin, Joseph P.; Berukoff, Steven J.; Mathioudakis, Mihalis; DKIST Team

    2018-06-01

    The 4m Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) currently under construction on Haleakala, Maui will be the world’s largest solar telescope. Designed to meet the needs of critical high resolution and high sensitivity spectral and polarimetric observations of the sun, this facility will perform key observations of our nearest star that matters most to humankind. DKIST’s superb resolution and sensitivity will enable astronomers to address many of the fundamental problems in solar and stellar astrophysics, including the origin of stellar magnetism, the mechanisms of coronal heating and drivers of the solar wind, flares, coronal mass ejections and variability in solar and stellar output. DKIST will also address basic research aspects of Space Weather and help improve predictive capabilities. In combination with synoptic observations and theoretical modeling DKIST will unravel the many remaining mysteries of the Sun.The construction of DKIST is progressing on schedule with 80% of the facility complete. Operations are scheduled to begin early 2020. DKIST will replace the NSO facilities on Kitt Peak and Sac Peak with a national facility with worldwide unique capabilities. The design allows DKIST to operate as a coronagraph. Taking advantage of its large aperture and infrared polarimeters DKIST will be capable to routinely measure the currently illusive coronal magnetic fields. The state-of-the-art adaptive optics system provides diffraction limited imaging and the ability to resolve features approximately 20 km on the Sun. Achieving this resolution is critical for the ability to observe magnetic structures at their intrinsic, fundamental scales. Five instruments will be available at the start of operations, four of which will provide highly sensitive measurements of solar magnetic fields throughout the solar atmosphere – from the photosphere to the corona. The data from these instruments will be distributed to the world wide community via the NSO/DKIST data center

  3. Technological Aspects of Creating Large-size Optical Telescopes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. V. Sychev

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A concept of the telescope creation, first of all, depends both on a choice of the optical scheme to form optical radiation and images with minimum losses of energy and information and on a choice of design to meet requirements for strength, stiffness, and stabilization characteristics in real telescope operation conditions. Thus, the concept of creating large-size telescopes, certainly, involves the use of adaptive optics methods and means.The level of technological capabilities to realize scientific and engineering ideas define a successful development of large-size optical telescopes in many respects. All developers pursue the same aim that is to raise an amount of information by increasing a main mirror diameter of the telescope.The article analyses the adaptive telescope designs developed in our country. Using a domestic ACT-25 telescope as an example, it considers creation of large-size optical telescopes in terms of technological aspects. It also describes the telescope creation concept features, which allow reaching marginally possible characteristics to ensure maximum amount of information.The article compares a wide range of large-size telescopes projects. It shows that a domestic project to create the adaptive ACT-25 super-telescope surpasses its foreign counterparts, and there is no sense to implement Euro50 (50m and OWL (100m projects.The considered material gives clear understanding on a role of technological aspects in development of such complicated optic-electronic complexes as a large-size optical telescope. The technological criteria of an assessment offered in the article, namely specific informational content of the telescope, its specific mass, and specific cost allow us to reveal weaknesses in the project development and define a reserve regarding further improvement of the telescope.The analysis of results and their judgment have shown that improvement of optical largesize telescopes in terms of their maximum

  4. Neutrino telescopes in the World

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ernenwein, J.-P.

    2007-01-01

    Neutrino astronomy has rapidly developed these last years, being the only way to get specific and reliable information about astrophysical objects still poorly understood.Currently two neutrino telescopes are operational in the World: BAIKAL, in the lake of the same name in Siberia, and AMANDA, in the ices of the South Pole. Two telescopes of the same type are under construction in the Mediterranean Sea: ANTARES and NESTOR. All these telescopes belong to a first generation, with an instrumented volume smaller or equal to 0.02 km3. Also in the Mediterranean Sea, the NEMO project is just in its starting phase, within the framework of a cubic kilometer size neutrino telescope study. Lastly, the ICECUBE detector, with a volume reaching about 1 km3, is under construction on the site of AMANDA experiment, while an extension of the BAIKAL detector toward km3 is under study. We will present here the characteristics of these experiments, as well as the results of their observations

  5. The Dutch Open Telescope: History, Status, Prospects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rutten, R.J.

    1999-01-01

    After many years of persistent telescope design and telescope construction, R.H. Hammerschlag has installed his Dutch Open Telescope (DOT) on La Palma. I brie y review its history and design. The future of optical solar physics at Utrecht hinges on a recently-funded three- year DOT science

  6. A virtual reality environment for telescope operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez, Luis A.; Villarreal, José L.; Ángeles, Fernando; Bernal, Abel

    2010-07-01

    Astronomical observatories and telescopes are becoming increasingly large and complex systems, demanding to any potential user the acquirement of great amount of information previous to access them. At present, the most common way to overcome that information is through the implementation of larger graphical user interfaces and computer monitors to increase the display area. Tonantzintla Observatory has a 1-m telescope with a remote observing system. As a step forward in the improvement of the telescope software, we have designed a Virtual Reality (VR) environment that works as an extension of the remote system and allows us to operate the telescope. In this work we explore this alternative technology that is being suggested here as a software platform for the operation of the 1-m telescope.

  7. Automatic Photoelectric Telescope Service

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Genet, R.M.; Boyd, L.J.; Kissell, K.E.; Crawford, D.L.; Hall, D.S.; BDM Corp., McLean, VA; Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, AZ; Dyer Observatory, Nashville, TN)

    1987-01-01

    Automatic observatories have the potential of gathering sizable amounts of high-quality astronomical data at low cost. The Automatic Photoelectric Telescope Service (APT Service) has realized this potential and is routinely making photometric observations of a large number of variable stars. However, without observers to provide on-site monitoring, it was necessary to incorporate special quality checks into the operation of the APT Service at its multiple automatic telescope installation on Mount Hopkins. 18 references

  8. The ATHENA telescope and optics status

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bavdaz, Marcos; Wille, Eric; Ayre, Mark; Ferreira, Ivo; Shortt, Brian; Fransen, Sebastiaan; Collon, Maximilien; Vacanti, Giuseppe; Barriere, Nicolas; Landgraf, Boris; Haneveld, Jeroen; van Baren, Coen; Zuknik, Karl-Heintz; Della Monica Ferreira, Desiree; Massahi, Sonny; Christensen, Finn; Krumrey, Michael; Burwitz, Vadim; Pareschi, Giovanni; Spiga, Daniele; Valsecchi, Giuseppe; Vernani, Dervis; Oliver, Paul; Seidel, André

    2017-08-01

    The work on the definition and technological preparation of the ATHENA (Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics) mission continues to progress. In parallel to the study of the accommodation of the telescope, many aspects of the X-ray optics are being evolved further. The optics technology chosen for ATHENA is the Silicon Pore Optics (SPO), which hinges on technology spin-in from the semiconductor industry, and uses a modular approach to produce large effective area lightweight telescope optics with a good angular resolution. Both system studies and the technology developments are guided by ESA and implemented in industry, with participation of institutional partners. In this paper an overview of the current status of the telescope optics accommodation and technology development activities is provided.

  9. Physical Properties and Seasonal Behavior of H2O, HDO, CO2 and Trace Gases on Mars: Quantitative Mapping from Earth-Based Observatories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novak, Robert E.; Mumma, Michael J.

    2011-01-01

    Since 1997, we have used high-resolution (R greater than 40000) spectrometers on ground based-telescopes to study molecules that have astrobiological significance in Mars' atmosphere. We have used the NASA-IRTF, Keck II, and VLT telescopes in the 1.0-5.0 micron range. The spectrometer is set at a wavelength to detect specific molecules. Spectral/spatial images are produced. Extracts from these images provide column densities centered at latitude/longitude locations (resolution 400km at sub-Earth point). We have mapped the O2 singlet-Delta emission (a proxy for ozone), HDO, and H2O for seasonal dates throughout the Martian year. Previously undiscovered isotopic bands of CO2 have been identified along with isotopic forms of CO. We are searching for other molecules that have astrobiological importance and have successfully measured methane in Mars' atmosphere.

  10. Hard x-ray telescope mission

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gorenstein, P.; Worrall, D.; Joensen, K.D.

    1996-01-01

    The Hard X-Ray Telescope was selected for study as a possible new intermediate size mission for the early 21st century. Its principal attributes are: (1) multiwavelength observing with a system of focussing telescopes that collectively observe from the UV to over 1 MeV, (2) much higher sensitivity...

  11. 21 CFR 886.5870 - Low-vision telescope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Low-vision telescope. 886.5870 Section 886.5870...) MEDICAL DEVICES OPHTHALMIC DEVICES Therapeutic Devices § 886.5870 Low-vision telescope. (a) Identification. A low-vision telescope is a device that consists of an arrangement of lenses or mirrors intended for...

  12. ATHENA: system design and implementation for a next generation x-ray telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayre, M.; Bavdaz, M.; Ferreira, I.; Wille, E.; Lumb, D.; Linder, M.

    2015-08-01

    ATHENA, Europe's next generation x-ray telescope, has recently been selected for the 'L2' slot in ESA's Cosmic Vision Programme, with a mandate to address the 'Hot and Energetic Universe' Cosmic Vision science theme. The mission is currently in the Assessment/Definition Phase (A/B1), with a view to formal adoption after a successful System Requirements Review in 2019. This paper will describe the reference mission architecture and spacecraft design produced during Phase 0 by the ESA Concurrent Design Facility (CDF), in response to the technical requirements and programmatic boundary conditions. The main technical requirements and their mapping to resulting design choices will be presented, at both mission and spacecraft level. An overview of the spacecraft design down to subsystem level will then be presented (including the telescope and instruments), remarking on the critically-enabling technologies where appropriate. Finally, a programmatic overview will be given of the on-going Assessment Phase, and a snapshot of the prospects for securing the `as-proposed' mission within the cost envelope will be given.

  13. The European HST Science Data Archive. [and Data Management Facility (DMF)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasian, F.; Pirenne, B.; Albrecht, R.; Russo, G.

    1993-01-01

    The paper describes the European HST Science Data Archive. Particular attention is given to the flow from the HST spacecraft to the Science Data Archive at the Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF); the archiving system at the ST-ECF, including the hardware and software system structure; the operations at the ST-ECF and differences with the Data Management Facility; and the current developments. A diagram of the logical structure and data flow of the system managing the European HST Science Data Archive is included.

  14. Augmenting the Funding Sources for Space Science and the ASTRO-1 Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morse, Jon

    2015-08-01

    The BoldlyGo Institute was formed in 2013 to augment the planned space science portfolio through philanthropically funded robotic space missions, similar to how some U.S. medical institutes and ground-based telescopes are funded. I introduce BoldlyGo's two current projects: the SCIM mission to Mars and the ASTRO-1 space telescope. In particular, ASTRO-1 is a 1.8-meter off-axis (unobscured) ultraviolet-visible space observatory to be located in a Lagrange point or heliocentric orbit with a wide-field panchromatic camera, medium- and high-resolution spectrograph, and high-contrast imaging coronagraph and/or an accompanying starshade/occulter. It is intended for the post-Hubble Space Telescope era in the 2020s, enabling unique measurements of a broad range of celestial targets, while providing vital complementary capabilities to other ground- and space-based facilities such as the JWST, ALMA, WFIRST-AFTA, LSST, TESS, Euclid, and PLATO. The ASTRO-1 architecture simultaneously wields great scientific power while being technically viable and affordable. A wide variety of scientific programs can be accomplished, addressing topics across space astronomy, astrophysics, fundamental physics, and solar system science, as well as being technologically informative to future large-aperture programs. ASTRO-1 is intended to be a new-generation research facility serving a broad national and international community, as well as a vessel for impactful public engagement. Traditional institutional partnerships and consortia, such as are common with private ground-based observatories, may play a role in the support and governance of ASTRO-1; we are currently engaging interested international organizations. In addition to our planned open guest observer program and accessible data archive, we intend to provide a mechanism whereby individual scientists can buy in to a fraction of the gauranteed observing time. Our next step in ASTRO-1 development is to form the ASTRO-1 Requirements Team

  15. Scientific management of Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odell, C. R.

    1981-01-01

    A historical summay is given on the science management of the Space Telescope, the inception of which began in 1962, when scientists and engineers first recommended the development of a nearly diffraction limited substantial-size optical telescope. Phase A, the feasibility requirements generation phase, began in 1971 and consisted largely of NASA scientists and a NASA design. Phase B, the preliminary design phase, established a tiered structure of scientists, led by the Large Space Telescope operations and Management Work Group. A Mission Operations Working Group headed six instrument definition teams to develop the essential instrument definitions. Many changes took place during Phase B, before design and development, which began in 1978 and still continues today.

  16. Remote secure observing for the Faulkes Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Robert J.; Steele, Iain A.; Marchant, Jonathan M.; Fraser, Stephen N.; Mucke-Herzberg, Dorothea

    2004-09-01

    Since the Faulkes Telescopes are to be used by a wide variety of audiences, both powerful engineering level and simple graphical interfaces exist giving complete remote and robotic control of the telescope over the internet. Security is extremely important to protect the health of both humans and equipment. Data integrity must also be carefully guarded for images being delivered directly into the classroom. The adopted network architecture is described along with the variety of security and intrusion detection software. We use a combination of SSL, proxies, IPSec, and both Linux iptables and Cisco IOS firewalls to ensure only authenticated and safe commands are sent to the telescopes. With an eye to a possible future global network of robotic telescopes, the system implemented is capable of scaling linearly to any moderate (of order ten) number of telescopes.

  17. Single particle detecting telescope system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamamoto, I.; Tomiyama, T.; Iga, Y.; Komatsubara, T.; Kanada, M.; Yamashita, Y.; Wada, T.; Furukawa, S.

    1981-01-01

    We constructed the single particle detecting telescope system for detecting a fractionally charged particle. The telescope consists of position detecting counters, wall-less multi-cell chambers, single detecting circuits and microcomputer system as data I/0 processor. Especially, a frequency of double particle is compared the case of the single particle detecting with the case of an ordinary measurement

  18. Building the Hubble Space Telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'dell, C.R.

    1989-01-01

    The development of the design for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is discussed. The HST optical system is described and illustrated. The financial and policy issues related to the development of the HST are considered. The actual construction of the HST optical telescope is examined. Also, consideration is given to the plans for the HST launch

  19. Lee Sang Gak Telescope (LSGT): A Remotely Operated Robotic Telescope for Education and Research at Seoul National University

    Science.gov (United States)

    Im, Myungshin; Choi, Changsu; Kim, Kihyun

    2015-08-01

    We introduce the Lee Sang Gak Telescope (LSGT), a remotely operated, robotic 0.43-meter telescope. The telescope was installed at the Siding Spring Observatory, Australia, in 2014 October, to secure regular and exclusive access to the dark sky and excellent atmospheric conditions in the southern hemisphere from the Seoul National University (SNU) campus. Here, we describe the LSGT system and its performance, present example images from early observations, and discuss a future plan to upgrade the system. The use of the telescope includes (i) long-term monitoring observations of nearby galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and supernovae; (ii) rapid follow-up observations of transients such as gamma-ray bursts and gravitational wave sources; and (iii) observations for educational activities at SNU. Based on observations performed so far, we find that the telescope is capable of providing images to a depth of R=21.5 mag (point source detection) at 5-σ with 15 min total integration time under good obs-erving conditions.

  20. Carbon Fiber Mirror for a CubeSat Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Young-Soo; Jang, Jeong Gyun; Kim, Jihun; Nam, Uk Won

    2017-08-01

    Telescope mirrors made by carbon fibers have been increasingly used especially for space applications, and they may replace the traditional glass mirrors. Glass mirrors are easy to fabricate, but needed to be carefully handled as they are brittle. Other materials have also been considered for telescope mirrors, such as metals, plastics, and liquids even. However glass and glass ceramics are still commonly and dominantly used.Carbon fiber has mainly been used for mechanical supports like truss structure and telescope tubes, as it is stiff and light-weight. It can also be a good material for telescope mirrors, as it has additional merits of non-brittle and very low thermal expansion. Therefore, carbon fiber mirror would be suitable for space telescopes which should endure the harsh vibration conditions during launch.A light-weight telescope made by carbon fiber has been designed for a small satellite which would have much less weight than conventional ones. In this poster, mirror materials are reviewed, and a design of carbon fiber telescope is presented and discussed.

  1. A free market in telescope time?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Etherton, Jason; Steele, Iain A.; Mottram, Christopher J.

    2004-09-01

    As distributed systems are becoming more and more diverse in application there is a growing need for more intelligent resource scheduling. eSTAR Is a geographically distributed network of Grid-enabled telescopes, using grid middleware to provide telescope users with an authentication and authorisation method, allowing secure, remote access to such resources. The eSTAR paradigm is based upon this secure, single sign-on, giving astronomers or their agent proxies direct access to these telescopes. This concept, however, involves the complex issue of how to schedule observations stored within physically distributed media, on geographically distributed resources. This matter is complicated further by the varying degrees of constraints placed upon observations such as timeliness, atmospheric and meteorological conditions, and sky brightness to name a few. This paper discusses a free market approach to this scheduling problem, where astronomers are given credit, instead of time, from their respective TAGs to spend on telescopes as they see fit. This approach will ultimately provide a community-driven schedule, genuine indicators of the worth of specific telescope time and promote a more efficient use of that time, as well as demonstrating a 'survival of the fittest' type selection.

  2. Ground-Based Telescope Parametric Cost Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip; Rowell, Ginger Holmes

    2004-01-01

    A parametric cost model for ground-based telescopes is developed using multi-variable statistical analysis, The model includes both engineering and performance parameters. While diameter continues to be the dominant cost driver, other significant factors include primary mirror radius of curvature and diffraction limited wavelength. The model includes an explicit factor for primary mirror segmentation and/or duplication (i.e.. multi-telescope phased-array systems). Additionally, single variable models based on aperture diameter are derived. This analysis indicates that recent mirror technology advances have indeed reduced the historical telescope cost curve.

  3. Care of astronomical telescopes and accessories a manual for the astronomical observer and amateur telescope maker

    CERN Document Server

    Pepin, M Barlow

    2005-01-01

    Commercially-made astronomical telescopes are better and less expensive than ever before, and their optical and mechanical performance can be superb. When a good-quality telescope fails to perform as well as it might, the reason is quite probably that it needs a little care and attention! Here is a complete guide for anyone who wants to understand more than just the basics of astronomical telescopes and accessories, and how to maintain them in the peak of condition. The latest on safely adjusting, cleaning, and maintaining your equipment is combined with thoroughly updated methods from the old masters. Here, too, are details of choosing new and used optics and accessories, along with enhancements you can make to extend their versatility and useful lifetime. This book is for you. Really. Looking after an astronomical telescope isn't only for the experts - although there are some things that only an expert should attempt - and every serious amateur astronomer will find invaluable information here, gleaned from ...

  4. The LAM space active optics facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engel, C.; Ferrari, M.; Hugot, E.; Escolle, C.; Bonnefois, A.; Bernot, M.; Bret-Dibat, T.; Carlavan, M.; Falzon, F.; Fusco, T.; Laubier, D.; Liotard, A.; Michau, V.; Mugnier, L.

    2017-11-01

    The next generation of large lightweight space telescopes will require the use of active optics systems to enhance the performance and increase the spatial resolution. Since almost 10 years now, LAM, CNES, THALES and ONERA conjugate their experience and efforts for the development of space active optics through the validation of key technological building blocks: correcting devices, metrology components and control strategies. This article presents the work done so far on active correcting mirrors and wave front sensing, as well as all the facilities implemented. The last part of this paper focuses on the merging of the MADRAS and RASCASSE test-set up. This unique combination will provide to the active optics community an automated, flexible and versatile facility able to feed and characterise space active optics components.

  5. GRANITE- A steroscopic imaging Chernkov telescope system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shubnell, M.; Akerlof, C.W.; Cawley, M.F.; Chantell, M.; Fegan, D.J.; Fennell, S.; O'Flaherty, K.S.; Freeman, S.; Frishman, D.; Gaidos, J.A.; Hagan, J.; Harris, K.; Hillas, A.M.; Kerrick, A.D.; Lamb, R.C.; Lappin, T.; Lawrence, M.A.; Levy, H.; Lewis, D.A.; Meyer, D.I.; Mohanty, G.; Punch, M.; Reynolds, P.T.; Rovero, A.C.; Sembroski, G.; Weaverdyck, C.; Weekes, T.C.; Whitaker, T.; Wilson, C.

    1993-01-01

    A second 10 meter class imaging telescope was constructed on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, the site of the original 10 meter Whipple Cherenkov telescope. The twin telescope system with a 140 meter base line will allow both a reduction in the energy threshold and an improvement in the rejection of the hardonic background. The new telescope started operation in December 1991. With the final completion of the first installation stage (GRANITE I) during spring 92, it is now operating simultaneously with the orginal reflector. We describe in this paper design and construction of the new instrument and demonstrate the capability of the experiment to record coincident events

  6. Overdenture dengan Pegangan Telescopic Crown

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pambudi Santoso

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Kaitan presisi merupakan alat retensi mekanis yang menghubungkan antara satu atau lebih pegangan gigi tiruan, yang bertujuan untuk menambah retensi dan/atau stabilisasi. Kaitan presisi dapat digunakan secara luas pada gigi tiruan cekat, gigi tiruan sebagian lepasan, overdenture, implant untuk retensi overdenture, dan protesa maksilo fasial. Overdenture dengan kaitan presisi dapat membantu dalam pembagian beban kunyah, meminimalkan trauma pada gigi pegangan dan jaringan lunak, meminimalkan resorbsi tulang, dan meningkatkan estetik dan pengucapan suara. Salah satu jenis dari kaitan presisi adalah telescopic crown, terdiri dari 2 macam mahkota, yaitu mahkota primer yang melekat secara permanen pada gigi penyangga, dan mahkota sekunder yang melekat pada gigi tiruan. Tujuan pemaparan kasus ini adalah untuk memberikan informasi tentang rehabilitasi pasien edentulous sebagian rahang atas dengan telescopic crown..  Pasien wanita berusia 45 tahun datang ke klinik prostodonsia RSGM Prof.Soedomo dengan keluhan ingin dibuatkan gigi tiruan. Pasien kehilangan gigi 11 12 15 16 17 21 22 24 25 26 dan 27 yang diindikasikan untuk pembuatan overdenture gigi tiruan sebagian lepasan (GTS kerangka logam dengan pegangan telescopic crown pada gigi 13 dan 14 dengan sistem parallel-sided crown. Tahap-tahap pembuatan telescopic crown yaitu mencetak model study dengan catatan gigit pendahuluan. Perawatan saluran dilakukan pada akar gigi 13, dilanjutkan pemasangan pasak fiber serta rewalling dinding bukal. Gigi 13 dan 14 dilakukan preparasi mahkota penuh, dilanjutkan dengan pencetakan model kerja untuk coping primer dan kerangka logam dengan metode double impression. Coping primer disementasi pada gigi penyangga, dilanjutkan pasang coba coping sekunder beserta kerangka logam. Selanjutnya dilakukan pencatatan gigit, pencetakan model kerja, penyusunan gigi dan pasang coba penyusunan gigi pada pasien. Prosedur dilanjutkan dengan proses di laboratorium, serta insersi pada

  7. Trick or Treat and Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buratti, Bonnie J.; Meinke, Bonnie K.; Schmude, Richard W.

    2017-10-01

    Based on an activity that DPS member Richard Schmude Jr. has been doing for years, with over 5000 children reached, DPS initiated in 2016 a pilot program entitled “Trick-or-Treat and Telescopes.” DPS encouraged its members to put out their telescopes during trick-or-treat time on Halloween, in their own lawns or in a neighbor’s lawn with better viewing (or more traffic). The program will be continued in 2017. This year should offer good viewing with a waxing gibbous moon and Saturn visible. The program was also advertised though the Night Sky Network, a consortium of astronomy clubs. The following website gives advice and connections to resources.https://dps.aas.org/education/trick-or-treat-and-telescopes acknowledged.

  8. The Impact of Radio Interference on Future Radio Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Daniel A.; Robertson, Gordon J.; Sault, Robert J.

    While future radio telescopes will require technological advances from the communications industry interference from sources such as satellites and mobile phones is a serious concern. In addition to the fact that the level of interference is growing constantly the increased capabilities of next generation instruments make them more prone to harmful interference. These facilities must have mechanisms to allow operation in a crowded spectrum. In this report some of the factors which may limit the effectiveness of these mechanisms are investigated. Radio astronomy is unique among other observing wavelengths in that the radiation can be fully sampled at a rate which completely specifies the electromagnetic environment. Knowledge of phases and antennae gain factors affords one the opportunity to attempt to mitigate interference from the astronomical data. At present several interference mitigation techniques have been demonstrated to be extremely effective. However the observational scales of the new facilities will push the techniques to their limits. Processes such as signal decorrelation varying antenna gain and instabilities in the primary beam will have a serious effect on some of the algorithms. In addition the sheer volume of data produced will render some techniques computationally and financially impossible.

  9. Science Programs for a 2-m Class Telescope at Dome C, Antarctica: PILOT, the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burton, M. G.; Lawrence, J. S.; Ashley, M. C. B.; Bailey, J. A.; Blake, C.; Bedding, T. R.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Bond, I. A.; Glazebrook, K.; Hidas, M. G.; Lewis, G.; Longmore, S. N.; Maddison, S. T.; Mattila, S.; Minier, V.; Ryder, S. D.; Sharp, R.; Smith, C. H.; Storey, J. W. V.; Tinney, C. G.; Tuthill, P.; Walsh, A. J.; Walsh, W.; Whiting, M.; Wong, T.; Woods, D.; Yock, P. C. M.

    2005-08-01

    The cold, dry, and stable air above the summits of the Antarctic plateau provides the best ground-based observing conditions from optical to sub-millimetre wavelengths to be found on the Earth. Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope (PILOT) is a proposed 2m telescope, to be built at Dome C in Antarctica, able to exploit these conditions for conducting astronomy at optical and infrared wavelengths. While PILOT is intended as a pathfinder towards the construction of future grand-design facilities, it will also be able to undertake a range of fundamental science investigations in its own right. This paper provides the performance specifications for PILOT, including its instrumentation. It then describes the kinds of projects that it could best conduct. These range from planetary science to the search for other solar systems, from star formation within the Galaxy to the star formation history of the Universe, and from gravitational lensing caused by exo-planets to that produced by the cosmic web of dark matter. PILOT would be particularly powerful for wide-field imaging at infrared wavelengths, achieving near diffraction-limited performance with simple tip-tilt wavefront correction. PILOT would also be capable of near diffraction-limited performance in the optical wavebands, as well be able to open new wavebands for regular ground-based observation, in the mid-IR from 17 to 40μm and in the sub-millimetre at 200μm.

  10. A decade of cost-reduction in very large telescopes - The SST as prototype of special-purpose telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Harlan J.

    1989-10-01

    Many design and technical innovations over the past ten or fifteen years have reduced the costs of very large telescopes by nearly an order of magnitude over those of classical designs. Still a further order of magnitude reduction is possible if the telescope is specialized for on-axis spectroscopy, giving up especially the luxuries of wide field, multiple focal positions, and access to all the sky at will. The SST (Spectroscopic Survey Telescope) will use eighty-five 1-m circular mirrors mounted in a steel frame composed of hundreds of interlocking tetrahedrons, keeping a fixed elevation angle of 60 deg with rotation only in azimuth. Using an optical fiber it will feed as much light to spectrographs as can be done by a conventional 8-m telescope, yet has a target basic completion cost of only $6 million.

  11. Meeting the challenges of bringing a new base facility operation model to Gemini Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nitta, Atsuko; Arriagada, Gustavo; Adamson, A. J.; Cordova, Martin; Nunez, Arturo; Serio, Andrew; Kleinman, Scot

    2016-08-01

    The aim of the Gemini Observatory's Base Facilities Project is to provide the capabilities to perform routine night time operations with both telescopes and their instruments from their respective base facilities without anyone present at the summit. Tightening budget constraints prompted this project as both a means to save money and an opportunity to move toward increasing remote operations in the future. We successfully moved Gemini North nighttime operation to our base facility in Hawaii in Nov., 2015. This is the first 8mclass telescope to completely move night time operations to base facility. We are currently working on implementing BFO to Gemini South. Key challenges for this project include: (1) This is a schedule driven project. We have to implement the new capabilities by the end of 2015 for Gemini North and end of 2016 for Gemini South. (2) The resources are limited and shared with operations which has the higher priority than our project. (3) Managing parallel work within the project. (4) Testing, commissioning and introducing new tools to operational systems without adding significant disruptions to nightly operations. (5) Staff buying to the new operational model. (6) The staff involved in the project are spread on two locations separated by 10,000km, seven time zones away from each other. To overcome these challenges, we applied two principles: "Bare Minimum" and "Gradual Descent". As a result, we successfully completed the project ahead of schedule at Gemini North Telescope. I will discuss how we managed the cultural and human aspects of the project through these concepts. The other management aspects will be presented by Gustavo Arriagada [2], the Project Manager of this project. For technical details, please see presentations from Andrew Serio [3] and Martin Cordova [4].

  12. Design and development of telescope control system and software for the 50/80 cm Schmidt telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, T. S.; Banavar, R. N.

    2012-09-01

    In this paper, we describe the details of telescope controller design for the 50/80 cm Schmidt telescope at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciencES. The GUI based software for commanding the telescope is developed in Visual C++. The hardware architecture features a distributed network of microcontrollers over CAN. The basic functionality can also be implemented using the dedicated RS232 port per board. The controller is able to perform with negligible rms velocity errors. At fine speeds limit cycles are exhibited due to nonlinear friction. At speeds over 3.90 × 10-02 radians/sec, the PI controller performs with peak errors less than 1%.

  13. Simulation and track reconstruction for beam telescopes

    CERN Document Server

    Maqbool, Salman

    2017-01-01

    Beam telescopes are used for testing new detectors under development. Sensors are placed and a particle beam is passed through them. To test these novel detectors and determine their properties, the particle tracks need to be reconstructed from the known detectors in the telescope. Based on the reconstructed track, it’s predicted hits on the Device under Test (DUT) are compared with the actual hits on the DUT. Several methods exist for track reconstruction, but most of them don’t account for the effects of multiple scattering. General Broken Lines is one such algorithm which incorporates these effects during reconstruction. The aim of this project was to simulate the beam telescope and extend the track reconstruction framework for the FE-I4 telescope, which takes these effects into account. Section 1 introduces the problem, while section 2 focuses on beam telescopes. This is followed by the Allpix2 simulation framework in Section 3. And finally, Section 4 introduces the Proteus track reconstruction framew...

  14. Habitable Exoplanet Imager Optical Telescope Concept Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H Philip

    2017-01-01

    The Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) is one of four missions under study for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey. Its goal is to directly image and spectroscopically characterize planetary systems in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. Additionally, HabEx will perform a broad range of general astrophysics science enabled by 100 to 2500 nm spectral range and 3 x 3 arc-minute FOV. Critical to achieving the HabEx science goals is a large, ultra-stable UV/Optical/Near-IR (UVOIR) telescope. The baseline HabEx telescope is a 4-meter off-axis unobscured three-mirror-anastigmatic, diffraction limited at 400 nm with wavefront stability on the order of a few 10s of picometers. This paper summarizes the opto-mechanical design of the HabEx baseline optical telescope assembly, including a discussion of how science requirements drive the telescope's specifications, and presents analysis that the baseline telescope structure meets its specified tolerances.

  15. Simulation and Track Reconstruction for Beam Telescopes

    CERN Document Server

    Maqbool, Salman

    2017-01-01

    Beam telescopes are an important tool to test new detectors under development in a particle beam. To test these novel detectors and determine their properties, the particle tracks need to be reconstructed from the known detectors in the telescope. Based on the reconstructed track, its predicted position on the Device under Test (DUT) are compared with the actual hits on the DUT. Several methods exist for track reconstruction, but most of them do not account for the effects of multiple scattering. General Broken Lines is one such algorithm which incorporates these effects during reconstruction. The aim of this project was to simulate the beam telescope and extend the track reconstruction framework for the FE-I4 telescope, which takes these effects into account. Section 1 introduces the problem, while section 2 focuses on beam telescopes. This is followed by the Allpix2 simulation framework in Section 3. And finally, Section 4 introduces the Proteus track reconstruction framework along with the General Broken ...

  16. Habitable exoplanet imager optical telescope concept design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip

    2017-09-01

    The Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) is one of four missions under study for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey. Its goal is to directly image and spectroscopically characterize planetary systems in the habitable zone of Sunlike stars. Additionally, HabEx will perform a broad range of general astrophysics science enabled by 100 to 2500 nm spectral range and 3 x 3 arc-minute FOV. Critical to achieving the HabEx science goals is a large, ultra-stable UV/Optical/Near-IR (UVOIR) telescope. The baseline HabEx telescope is a 4-meter off-axis unobscured three-mirroranastigmatic, diffraction limited at 400 nm with wavefront stability on the order of a few 10s of picometers. This paper summarizes the opto-mechanical design of the HabEx baseline optical telescope assembly, including a discussion of how science requirements drive the telescope's specifications, and presents analysis that the baseline telescope structure meets its specified tolerances.

  17. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure for the ASTRI SST-2M telescope prototype for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gianotti, F.; Tacchini, A.; Leto, G.; Martinetti, E.; Bruno, P.; Bellassai, G.; Conforti, V.; Gallozzi, S.; Mastropietro, M.; Tanci, C.; Malaguti, G.; Trifoglio, M.

    2016-08-01

    The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) represents the next generation of ground-based observatories for very high energy gamma-ray astronomy. The CTA will consist of two arrays at two different sites, one in the northern and one in the southern hemisphere. The current CTA design foresees, in the southern site, the installation of many tens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes of three different classes, namely large, medium and small, so defined in relation to their mirror area; the northern hemisphere array would consist of few tens of the two larger telescope types. The Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) is developing the Cherenkov Small Size Telescope ASTRI SST- 2M end-to-end prototype telescope within the framework of the International Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project. The ASTRI prototype has been installed at the INAF observing station located in Serra La Nave on Mt. Etna, Italy. Furthermore a mini-array, composed of nine of ASTRI telescopes, has been proposed to be installed at the Southern CTA site. Among the several different infrastructures belonging the ASTRI project, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment is dedicated to operations of computing and data storage, as well as the control of the entire telescope, and it is designed to achieve the maximum efficiency for all performance requirements. Thus a complete and stand-alone computer centre has been designed and implemented. The goal is to obtain optimal ICT equipment, with an adequate level of redundancy, that might be scaled up for the ASTRI mini-array, taking into account the necessary control, monitor and alarm system requirements. In this contribution we present the ICT equipment currently installed at the Serra La Nave observing station where the ASTRI SST-2M prototype will be operated. The computer centre and the control room are described with particular emphasis on the Local Area Network scheme, the computing and data storage system, and the

  18. Space Telescope maintenance and refurbishment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trucks, H. F.

    1983-01-01

    The Space Telescope (ST) represents a new concept regarding spaceborne astronomical observatories. Maintenance crews will be brought to the orbital worksite to make repairs and replace scientific instruments. For major overhauls the telescope can be temporarily returned to earth with the aid of the Shuttle. It will, thus, be possible to conduct astronomical studies with the ST for two decades or more. The five first-generation scientific instruments used with the ST include a wide field/planetary camera, a faint object camera, a faint object spectrograph, a high resolution spectrograph, and a high speed photometer. Attention is given to the optical telescope assembly, the support systems module, aspects of mission and science operations, unscheduled maintenance, contingency orbital maintenance, planned on-orbit maintenance, ground maintenance, ground refurbishment, and ground logistics.

  19. Eyes on the sky a spectrum of telescopes

    CERN Document Server

    Graham-Smith, Francis

    2016-01-01

    Astronomy is experiencing a golden age, with a new generation of innovative telescopes yielding a flood of information on the Universe. This book traces the development of telescopes from Galileo to the present day, and explains the basic principles of telescopes that operate in different parts of electromagnetic spectrum.

  20. Optical Design for a Survey X-Ray Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saha, Timo T.; Zhang, William W.; McClelland, Ryan S.

    2014-01-01

    Optical design trades are underway at the Goddard Space Flight Center to define a telescope for an x-ray survey mission. Top-level science objectives of the mission include the study of x-ray transients, surveying and long-term monitoring of compact objects in nearby galaxies, as well as both deep and wide-field x-ray surveys. In this paper we consider Wolter, Wolter-Schwarzschild, and modified Wolter-Schwarzschild telescope designs as basic building blocks for the tightly nested survey telescope. Design principles and dominating aberrations of individual telescopes and nested telescopes are discussed and we compare the off-axis optical performance at 1.0 KeV and 4.0 KeV across a 1.0-degree full field-of-view.

  1. Optimal networks of future gravitational-wave telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raffai, Péter; Gondán, László; Heng, Ik Siong; Kelecsényi, Nándor; Logue, Josh; Márka, Zsuzsa; Márka, Szabolcs

    2013-08-01

    We aim to find the optimal site locations for a hypothetical network of 1-3 triangular gravitational-wave telescopes. We define the following N-telescope figures of merit (FoMs) and construct three corresponding metrics: (a) capability of reconstructing the signal polarization; (b) accuracy in source localization; and (c) accuracy in reconstructing the parameters of a standard binary source. We also define a combined metric that takes into account the three FoMs with practically equal weight. After constructing a geomap of possible telescope sites, we give the optimal 2-telescope networks for the four FoMs separately in example cases where the location of the first telescope has been predetermined. We found that based on the combined metric, placing the first telescope to Australia provides the most options for optimal site selection when extending the network with a second instrument. We suggest geographical regions where a potential second and third telescope could be placed to get optimal network performance in terms of our FoMs. Additionally, we use a similar approach to find the optimal location and orientation for the proposed LIGO-India detector within a five-detector network with Advanced LIGO (Hanford), Advanced LIGO (Livingston), Advanced Virgo, and KAGRA. We found that the FoMs do not change greatly in sites within India, though the network can suffer a significant loss in reconstructing signal polarizations if the orientation angle of an L-shaped LIGO-India is not set to the optimal value of ˜58.2°( + k × 90°) (measured counterclockwise from East to the bisector of the arms).

  2. Scrutinizing supergravity models through neutrino telescopes

    CERN Document Server

    Gandhi, R; Nanopoulos, Dimitri V; Yuan, K; Zichichi, Antonino; Gandhi, Raj; Lopez, Jorge L.; Yuan, Kajia

    1994-01-01

    Galactic halo neutralinos ($\\chi$) captured by the Sun or Earth produce high-energy neutrinos as end-products of various annihilation modes. These neutrinos can travel from the Sun or Earth cores to the neighborhood of underground detectors (``neutrino telescopes") where they can interact and produce upwardly-moving muons. We compute these muon fluxes in the context of the minimal $SU(5)$ supergravity model, and the no-scale and dilaton $SU(5)\\times U(1)$ supergravity models. At present, with the Kamiokande 90\\% C.L. upper limits on the flux, only a small fraction of the parameter space of the $SU(5)\\times U(1)$ models is accessible for $m_\\chi\\sim m_{\\rm Fe}$, which in turn implies constraints for the lightest chargino mass around 100 GeV for a range of $\\tan\\beta$ values. We also delineate the regions of parameter space that would be accessible with the improvements of experimental sensitivity expected in the near future at Gran Sasso, Super-Kamiokande, and other facilities such as DUMAND and AMANDA, curren...

  3. Origins Space Telescope: 3D infrared surveys of star formation and black hole growth in galaxies over cosmic time

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pope, Alexandra; Armus, Lee; bradford, charles; Origins Space Telescope STDT

    2018-01-01

    In the coming decade, new telescope facilities and surveys aim to provide a 3D map of the unobscured Universe over cosmic time. However, much of galaxy formation and evolution occurs behind dust, and is only observable through infrared observations. Previous extragalactic infrared surveys were fundamentally limited to a 2D mapping of the most extreme populations of galaxies due to spatial resolution and sensitivity. The Origins Space Telescope (OST) is the mission concept for the Far-Infrared Surveyor, one of the four science and technology definition studies sponsored by NASA to provide input to the 2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal survey. OST is planned to be a large aperture, actively-cooled telescope covering a wide span of the mid- to far-infrared spectrum, which will achieve spectral line sensitivities up to 1000 times deeper than previous infrared facilities. With powerful instruments such as the Medium Resolution Survey Spectrometer (MRSS), capable of simultaneous imaging and spectroscopy, the extragalactic infrared sky can finally be surveyed in 3D. In addition to spectroscopic redshifts, the rich suite of lines in the infrared provides unique diagnostics of the ongoing star formation (both obscured and unobscured) and the central supermassive black hole growth. In this poster, we present a simulated extragalactic survey with OST/MRSS which will detect millions of galaxies down to well below the knee of the infrared luminosity function. We demonstrate how this survey can map the coeval star formation and black hole growth in galaxies over cosmic time.

  4. Active control of the Chinese Giant Solar Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Yichun; Yang, Dehua; Jin, Zhenyu; Liu, Zhong; Qin, Wei

    2014-07-01

    The Chinese Giant Solar Telescope (CGST) is the next generation solar telescope of China with diameter of 8 meter. The unique feature of CGST is that its primary is a ring, which facilitates the polarization detection and thermal control. In its present design and development phase, two primary mirror patterns are considered. For one thing, the primary mirror is expected to construct with mosaic mirror with 24 trapezoidal (or petal) segments, for another thing, a monolithic mirror is also a candidate for its primary mirror. Both of them depend on active control technique to maintain the optical quality of the ring mirror. As a solar telescope, the working conditions of the CGST are quite different from those of the stellar telescopes. To avoid the image deterioration due to the mirror seeing and dome seeing, especially in the case of the concentration of flux in a solar telescope, large aperture solar projects prefer to adopt open telescopes and open domes. In this circumstance, higher wind loads act on the primary mirror directly, which will cause position errors and figure errors of the primary with matters worse than those of the current 10-meter stellar telescopes with dome protect. Therefore, it gives new challenges to the active control capability, telescope structure design, and wind shielding design. In this paper, the study progress of active control of CGST for its mosaic and monolithic mirror are presented, and the wind effects on such two primary mirrors are also investigated.

  5. Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer -- First Light with Telescope 1 and Progress to Fringes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Creech-Eakman, Michelle J.; Haniff, Chris A.; Buscher, David F.; Young, John S.; Payne, Ifan; Romero, Van D.; Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer Team

    2018-01-01

    The Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer (MROI), a 10-telescope optical/near-IR interferometer in central NM has been conceived to be the most ambitious optical interferometric array under construction to date. With baselines ranging from 7.8 to 343 meters, and limiting magnitudes of 14 at K band, it will be able to assess many thousands of astronomical targets on spatial scales of 10's to 0.1's of milliarcseconds. After over a decade of funding from NRL and the major partner institutions (NM Tech and Cambridge University), new funding was obtained in late 2015 via a Cooperative Agreement between NM Tech and the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to bring the facility to a three-interferometer system capable of observing geosynchronous satellites. However, we still maintain an exciting and compelling astronomical portfolio which will produce statistical samples of: YSOs and their surrounding disks, systems dominated by mass-loss and mass-transfer, pulsational stars and binary systems, and image the environs of AGN in nearby galaxies. An update on the status and plans for MROI for the next 3 years under the current Cooperative Agreement will be presented. In addition, we will present some examples of observational applications feasible with MROI both in the near-term and as we approach the full 10-telescope facility and describe how the astronomical community can become involved in this exciting project.We wish to acknowledge our sponsors in the NM Congressional Delegation and AFRL FA #9453-15-2-0086 for our recent support.

  6. Development of the quality control system of the readout electronics for the large size telescope of the Cherenkov Telescope Array observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konno, Y.; Kubo, H.; Masuda, S.; Paoletti, R.; Poulios, S.; Rugliancich, A.; Saito, T.

    2016-07-01

    The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation VHE γ-ray observatory which will improve the currently available sensitivity by a factor of 10 in the range 100 GeV to 10 TeV. The array consists of different types of telescopes, called large size telescope (LST), medium size telescope (MST) and small size telescope (SST). A LST prototype is currently being built and will be installed at the Observatorio Roque de los Muchachos, island of La Palma, Canary islands, Spain. The readout system for the LST prototype has been designed and around 300 readout boards will be produced in the coming months. In this note we describe an automated quality control system able to measure basic performance parameters and quickly identify faulty boards.

  7. Construction Status and Early Science with the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMullin, Joseph P.; Rimmele, Thomas R.; Warner, Mark; Martinez Pillet, Valentin; Craig, Simon; Woeger, Friedrich; Tritschler, Alexandra; Berukoff, Steven J.; Casini, Roberto; Goode, Philip R.; Knoelker, Michael; Kuhn, Jeffrey Richard; Lin, Haosheng; Mathioudakis, Mihalis; Reardon, Kevin P.; Rosner, Robert; Schmidt, Wolfgang

    2016-05-01

    The 4-m Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) is in its seventh year of overall development and its fourth year of site construction on the summit of Haleakala, Maui. The Site Facilities (Utility Building and Support & Operations Building) are in place with ongoing construction of the Telescope Mount Assembly within. Off-site the fabrication of the component systems is completing with early integration testing and verification starting.Once complete this facility will provide the highest sensitivity and resolution for study of solar magnetism and the drivers of key processes impacting Earth (solar wind, flares, coronal mass ejections, and variability in solar output). The DKIST will be equipped initially with a battery of first light instruments which cover a spectral range from the UV (380 nm) to the near IR (5000 nm), and capable of providing both imaging and spectro-polarimetric measurements throughout the solar atmosphere (photosphere, chromosphere, and corona); these instruments are being developed by the National Solar Observatory (Visible Broadband Imager), High Altitude Observatory (Visible Spectro-Polarimeter), Kiepenheuer Institute (Visible Tunable Filter) and the University of Hawaii (Cryogenic Near-Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter and the Diffraction-Limited Near-Infrared Spectro-Polarimeter). Further, a United Kingdom consortium led by Queen's University Belfast is driving the development of high speed cameras essential for capturing the highly dynamic processes measured by these instruments. Finally, a state-of-the-art adaptive optics system will support diffraction limited imaging capable of resolving features approximately 20 km in scale on the Sun.We present the overall status of the construction phase along with the current challenges as well as a review of the planned science testing and the transition into early science operations.

  8. EDUCATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS ON REMOTE ACCESS TELESCOPES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivan P. Kriachko

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to show the way of overcoming one of the major problems of astronomy teaching methods in upper secondary school – organization of educational astronomical observations. Nowadays it became possible to perform such observations on remote access telescopes. By using up-to-date informational and communicational technologies, having an opportunity to work with robotic telescopes allows us to organize a unique cognitive and research oriented activities for students while conducting their specialized astronomical studies. Below here is given a brief description of the most significant robotic telescopes and the way of the usage of open remote access telescopic network which was created by professors and scientists of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA.

  9. Development of a SiPM Camera for a Schwarzschild-Couder Cherenkov Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    CERN Document Server

    Otte, A N; Dickinson, H.; Funk, S.; Jogler, T.; Johnson, C.A.; Karn, P.; Meagher, K.; Naoya, H.; Nguyen, T.; Okumura, A.; Santander, M.; Sapozhnikov, L.; Stier, A.; Tajima, H.; Tibaldo, L.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Wakely, S.; Weinstein, A.; Williams, D.A.

    2015-01-01

    We present the development of a novel 11328 pixel silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) camera for use with a ground-based Cherenkov telescope with Schwarzschild-Couder optics as a possible medium-sized telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The finely pixelated camera samples air-shower images with more than twice the optical resolution of cameras that are used in current Cherenkov telescopes. Advantages of the higher resolution will be a better event reconstruction yielding improved background suppression and angular resolution of the reconstructed gamma-ray events, which is crucial in morphology studies of, for example, Galactic particle accelerators and the search for gamma-ray halos around extragalactic sources. Packing such a large number of pixels into an area of only half a square meter and having a fast readout directly attached to the back of the sensors is a challenging task. For the prototype camera development, SiPMs from Hamamatsu with through silicon via (TSV) technology are used. We give ...

  10. The Falcon Telescope Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chun, F.; Tippets, R.; Dearborn, M.; Gresham, K.; Freckleton, R.; Douglas, M.

    2014-09-01

    The Falcon Telescope Network (FTN) is a global network of small aperture telescopes developed by the Center for Space Situational Awareness Research in the Department of Physics at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). Consisting of commercially available equipment, the FTN is a collaborative effort between USAFA and other educational institutions ranging from two- and four-year colleges to major research universities. USAFA provides the equipment (e.g. telescope, mount, camera, filter wheel, dome, weather station, computers and storage devices) while the educational partners provide the building and infrastructure to support an observatory. The user base includes USAFA along with K-12 and higher education faculty and students. Since the FTN has a general use purpose, objects of interest include satellites, astronomical research, and STEM support images. The raw imagery, all in the public domain, will be accessible to FTN partners and will be archived at USAFA in the Cadet Space Operations Center. FTN users will be able to submit observational requests via a web interface. The requests will then be prioritized based on the type of user, the object of interest, and a user-defined priority. A network wide schedule will be developed every 24 hours and each FTN site will autonomously execute its portion of the schedule. After an observational request is completed, the FTN user will receive notification of collection and a link to the data. The Falcon Telescope Network is an ambitious endeavor, but demonstrates the cooperation that can be achieved by multiple educational institutions.

  11. CSU's MWV Observatory: A Facility for Research, Education and Outreach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hood, John; Carpenter, N. D.; McCarty, C. B.; Samford, J. H.; Johnson, M.; Puckett, A. W.; Williams, R. N.; Cruzen, S. T.

    2014-01-01

    The Mead Westvaco Observatory (MWVO), located in Columbus State University's Coca-Cola Space Science Center, is dedicated to education and research in astronomy through hands-on engagement and public participation. The MWVO has recently received funding to upgrade from a 16-inch Meade LX-200 telescope to a PlaneWave CDK 24-inch Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph telescope. This and other technological upgrades will allow this observatory to stream live webcasts for astronomical events, allowing a worldwide public audience to become a part of the growing astronomical community. This poster will explain the upgrades that are currently in progress as well as the results from the current calibrations. The goal of these upgrades is to provide facilities capable of both research-class projects and widespread use in education and public outreach. We will present our initial calibration and tests of the observatory equipment, as well as its use in webcasts of astronomical events, in solar observing through the use of specialized piggy-backed telescopes, and in research into such topics as asteroids, planetary and nebula imaging. We will describe a pilot research project on asteroid orbit refinement and light curves, to be carried out by Columbus State University students. We will also outline many of the K-12 educational and public outreach activities we have designed for these facilities. Support and funding for the acquisition and installation of the new PlaneWave CDK 24 has been provided by the International Museum and Library Services via the Museums for America Award.

  12. Green Bank Telescope Detection of HI Clouds in the Fermi Bubble Wind

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lockman, Felix; Di Teodoro, Enrico M.; McClure-Griffiths, Naomi M.

    2018-01-01

    We used the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope to map HI 21cm emission in two large regions around the Galactic Center in a search for HI clouds that might be entrained in the nuclear wind that created the Fermi bubbles. In a ~160 square degree region at |b|>4 deg. and |long|<10 deg we detect 106 HI clouds that have large non-circular velocities consistent with their acceleration by the nuclear wind. Rapidly moving clouds are found as far as 1.5 kpc from the center; there are no detectable asymmetries in the cloud populations above and below the Galactic Center. The cloud kinematics is modeled as a population with an outflow velocity of 330 km/s that fills a cone with an opening angle ~140 degrees. The total mass in the clouds is ~10^6 solar masses and we estimate cloud lifetimes to be between 2 and 8 Myr, implying a cold gas mass-loss rate of about 0.1 solar masses per year into the nuclear wind.The Green Bank Telescope is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under a cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

  13. Processing of data from innovative parabolic strip telescope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kosejk, Vladislav; Novy, J.; Chadzitaskos, Goce

    2015-12-01

    This paper presents an innovative telescope design based on the usage of a parabolic strip fulfilling the function of an objective. Isaac Newton was the first to solve the problem of chromatic aberration, which is caused by a difference in the refractive index of lenses. This problem was solved by a new kind of telescope with a mirror used as an objective. There are many different kinds of telescopes. The most basic one is the lens telescope. This type of a telescope uses a set of lenses. Another type is the mirror telescope, which employs the concave mirror, spherical parabolic mirror or hyperbolically shaped mirror as its objective. The lens speed depends directly on the surface of a mirror. Both types can be combined to form a telescope composed of at least two mirrors and a set of lenses. The light is reflected from the primary mirror to the secondary one and then to the lens system. This type is smaller-sized, with a respectively reduced lens speed. The telescope design presented in this paper uses a parabolic strip fulfilling the function of an objective. Observed objects are projected as lines in a picture plane. Each of the lines of a size equal to the size of the strip corresponds to the sum of intensities of the light coming perpendicular to the objective from an observed object. A series of pictures taken with a different rotation and processed by a special reconstruction algorithm is needed to get 2D pictures. The telescope can also be used for fast detection of objects. In this mode, the rotation and multiple pictures are not needed, just one picture in the focus of a mirror is required to be taken.

  14. Diurnal Variations of Emissions of O2 singlet Delta Near Mars' Northern Summer Solstice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nosowitz, Jonathon; Ziobron, Elijah; Novak, Robert E.

    2017-10-01

    We are presenting results of O2 singlet Delta emission, a tracer for ozone, in the Martian atmosphere for observations taken before Mars’ Northern summer solstice (Ls = 88o, February 10, 2014 ). The data were taken using CSHELL on the NASA-IRTF telescope located on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The slit was positioned east-west on Mars and we observed diurnal variations at 20o N and 60o N. Spectral/spatial images were taken with a spectral resolution above 38,000. Mars’ relative velocity of -16 km/s enabled us to separate the Martian emission lines from the telluric absorption lines. Raw images were cleaned by removing dead and hot pixels. The images were then adjusted so that the spatial dimension was perpendicular to the spectral dimension. Extracts at 0.6 arcsec spatial resolution were taken which allowed us to measure Martian emission peaks. The Martian data were calibrated by taking similar observations from a standard star (HR4689) using the temperature, wavelength, and intensity of the star to calibrate the flux density. A Boltzmann analysis was performed on the observed emission peaks to obtain the rotational temperature of the excited O2. From this, the total emission rates were obtained. We found that at both latitudinal locations, the greatest emissions occured between 12:00- 13:00 local time on Mars. The emission intensity increases during the morning hours and then decreases towards sunset. We thank the administration and staff of the NASA-IRTF for observation time and for their assistance during operations of the telescope. We also thank Drs. M. Mumma and G. Villanueva of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center with whom we collaborate.

  15. Optimal networks of future gravitational-wave telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raffai, Péter; Márka, Zsuzsa; Márka, Szabolcs; Gondán, László; Kelecsényi, Nándor; Heng, Ik Siong; Logue, Josh

    2013-01-01

    We aim to find the optimal site locations for a hypothetical network of 1–3 triangular gravitational-wave telescopes. We define the following N-telescope figures of merit (FoMs) and construct three corresponding metrics: (a) capability of reconstructing the signal polarization; (b) accuracy in source localization; and (c) accuracy in reconstructing the parameters of a standard binary source. We also define a combined metric that takes into account the three FoMs with practically equal weight. After constructing a geomap of possible telescope sites, we give the optimal 2-telescope networks for the four FoMs separately in example cases where the location of the first telescope has been predetermined. We found that based on the combined metric, placing the first telescope to Australia provides the most options for optimal site selection when extending the network with a second instrument. We suggest geographical regions where a potential second and third telescope could be placed to get optimal network performance in terms of our FoMs. Additionally, we use a similar approach to find the optimal location and orientation for the proposed LIGO-India detector within a five-detector network with Advanced LIGO (Hanford), Advanced LIGO (Livingston), Advanced Virgo, and KAGRA. We found that the FoMs do not change greatly in sites within India, though the network can suffer a significant loss in reconstructing signal polarizations if the orientation angle of an L-shaped LIGO-India is not set to the optimal value of ∼58.2°( + k × 90°) (measured counterclockwise from East to the bisector of the arms). (paper)

  16. Development of the quality control system of the readout electronics for the large size telescope of the Cherenkov Telescope Array observatory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Konno, Y.; Kubo, H.; Masuda, S. [Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto (Japan); Paoletti, R.; Poulios, S. [SFTA Department, Physics Section, University of Siena and INFN, Siena (Italy); Rugliancich, A., E-mail: andrea.rugliancich@pi.infn.it [SFTA Department, Physics Section, University of Siena and INFN, Siena (Italy); Saito, T. [Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto (Japan)

    2016-07-11

    The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation VHE γ-ray observatory which will improve the currently available sensitivity by a factor of 10 in the range 100 GeV to 10 TeV. The array consists of different types of telescopes, called large size telescope (LST), medium size telescope (MST) and small size telescope (SST). A LST prototype is currently being built and will be installed at the Observatorio Roque de los Muchachos, island of La Palma, Canary islands, Spain. The readout system for the LST prototype has been designed and around 300 readout boards will be produced in the coming months. In this note we describe an automated quality control system able to measure basic performance parameters and quickly identify faulty boards. - Highlights: • The Dragon Board is part of the DAQ of the LST Cherenkov telescope prototype. • We developed an automated quality control system for the Dragon Board. • We check pedestal, linearity, pulse shape and crosstalk values. • The quality control test can be performed on the production line.

  17. VLTI auxiliary telescopes: a full object-oriented approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiozzi, Gianluca; Duhoux, Philippe; Karban, Robert

    2000-06-01

    The Very Large Telescope (VLT) Telescope Control Software (TCS) is a portable system. It is now in use or will be used in a whole family of ESO telescopes VLT Unit Telescopes, VLTI Auxiliary Telescopes, NTT, La Silla 3.6, VLT Survey Telescope and Astronomical Site Monitors in Paranal and La Silla). Although it has been developed making extensive usage of Object Oriented (OO) methodologies, the overall development process chosen at the beginning of the project used traditional methods. In order to warranty a longer lifetime to the system (improving documentation and maintainability) and to prepare for future projects, we have introduced a full OO process. We have taken as a basis the United Software Development Process with the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and we have adapted the process to our specific needs. This paper describes how the process has been applied to the VLTI Auxiliary Telescopes Control Software (ATCS). The ATCS is based on the portable VLT TCS, but some subsystems are new or have specific characteristics. The complete process has been applied to the new subsystems, while reused code has been integrated in the UML models. We have used the ATCS on one side to tune the process and train the team members and on the other side to provide a UML and WWW based documentation for the portable VLT TCS.

  18. The TACTIC atmospheric Cherenkov imaging telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koul, R.; Tickoo, A.K.; Kaul, S.K.; Kaul, S.R.; Kumar, N.; Yadav, K.K.; Bhatt, N.; Venugopal, K.; Goyal, H.C.; Kothari, M.; Chandra, P.; Rannot, R.C.; Dhar, V.K.; Koul, M.K.; Kaul, R.K.; Kotwal, S.; Chanchalani, K.; Thoudam, S.; Chouhan, N.; Sharma, M.; Bhattacharyya, S.; Sahayanathan, S.

    2007-01-01

    The TACTIC (TeV Atomospheric Cherenkov Telescope with Imaging Camera) γ-ray telescope, equipped with a light collector of area ∼9.5m 2 and a medium resolution imaging camera of 349 pixels, has been in operation at Mt. Abu, India, since 2001. This paper describes the main features of its various subsystems and its overall performance with regard to (a) tracking accuracy of its two-axes drive system, (b) spot size of the light collector, (c) back-end signal processing electronics and topological trigger generation scheme, (d) data acquisition and control system and (e) relative and absolute gain calibration methodology. Using a trigger field-of-view of 11x11 pixels (∼3.4 a tx3.4 a t), the telescope records a cosmic ray event rate of ∼2.5Hz at a typical zenith angle of 15 a t. Monte Carlo simulation results are also presented in the paper for comparing the expected performance of the telescope with actual observational results. The consistent detection of a steady signal from the Crab Nebula above ∼1.2TeV energy, at a sensitivity level of ∼5.0σ in ∼25h, along with excellent matching of its energy spectrum with that obtained by other groups, reassures that the performance of the TACTIC telescope is quite stable and reliable. Furthermore, encouraged by the detection of strong γ-ray signals from Mrk 501 (during 1997 and 2006 observations) and Mrk 421 (during 2001 and 2005-2006 observations), we believe that there is considerable scope for the TACTIC telescope to monitor similar TeV γ-ray emission activity from other active galactic nuclei on a long-term basis

  19. Simulation of the Simbol-X telescope: imaging performance of a deformable x-ray telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauvin, Maxime; Roques, Jean-Pierre

    2009-08-01

    We have developed a simulation tool for a Wolter I telescope subject to deformations. The aim is to understand and predict the behavior of Simbol-X and other future missions (NuSTAR, Astro-H, IXO, ...). Our code, based on Monte-Carlo ray-tracing, computes the full photon trajectories up to the detector plane, along with the deformations. The degradation of the imaging system is corrected using metrology. This tool allows to perform many analyzes in order to optimize the configuration of any of these telescopes.

  20. FACT. Bokeh alignment for Cherenkov telescopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mueller, Sebastian Achim [ETH Zurich (Switzerland); Buss, Jens [TU Dortmund (Germany)

    2016-07-01

    Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) need fast and large imaging optics to map the faint Cherenkov light emitted in cosmic ray air showers onto their image sensors. Segmented reflectors are inexpensive, lightweight and offer good image quality. However, alignment of the mirror facets remains a challenge. A good alignment is crucial in IACT observations to separate gamma rays from hadronic cosmic rays. We present a simple, yet extendable method, to align segmented reflectors using their Bokeh. Bokeh alignment does not need a star or good weather nights but can be done anytime, even during the day. Bokeh alignment optimizes the facet orientations by comparing the segmented reflector's Bokeh to a predefined template. The Bokeh is observed using the out of focus image of a nearby point like light source in a distance of about ten times the focal lengths. We introduce Bokeh alignment on segmented reflectors and present its use on the First Geiger-mode Avalanche Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) on Canary Island La Palma, as well as on the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) Medium Size Telescope (MST) prototype in Berlin Adlershof.

  1. Choosing and Using a Refracting Telescope

    CERN Document Server

    English, Neil

    2011-01-01

    The refracting telescope has a long and illustrious past. Here’s what the author says about early telescopes and today’s refractors: “Four centuries ago, a hitherto obscure Italian scientist turned a home-made spyglass towards the heavens. The lenses he used were awful by modern standards, inaccurately figured and filled with the scars of their perilous journey from the furnace to the finishing workshop. Yet, despite these imperfections, they allowed him to see what no one had ever seen before – a universe far more complex and dynamic than anyone had dared imagine. But they also proved endlessly useful in the humdrum of human affairs. For the first time ever, you could spy on your neighbor from a distance, or monitor the approach of a war-mongering army, thus deciding the fate of nations. “The refractor is without doubt the prince of telescopes. Compared with all other telescopic designs, the unobstructed view of the refractor enables it to capture the sharpest, highest contrast images and the wides...

  2. Go-To Telescopes Under Suburban Skies

    CERN Document Server

    Monks, Neale

    2010-01-01

    For the last four centuries stargazers have turned their telescopes to the night skies to look at its wonders, but only in this age of computers has it become possible to let the telescope find for you the object you are looking for! So-called “go-to” telescopes are programmed with the locations of thousands of objects, including dazzling distant Suns, stunning neighboring galaxies, globular and open star clusters, the remnants of past supernovae, and many other breathtaking sights. This book does not tell you how to use your Go-to telescope. Your manual will help you do that. It tells you what to look for in the deep sky and why, and what equipment to best see it with. Organized broadly by what is best for viewing in the northern hemisphere in different seasons, Monks further divides the sights of each season into groupings such as “Showpiece Objects,” “Interesting Deep Sky Objects,” and “Obscure and Challenging Deep Sky Objects.” He also tells what objects are visible even in light-polluted ...

  3. Telescoping cylindrical piezoelectric fiber composite actuator assemblies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allison, Sidney G. (Inventor); Shams, Qamar A. (Inventor); Fox, Robert L. (Inventor); Fox, legal representative, Christopher L. (Inventor); Fox Chattin, legal representative, Melanie L. (Inventor)

    2010-01-01

    A telescoping actuator assembly includes a plurality of cylindrical actuators in a concentric arrangement. Each cylindrical actuator is at least one piezoelectric fiber composite actuator having a plurality of piezoelectric fibers extending parallel to one another and to the concentric arrangement's longitudinal axis. Each cylindrical actuator is coupled to concentrically-adjacent ones of the cylindrical actuators such that the plurality of cylindrical actuators can experience telescopic movement. An electrical energy source coupled to the cylindrical actuators applies actuation energy thereto to generate the telescopic movement.

  4. Progress in UCO's search for silver-based telescope mirror coatings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Andrew C.; Miller, Joseph S.; Bolte, Michael; DuPraw, Brian; Radovan, Matthew; Cowley, David

    2012-09-01

    We report on the on-going effort at University of California Observatories Astronomical Coatings Lab to develop robust protected-silver coatings suitable for telescope mirrors. We have identified a very promising recipe based on YF3 that produces excellent reflectivity at wavelengths of 340 nm and greater, has ~1.5% emissivity in the thermal IR, and does not contain problematic materials for the Mid-IR, such as SiO2 and Al2O3. The recipe holds up extremely well to aggressive environmental testing (80C and 80% RH; high-H2S atmosphere), and currently is being evaluated under real observatory conditions. This coating may satisfy the need for telescope mirror coatings that are long-lasting (~5 years or more) and have good reflectivity into the UV. We also evaluate and compare some other silver-based coatings developed elsewhere that should be useful in the same role. In addition, we describe recent upgrades to our coating facilities allowing us to deposit ion-assisted e-beam coatings on optics up to ~1m. This novel arrangement places the e-gun and ion source on a pivoting "swing-arm", allowing the position to move radially without changing the e-gun/ion source/ substrate geometry. Large substrates can be coated with good uniformity using single-axis rotation only. This technique is scalable to arbitrarily large substrate sizes.

  5. Neutrino telescopes sensitivity to dark matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Albuquerque, I.F.M.; Lamoureux, J.; Smoot, G.F.

    2002-01-01

    The nature of the dark matter of the Universe is yet unknown and most likely is connected with new physics. The search for its composition is underway through direct and indirect detection. Fundamental physical aspects such as energy threshold, geometry and location are taken into account to investigate proposed neutrino telescopes of km3 volume sensitivities to dark matter. These sensitivities are just sufficient to test a few weakly interacting massive particle scenarios. Telescopes of km3 volume, such as IceCube, can definitely discover or exclude superheavy (M>1010 GeV) strong interacting massive particles (simpzillas). Smaller neutrino telescopes such as ANTARES, AMANDA-II and NESTOR can probe a large region of simpzilla parameter space

  6. VLTI First Fringes with Two Auxiliary Telescopes at Paranal

    Science.gov (United States)

    2005-03-01

    ESO Video Newsreel 15, released on March 14, 2005. It provides an introduction to the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) and the two Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) now installed at Paranal. ESO PR Photo 07a/05 shows the impressive ensemble at the summit of Paranal. From left to right, the enclosure of VLT Antu, Kueyen and Melipal, AT1, the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) in the background, AT2 and VLT Yepun. Located at the summit of the 2,600-m high Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert (Chile), ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) is at the forefront of astronomical technology and is one of the premier facilities in the world for optical and near-infrared observations. The VLT is composed of four 8.2-m Unit Telescope (Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun). They have been progressively put into service together with a vast suite of the most advanced astronomical instruments and are operated every night in the year. Contrary to other large astronomical telescopes, the VLT was designed from the beginning with the use of interferometry as a major goal. The href="/instruments/vlti">VLT Interferometer (VLTI) combines starlight captured by two 8.2- VLT Unit Telescopes, dramatically increasing the spatial resolution and showing fine details of a large variety of celestial objects. The VLTI is arguably the world's most advanced optical device of this type. It has already demonstrated its powerful capabilities by addressing several key scientific issues, such as determining the size and the shape of a variety of stars (ESO PR 22/02, PR 14/03 and PR 31/03), measuring distances to stars (ESO PR 25/04), probing the innermost regions of the proto-planetary discs around young stars (ESO PR 27/04) or making the first detection by infrared interferometry of an extragalactic object (ESO PR 17/03). "Little Brothers" ESO PR Photo 07b/05 ESO PR Photo 07b/05 [Preview - JPEG: 597 x 400 pix - 47k] [Normal - JPEG: 1193 x 800 pix - 330k] [HiRes - JPEG: 5000 x 3354 pix - 10.0M] ESO PR Photo 07c/05 ESO PR Photo 07c/05

  7. First lunar occultation results from the 2.4 m Thai national telescope equipped with ULTRASPEC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Richichi, A.; Irawati, P.; Soonthornthum, B. [National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, 191 Siriphanich Building, Huay Kaew Road, Suthep, Muang, Chiang Mai 50200 (Thailand); Dhillon, V. S. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7RH (United Kingdom); Marsh, T. R., E-mail: andrea4work@gmail.com [Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)

    2014-11-01

    The recently inaugurated 2.4 m Thai National Telescope (TNT) is equipped with, among other instruments, the ULTRASPEC low-noise, frame-transfer EMCCD camera. At the end of its first official observing season, we report on the use of this facility to record high time resolution imaging using small detector subarrays with a sampling as fast as several 10{sup 2} Hz. In particular, we have recorded lunar occultations of several stars that represent the first contribution to this area of research made from Southeast Asia with a telescope of this class. Among the results, we discuss an accurate measurement of α Cnc, which has been reported previously as a suspected close binary. Attempts by several authors to resolve this star have so far met with a lack of unambiguous confirmation. With our observation we are able to place stringent limits on the projected angular separation (<0.''003) and brightness (Δm > 5) of a putative companion. We also present a measurement of the binary HR 7072, which extends considerably the time coverage available for its yet undetermined orbit. We discuss our precise determination of the flux ratio and projected separation in the context of other available data. We conclude by providing an estimate of the performance of ULTRASPEC at TNT for lunar occultation work. This facility can help to extend the lunar occultation technique in a geographical area where no comparable resources were available until now.

  8. Fast Fourier transform telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tegmark, Max; Zaldarriaga, Matias

    2009-01-01

    We propose an all-digital telescope for 21 cm tomography, which combines key advantages of both single dishes and interferometers. The electric field is digitized by antennas on a rectangular grid, after which a series of fast Fourier transforms recovers simultaneous multifrequency images of up to half the sky. Thanks to Moore's law, the bandwidth up to which this is feasible has now reached about 1 GHz, and will likely continue doubling every couple of years. The main advantages over a single dish telescope are cost and orders of magnitude larger field-of-view, translating into dramatically better sensitivity for large-area surveys. The key advantages over traditional interferometers are cost (the correlator computational cost for an N-element array scales as Nlog 2 N rather than N 2 ) and a compact synthesized beam. We argue that 21 cm tomography could be an ideal first application of a very large fast Fourier transform telescope, which would provide both massive sensitivity improvements per dollar and mitigate the off-beam point source foreground problem with its clean beam. Another potentially interesting application is cosmic microwave background polarization.

  9. First Light from the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope At Lowell Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Jeffrey C.; Levine, S.

    2013-01-01

    Seven years after groundbreaking on July 12, 2005, the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) is now complete and into commissioning. We obtained first light images in mid 2012 with a 4K x 4K CCD and have recently obtained our first images with the DCT's main camera, the 6K x 6K Large Monolithic Imager (LMI, see adjacent poster by Massey). We held a celebratory gala on July 21, 2012, in Flagstaff. The DCT's delivered image quality is regularly subarcsecond with near-uniform image quality across the FOV from zenith to >2 airmasses, although we have not fully commissioned the active optics system. We attribute this to the outstanding quality of the mirror figures, performed by the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences (for M1) and L3 Brashear (for M2). The instrument cube at the RC focus can accommodate four instruments plus the LMI. Designed and built at Lowell Observatory, the cube also contains the DCT's autoguider and wavefront sensor. First light instruments include the 4000 DeVeny spectrograph (the former KPNO White Spectrograph), a low-resolution, high-throughput IR spectrograph, and a higher-resolution IR spectrograph/imager being built by Goddard Space Flight Center in collaboration with the University of Maryland. We are seeking funding for long-slit and fiber-fed echelle spectrographs for higher resolution optical spectroscopy. The DCT can also be configured to host Nasmyth and prime focus instruments. Discovery Communications and its founder John Hendricks contributed $16M to the $53M cost of the telescope, in return for naming rights and first rights to public, educational use of images in their programming. Analysis of data and publication by astronomers in professional journals follows the same procedure as for any other major telescope facility. Discovery's first DCT feature, "Scanning the Skies," aired on September 9, 2012. Future outreach plans include initiating webcasts to classrooms via the Discovery Education networks

  10. The Telescope: Outline of a Poetic History

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stocchi, M. P.

    2011-06-01

    Amongst the first editions of Galileo's books, only the Saggiatore has on its frontispiece the image of the telescope. Indeed, the telescope is not pictured on the very emphatic frontispieces of the other books in which Galileo was presenting and defending the results achieved by his celestial observations, such as the Sidereus Nuncius. Many contemporary scientists denied the reliability of the telescope, and some even refused to look into the eyepiece. In the 16th and 17th century, the lenses, mirrors, and optical devices of extraordinary complexity did not have the main task of leading to the objective truth but obtaining the deformation of the reality by means of amazing effects of illusion. The Baroque art and literature had the aim of surprising, and the artists gave an enthusiastic support to the telescope. The poems in praise of Galileo's telescopic findings were quite numerous, including Adone composed by Giovanni Battista Marino, one of the most renowned poets of the time. The Galilean discoveries were actually accepted by the poets as ideologically neutral contributions to the "wonder" in spite they were rejected or even condemned by the scientists, philosophers, and theologians.

  11. Development and Performances of the Magic Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastieri, D.; Bigongiari, C.; Dazzi, F.; Mariotti, M.; Moralejo, A.; Peruzzo, L.; Saggion, A.; Tonello, N.

    2002-11-01

    The MAGIC Collaboration is building an imaging Čerenkov telescope at La Palma site (2200 m a.s.l.), in the Canary Islands, to observe gamma rays in the hundred-GeV region. The MAGIC telescope, with its reflecting parabolic dish, 17 m in diameter, and a two-level pattern trigger designed to cope with severe trigger rates, is the Čerenkov telescope with the lowest envisaged energy threshold. Due to its lightweight alto-azimuthal mounting, MAGIC can be repositioned in less than 30 seconds, becoming the only detector, with an adequate effective area, capable to observe GRB phenomena above 30 GeV. MAGIC telescope is characterised by a 30 GeV energy threshold and a sensitivity of 6×l0-11 cm-2s-1 for a 5σ-detection in 50-hours of observation. In this report, some future scientific goals for MAGIC will be highlighted and the technical development for the main elements of the telescope will be detailed. Special emphasis will be given to the construction of the individual metallic mirrors which form the reflecting surface and the development of the fast pattern-recognition trigger.

  12. A new concept of imaging system: telescope windows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourgenot, Cyril; Cowie, Euan; Young, Laura; Love, Gordon; Girkin, John; Courtial, Johannes

    2018-02-01

    A Telescope window is a novel concept of transformation-optics consisting of an array of micro-telescopes, in our configuration, of a Galilean type. When the array is considered as one multifaceted device, it acts as a traditional Galilean telescope with distinctive and attractive properties such as compactness and modularity. Each lenslet, can in principle, be independently designed for a specific optical function. In this paper, we report on the design, manufacture and prototyping, by diamond precision machining, of 2 concepts of telescope windows, and discuss both their performances and limitations with a view to use them as potential low vision aid devices to support patients with macular degeneration.

  13. GISOT: a giant solar telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammerschlag, Robert H.; von der Lühe, Oskar F.; Bettonvil, Felix C.; Jägers, Aswin P.; Snik, Frans

    2004-10-01

    A concept is presented for an extremely large high-resolution solar telescope with an aperture of 11 m and diffraction limited for visual wavelengths. The structure of GISOT will be transparent to wind and placed on a transparent stiff tower. For efficient wind flushing, all optics, including the primary mirror, will be located above the elevation axis. The aperture will be of the order of 11 m, not rotatively symmetrical, but of an elongated shape with dimensions 11 x 4 m. It consists of a central on-axis 4 m mirror with on both sides 3 pieces of 2 m mirrors. The optical layout will be kept simple to guarantee quality and minimize stray light. A Coudé room for instruments is planned below the telescope. The telescope will not be housed in a dome-like construction, which interferes with the open principle. Instead the telescope will be protected by a foldable tent construction with a diameter of the order of 30 m, which doesn"t form any obstruction during observations, but can withstand the severe weather circumstances on mountain sites. Because of the nature of the solar scene, extremely high resolution in only one dimension is sufficient to solve many exciting problems in solar physics and in this respect the concept of GISOT is very promising.

  14. Undergraduate Education with the WIYN 0.9-m Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilachowski, Catherine A.

    2017-01-01

    Several models have been explored at Indiana University Bloomington for undergraduate student engagement in astronomy using the WIYN 0.9-m telescope at Kitt Peak. These models include individual student research projects using the telescope, student observations as part of an observational techniques course for majors, and enrichment activities for non-science majors in general education courses. Where possible, we arrange for students to travel to the telescope. More often, we are able to use simple online tools such as Skype and VNC viewers to give students an authentic observing experience. Experiences with the telescope motivate students to learn basic content in astronomy, including the celestial sphere, the electromagnetic spectrum, telescopes and detectors, the variety of astronomical objects, date reduction processes, image analysis, and color image creation and appreciation. The WIYN 0.9-m telescope is an essential tool for our program at all levels of undergraduate education

  15. Aplanatic telescopes based on Schwarzschild optical configuration: from grazing incidence Wolter-like x-ray optics to Cherenkov two-mirror normal incidence telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sironi, Giorgia

    2017-09-01

    At the beginning of XX century Karl Schwarzschild defined a method to design large-field aplanatic telescopes based on the use of two aspheric mirrors. The approach was then refined by Couder (1926) who, in order to correct for the astigmatic aberration, introduced a curvature of the focal plane. By the way, the realization of normal-incidence telescopes implementing the Schwarzschild aplanatic configuration has been historically limited by the lack of technological solutions to manufacture and test aspheric mirrors. On the other hand, the Schwarzschild solution was recovered for the realization of coma-free X-ray grazing incidence optics. Wolter-like grazing incidence systems are indeed free of spherical aberration, but still suffer from coma and higher order aberrations degrading the imaging capability for off-axis sources. The application of the Schwarzschild's solution to X-ray optics allowed Wolter to define an optical system that exactly obeys the Abbe sine condition, eliminating coma completely. Therefore these systems are named Wolter-Schwarzschild telescopes and have been used to implement wide-field X-ray telescopes like the ROSAT WFC and the SOHO X-ray telescope. Starting from this approach, a new class of X-ray optical system was proposed by Burrows, Burg and Giacconi assuming polynomials numerically optimized to get a flat field of view response and applied by Conconi to the wide field x-ray telescope (WFXT) design. The Schwarzschild-Couder solution has been recently re-discovered for the application to normal-incidence Cherenkov telescopes, thanks to the suggestion by Vassiliev and collaborators. The Italian Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) realized the first Cherenkov telescope based on the polynomial variation of the Schwarzschild configuration (the so-called ASTRI telescope). Its optical qualification was successfully completed in 2016, demonstrating the suitability of the Schwarzschild-like configuration for the Cherenkov astronomy requirements

  16. Radio telescope control

    CERN Document Server

    Schraml, J

    1972-01-01

    An on-line computer control process developed for the 100-m radio telescope of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Radioastronomie in Bonn is described. The instrument is the largest fully steerable antenna in the world. Its operation started on May 31st 1972. It is controlled by a Ferranti Argus 500 on-line computer. The first part of the paper deals with the process itself, the radio telescope and its operation, and the demands resulting for the control program. The second part briefly describes the computer and its hardware. The final part introduces the architecture of the executive program in general, which has been tailored to meet the demands of the process and the hardware. The communication between the observer and the system, the format of data on magnetic tape and an on-line reduction of position measurements are considered. (0 refs).

  17. Modeling update for the Thirty Meter Telescope laser guide star dual-conjugate adaptive optics system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilles, Luc; Wang, Lianqi; Ellerbroek, Brent

    2010-07-01

    This paper describes the modeling efforts undertaken in the past couple of years to derive wavefront error (WFE) performance estimates for the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS), which is the facility laser guide star (LGS) dual-conjugate adaptive optics (AO) system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The estimates describe the expected performance of NFIRAOS as a function of seeing on Mauna Kea, zenith angle, and galactic latitude (GL). They have been developed through a combination of integrated AO simulations, side analyses, allocations, lab and lidar experiments.

  18. The JCMT Telescope Management System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tilanus, Remo P. J.; Jenness, Tim; Economou, Frossie; Cockayne, Steve

    Established telescopes often face a challenge when trying to incorporate new software standards and utilities into their existing real-time control system. At the JCMT we have successfully added important new features such as a Relational Database (the Telescope Management System---TMS), an online data Archive, and WWW based utilities to an, in part, 10-year old system. The new functionality was added with remarkably few alterations to the existing system. We are still actively expanding and exploring these new capabilities.

  19. Hypervolatiles in a Jupiter-family Comet: Observations of 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková Using iSHELL at the NASA-IRTF

    Science.gov (United States)

    DiSanti, Michael A.; Bonev, Boncho P.; Dello Russo, Neil; Vervack, Ronald J., Jr.; Gibb, Erika L.; Roth, Nathan X.; McKay, Adam J.; Kawakita, Hideyo; Feaga, Lori M.; Weaver, Harold A.

    2017-12-01

    We used the new high spectral resolution cross-dispersed facility spectrograph, iSHELL, at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Maunakea, HI, to observe Jupiter-family comet (JFC) 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková. We report water production rates, as well as production rates and abundance ratios relative to H2O, for eight trace parent molecules (native ices), CO, CH4, H2CO, CH3OH, HCN, NH3, C2H2, and C2H6, on 2 days spanning UT 2017 January 6/7 and 7/8, shortly following perihelion. Trace species were measured simultaneously with H2O and/or OH prompt emission, a proxy for H2O production, thereby providing a robust and consistent means of establishing the native ice composition of 45P. Its favorable geocentric radial velocity (approximately -35 km s-1) permitted sensitive measures of the “hypervolatiles” CO and CH4, which are substantially undercharacterized in JFCs. Our results represent the most precise ground-based measures of CO and CH4 to date in a JFC, providing a foundation for building meaningful statistics regarding their abundances. The abundance ratio for CH4 in 45P (0.79% ± 0.06% relative to H2O) was consistent with its median value as measured among Oort Cloud comets, whereas CO (0.60% ± 0.04%) was strongly depleted. Compared with all measured comets, HCN (0.049% ± 0.012%) was strongly depleted, CH3OH (3.6% ± 0.3%) was enriched, and the remaining species were consistent with their respective median abundances. The volatile composition measured for 45P could indicate processing of ices prior to their incorporation into its nucleus. Spatial analysis of emissions suggests enhanced release of more volatile species into the sunward-facing hemisphere of the coma.

  20. Development of Slewing Mirror Telescope Optical System for the UFFO-pathfinder

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jeong, S.; Nam, J.W.; Ahn, K.-B.

    2013-01-01

    The Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT) is the UV/optical telescope of UFFO-pathfinder. The SMT optical system is a Ritchey-Chrétien (RC) telescope of 100 mm diameter pointed by means of a gimbal-mounted flat mirror in front of the telescope. The RC telescope has a 17 × 17arcmin2 in Field of View and ...

  1. Academic Training: Deep Space Telescopes

    CERN Multimedia

    Françoise Benz

    2006-01-01

    2005-2006 ACADEMIC TRAINING PROGRAMME LECTURE SERIES 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 February from 11:00 to 12:00 - Council Chamber on 20, 21, 23, 24 February, TH Auditorium, bldg 4 - 3-006, on 22 February Deep Space Telescopes G. BIGNAMI / CNRS, Toulouse, F & Univ. di Pavia, I The short series of seminars will address results and aims of current and future space astrophysics as the cultural framework for the development of deep space telescopes. It will then present such new tools, as they are currently available to, or imagined by, the scientific community, in the context of the science plans of ESA and of all major world space agencies. Ground-based astronomy, in the 400 years since Galileo's telescope, has given us a profound phenomenological comprehension of our Universe, but has traditionally been limited to the narrow band(s) to which our terrestrial atmosphere is transparent. Celestial objects, however, do not care about our limitations, and distribute most of the information about their physics thro...

  2. Observations of Anomalous Refraction with Co-housed Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, Malinda S.; McGraw, J. T.; Zimmer, P. C.

    2013-01-01

    Anomalous refraction is described as a low frequency, large angular scale motion of the entire image plane with respect to the celestial coordinate system as observed and defined by previous astrometric catalogs. These motions of typically several tenths of an arcsecond with timescales on the order of ten minutes are ubiquitous to drift-scan ground-based astrometric measurements regardless of location or telescopes used and have been attributed to meter scale slowly evolving coherent dynamical structures in the boundary-layer below 60 meters. The localized nature of the effect and general inconsistency of the motions seen by even closely spaced telescopes in individual domes has led to the hypothesis that the dome or other type of telescope housing may be responsible. This hypothesis is tested by observing anomalous refraction using two telescopes housed in a single roll-off roof observatory building with the expected outcome that the two telescopes will see correlated anomalous refraction induced motions.

  3. Ideas for future large single dish radio telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kärcher, Hans J.; Baars, Jacob W. M.

    2014-07-01

    The existing large single dish radio telescopes of the 100m class (Effelsberg, Green Bank) were built in the 1970s and 1990s. With some active optics they work now down to 3 millimeter wavelength where the atmospheric quality of the site is also a limiting factor. Other smaller single dish telescopes (50m LMT Mexico, 30m IRAM Spain) are located higher and reach sub-millimeter quality, and the much smaller 12m antennas of the ALMA array reach at a very high site the Terahertz region. They use advanced technologies as carbon fiber structures and flexible body control. We review natural limits to telescope design and use the examples of a number of telescopes for an overview of the available state-of-the-art in design, engineering and technologies. Without considering the scientific justification we then offer suggestions to realize ultimate performance of huge single dish telescopes (up to 160m). We provide an outlook on design options, technological frontiers and cost estimates.

  4. Simulation of the Simbol-X Telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chauvin, M.; Roques, J. P.

    2009-01-01

    We have developed a simulation tool for a Wolter I telescope operating in formation flight. The aim is to understand and predict the behavior of the Simbol-X instrument. As the geometry is variable, formation flight introduces new challenges and complex implications. Our code, based on Monte Carlo ray tracing, computes the full photon trajectories up to the detector plane, along with the relative drifts of the two spacecrafts. It takes into account angle and energy dependent interactions of the photons with the mirrors and applies to any grazing incidence telescope. The resulting images of simulated sources from 0.1 keV to 100 keV allow us to optimize the configuration of the instrument and to assess the performance of the Simbol-X telescope.

  5. Simulation of the Simbol-X Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauvin, M.; Roques, J. P.

    2009-05-01

    We have developed a simulation tool for a Wolter I telescope operating in formation flight. The aim is to understand and predict the behavior of the Simbol-X instrument. As the geometry is variable, formation flight introduces new challenges and complex implications. Our code, based on Monte Carlo ray tracing, computes the full photon trajectories up to the detector plane, along with the relative drifts of the two spacecrafts. It takes into account angle and energy dependent interactions of the photons with the mirrors and applies to any grazing incidence telescope. The resulting images of simulated sources from 0.1 keV to 100 keV allow us to optimize the configuration of the instrument and to assess the performance of the Simbol-X telescope.

  6. The VTIE telescope resource management system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busschots, B.; Keating, J. G.

    2005-06-01

    The VTIE Telescope Resource Management System (TRMS) provides a frame work for managing a distributed group of internet telescopes as a single "Virtual Observatory". The TRMS provides hooks which allow for it to be connected to any Java Based web portal and for a Java based scheduler to be added to it. The TRMS represents each telescope and observatory in the system with a software agent and then allows the scheduler and web portal to communicate with these distributed resources in a simple transparent way, hence allowing the scheduler and portal designers to concentrate only on what they wish to do with these resources rather than how to communicate with them. This paper outlines the structure and implementation of this frame work.

  7. Direct illumination LED calibration for telescope photometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrelet, E.; Juramy, C.

    2008-01-01

    A calibration method for telescope photometry, based on the direct illumination of a telescope with a calibrated light source regrouping multiple LEDs, is proposed. Its purpose is to calibrate the instrument response. The main emphasis of the proposed method is the traceability of the calibration process and a continuous monitoring of the instrument in order to maintain a 0.2% accuracy over a period of years. Its specificity is to map finely the response of the telescope and its camera as a function of all light ray parameters. This feature is essential to implement a computer model of the instrument representing the variation of the overall light collection efficiency of each pixel for various filter configurations. We report on hardware developments done for SNDICE, the first application of this direct illumination calibration system which will be installed in Canada France Hawaii telescope (CFHT) for its leading supernova experiment (SNLS)

  8. Performance of the EUDET-type beam telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jansen, H.; Spannagel, S.; Behr, J.

    2016-05-01

    Test beam measurements at the test beam facilities of DESY have been conducted to characterise the performance of the EUDET-type beam telescopes originally developed within the EUDET project. The beam telescopes are equipped with six sensor planes using MIMOSA26 monolithic active pixel devices. A programmable Trigger Logic Unit provides trigger logic and time stamp information on particle passage. Both data acquisition framework and offline reconstruction software packages are available. User devices are easily integrable into the data acquisition framework via predefined interfaces. The biased residual distribution is studied as a function of the beam energy, plane spacing and sensor threshold. Its standard deviation at the two centre pixel planes using all six planes for tracking in a 6 GeV electron/positron-beam is measured to be (2.88±0.08) μm. Iterative track fits using the formalism of General Broken Lines are performed to estimate the intrinsic resolution of the individual pixel planes. The mean intrinsic resolution over the six sensors used is found to be (3.24±0.09) μm. With a 5 GeV electron/positron beam, the track resolution halfway between the two inner pixel planes using an equidistant plane spacing of 20 mm is estimated to (1.83±0.03) μm assuming the measured intrinsic resolution. Towards lower beam energies the track resolution deteriorates due to increasing multiple scattering. Threshold studies show an optimal working point of the MIMOSA26 sensors at a sensor threshold of between five and six times their RMS noise. Measurements at different plane spacings are used to calibrate the amount of multiple scattering in the material traversed and allow for corrections to the predicted angular scattering for electron beams.

  9. Performance of the EUDET-type beam telescopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jansen, Hendrik; Spannagel, Simon; Behr, Joerg; Dreyling-Eschweiler, Jan; Eckstein, Doris; Eichhorn, Thomas; Gregor, Ingrid Maria; Muhl, Carsten; Perrey, Hanno; Peschke, Richard; Roloff, Philipp; Rubinskiy, Igor [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg (Germany); Bulgheroni, Antonio [INFN, Milano (Italy); EC - Joint Research Centre, Karlsruhe (Germany); Claus, Gilles; Goffe, Mathieu; Winter, Marc [IPHC, Strasbourg (France); Corrin, Emlyn; Haas, Daniel [University of Geneva, DPNC, Geneva (Switzerland); Cussans, David [University of Bristol, Bristol (United Kingdom)

    2016-12-15

    Test beam measurements at the test beam facilities of DESY have been conducted to characterise the performance of the EUDET-type beam telescopes originally developed within the EUDET project. The beam telescopes are equipped with six sensor planes using MIMOSA 26 monolithic active pixel devices. A programmable Trigger Logic Unit provides trigger logic and time stamp information on particle passage. Both data acquisition framework and offline reconstruction software packages are available. User devices are easily integrable into the data acquisition framework via predefined interfaces. The biased residual distribution is studied as a function of the beam energy, plane spacing and sensor threshold. Its standard deviation at the two centre pixel planes using all six planes for tracking in a 6 GeV electron/positron-beam is measured to be (2.88 ± 0.08) μm. Iterative track fits using the formalism of General Broken Lines are performed to estimate the intrinsic resolution of the individual pixel planes. The mean intrinsic resolution over the six sensors used is found to be (3.24 ± 0.09) μm. With a 5 GeV electron/positron beam, the track resolution halfway between the two inner pixel planes using an equidistant plane spacing of 20 mm is estimated to (1.83 ± 0.03) μm assuming the measured intrinsic resolution. Towards lower beam energies the track resolution deteriorates due to increasing multiple scattering. Threshold studies show an optimal working point of the MIMOSA 26 sensors at a sensor threshold of between five and six times their RMS noise. Measurements at different plane spacings are used to calibrate the amount of multiple scattering in the material traversed and allow for corrections to the predicted angular scattering for electron beams. (orig.)

  10. Far Sidelobes Measurement of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duenner, Rolando; Gallardo, Patricio; Wollack, Ed; Henriquez, Fernando; Jerez-Hanckes, Carlos

    2012-01-01

    The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) is a 6m telescope designed to map the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) simultaneously at 145GHz, 220 GHz and 280 GHz. Its off-axis Gregorian design is intended to minimize and control the off-axis sidelobe response, which is critical for scientific purposes. The expected sidelobe level for this kind of design is less than -50 dB and can be challenging to measure. Here we present a measurement of the 145 GHz far sidelobes of ACT done on the near-field of the telescope. We used a 1 mW microwave source placed 13 meters away from the telescope and a chopper wheel to produce a varying signal that could be detected by the camera for different orientations of the telescope. The source feed was designed to produce a wide beam profile. Given that the coupling is expected to be dominated by diffraction over the telescope shielding structure, when combined with a measurements of the main beam far field response, these measurement can be used to validate elements of optical design and constrain the level of spurious coupling at large angles. Our results show that the diffractive coupling beyond the ground screen is consistently below -75 dB, satisfying the design expectations.

  11. [Galileo and his telescope].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strebel, Christoph

    2006-01-01

    Galileo's publication of observations made with his newly reinvented telescope provoked a fierce debate. In April 1610 Martinus Horky, a young Bohemian astronomer, had an opportunity to make his own observations with Galileo's telescope in the presence of Antonio Magini and other astronomers. Horky and the other witnesses denied the adequacy of Galileo's telescope and therefore the bona fides of his discoveries. Kepler conjectured Horky as well as all his witnesses to be myopic. But Kepler's objection could not stop the publication of Horky's Peregrinatio contra nuncium sidereum (Modena, 1610), the first printed refutation of Galileo's Sidereus nuncius. In his treatise, Horky adresses four questions: 1) Do the four newly observed heavenly bodies actually exist? Horky denies their existence on various grounds: a) God, as every astronomer teaches, has created only seven moveable heavenly bodies and astronomical knowledge originates in God, too. b) Heavenly bodies are either stars or planets. Galileo's moveable heavenly bodies fit into neither category. c) If they do exist, why have they not already been observed by other scholars? Horky concludes that there are no such heavenly bodies. 2) What are these phenomena? They are purely artefactual, and produced by Galileo's telescope. 3) How are they like? Galileo's "stars" are so small as to be almost invisible. Galileo claims that he has measured their distances from each other. This however is impossible due to their diminutive size and other observational problems. Hence, Galileo's claim is a further proof that he is a fraud. 4) Why are they? For Galileo they are a chance to earn money but for astronomers like Horky they are a reason to offer thanks and honour to God. Horky's treatise was favourably received by the enemies of Galileo. But Kepler's critique was devastating. After calling on Kepler in Prague, Horky had to revoke the contents of his book.

  12. The Associate Principal Astronomer for AI Management of Automatic Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henry, Gregory W.

    1998-01-01

    This research program in scheduling and management of automatic telescopes had the following objectives: 1. To field test the 1993 Automatic Telescope Instruction Set (ATIS93) programming language, which was specifically developed to allow real-time control of an automatic telescope via an artificial intelligence scheduler running on a remote computer. 2. To develop and test the procedures for two-way communication between a telescope controller and remote scheduler via the Internet. 3. To test various concepts in Al scheduling being developed at NASA Ames Research Center on an automatic telescope operated by Tennessee State University at the Fairborn Observatory site in southern Arizona. and 4. To develop a prototype software package, dubbed the Associate Principal Astronomer, for the efficient scheduling and management of automatic telescopes.

  13. An off-the-shelf guider for the Palomar 200-inch telescope: interfacing amateur astronomy software with professional telescopes for an easy life

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, Fraser; Lynn, James; Thatte, Niranjan; Tecza, Matthias

    2014-08-01

    We have developed a simple but effective guider for use with the Oxford-SWIFT integral field spectrograph on the Palomar 200-inch telescope. The guider uses mainly off-the-shelf components, including commercial amateur astronomy software to interface with the CCD camera, calculating guiding corrections, and send guide commands to the telescope. The only custom piece of software is an driver to provide an interface between the Palomar telescope control system and the industry standard 'ASCOM' system. Using existing commercial software provided a very cheap guider (guiding, and could easily be adapted to any other professional telescope

  14. Telescope Construction: A Hands-On Approach to Astronomy Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarrazine, Angela R.; Albin, E.

    2009-01-01

    We report on a popular semester-long telescope making course offered at Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta, GA. The program is tailored for junior / senior level high school students and incorporates the current educational performance standards for the state of Georgia. This course steps out of the traditional classroom environment and allows students to explore optics and astronomical concepts by constructing their own telescopes. Student telescopes follow the classic six-inch f/8 Newtonian reflector design, which has proven to be a good compromise between portability and aperture. Participants meet for a few hours, twice weekly, to build their telescopes. Over the course of the semester, raw one-inch thick Pyrex mirror blanks are ground, polished, and figured by hand into precision telescope objectives. Along the way, students are introduced to the Ronchi and Foucault methods for testing optics and once figured, completed mirrors are then chemically silvered. A plywood Dobsonian-style base is built and eventually mated with an optical tube made from a standard eight-inch concrete form tube or sonotube. An evening of star testing the optics and observation is planned at the end of the semester to insure the proper operation of each telescope. In summary, we believe that a hands-on approach to the understanding and use of optical telescopes is a great way not only to instill enthusiasm among students for the night sky, but may perhaps inspire the next generation of professional telescope makers.

  15. Hubble Space Telescope, Faint Object Camera

    Science.gov (United States)

    1981-01-01

    This drawing illustrates Hubble Space Telescope's (HST's), Faint Object Camera (FOC). The FOC reflects light down one of two optical pathways. The light enters a detector after passing through filters or through devices that can block out light from bright objects. Light from bright objects is blocked out to enable the FOC to see background images. The detector intensifies the image, then records it much like a television camera. For faint objects, images can be built up over long exposure times. The total image is translated into digital data, transmitted to Earth, and then reconstructed. The purpose of the HST, the most complex and sensitive optical telescope ever made, is to study the cosmos from a low-Earth orbit. By placing the telescope in space, astronomers are able to collect data that is free of the Earth's atmosphere. The HST detects objects 25 times fainter than the dimmest objects seen from Earth and provides astronomers with an observable universe 250 times larger than visible from ground-based telescopes, perhaps as far away as 14 billion light-years. The HST views galaxies, stars, planets, comets, possibly other solar systems, and even unusual phenomena such as quasars, with 10 times the clarity of ground-based telescopes. The HST was deployed from the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31 mission) into Earth orbit in April 1990. The Marshall Space Flight Center had responsibility for design, development, and construction of the HST. The Perkin-Elmer Corporation, in Danbury, Cornecticut, developed the optical system and guidance sensors.

  16. The big data telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finkel, Elizabeth

    2017-01-01

    On a flat, red mulga plain in the outback of Western Australia, preparations are under way to build the most audacious telescope astronomers have ever dreamed of - the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Next-generation telescopes usually aim to double the performance of their predecessors. The Australian arm of SKA will deliver a 168-fold leap on the best technology available today, to show us the universe as never before. It will tune into signals emitted just a million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was a sea of hydrogen gas, slowly percolating with the first galaxies. Their starlight illuminated the fledgling universe in what is referred to as the “cosmic dawn”.

  17. Development of a charged particle detector array in Pelletron-LINAC facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    John, Bency; Inkar, A.L.; Saxena, A.; Vind, R.P.; Gupta, Y.K.; Biswas, D.C.; Nayak, B.K.; Thomas, R.G.; Danu, L.S.; Choudhury, R.K.; Kailas, S.; Topkar, A.; Venkatramanan, S.; Kumar, Manish; Sunilkumar, S.

    2010-01-01

    A charged particle detector array consisting of 50 Si-CsI detector telescopes for study of heavy-ion reactions is under construction in BARC-TIFR Pelletron-LINAC facility. Developmental work carried out for the detector modules, front-end and pulse shape discrimination electronics, scattering chamber and other mechanical parts are summarized. Some new ideas developed during the course of work are pointed out. (author)

  18. Proxy magnetometry with the Dutch Open Telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rutten, R.J.; Hammerschlag, R.H.; Sütterlin, P.; Bettonvil, F.C.M.

    1999-01-01

    Superb movies from the Dutch Open Telescope (DOT) on La Palma have proven the validity of the open concept of this innovative telescope for high-resolution imaging of the solar atmosphere. A five- camera speckle-burst registration system is being installed that should permit consistent and

  19. Submillimeter heterodyne receiver for the CSO telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gulkis, S.

    1988-01-01

    This task is to build a cryogenically cooled 620 to 700 GHz astronomical receiver that will be used as a facility instrument at the CalTech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The receiver will have applications as a very high resolution spectrometer to investigate spectral lines in planetary and satellite atmospheres, and comets. The receiver will also be used to make continuum measurements of planets, satellites, and asteroids. During FY88, a scale model (200 GHz) SIS mixer radiometer was built and intrgrated into a cryostat designed for use on the CSO telescope. This system will serve as a model to guide the work on the higher frequency mixer. A solid state local oscillator source that covers two bands in the 600 to 700 GHz has been developed under contract JPL and will be delivered before the end of the year. Work has continued on the SIS materials needed for the 620 to 700 GHz mixer. Test hardware has been developed which allow the 1 to 5 curves for SIS material to be easily measured

  20. Possible GRB Observation with the MAGIC Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastieri, D.; Bigongiari, C.; Mariotti, M.; Peruzzo, L.; Saggion, A.

    2001-08-01

    The MAGIC Telescope, with its reflecting parabolic dish of 17 m of diameter and its careful design of a robust, lightweight, alto-azimuthal mount, is an ideal detector for GRB phenomena. The telescope is an air Cherenkov telescope that, even in the first phase, equipped with standard PMTs, can reach an energy threshold below 30 GeV. The threshold is going to drop well below 10 GeV in the envisaged second phase, when chamber PMTs will be substituted by high quantum efficiency APDs. The telescope can promptly respond to GRB alerts coming, for instance, from GCN, and can reposition itself in less than 30 seconds, 20 seconds being the time to turn half a round for the azimuth bearing. In this report, the effective area of the detector as a function of energy and zenith angle is taken into account, in order to evaluate the expected yearly occurrence and the response to different kinds of GRBs.

  1. Space telescopes capturing the rays of the electromagnetic spectrum

    CERN Document Server

    English, Neil

    2017-01-01

    Space telescopes are among humankind’s greatest scientific achievements of the last fifty years. This book describes the instruments themselves and what they were designed to discover about the Solar System and distant stars. Exactly how these telescopes were built and launched and the data they provided is explored. Only certain kinds of radiation can penetrate our planet's atmosphere, which limits what we can observe. But with space telescopes all this changed. We now have the means to "see" beyond Earth using ultraviolet, microwave, and infrared rays, X-rays and gamma rays. In this book we meet the pioneers and the telescopes that were built around their ideas. This book looks at space telescopes not simply chronologically but also in order of the electromagnetic spectrum, making it possible to understand better why they were made.

  2. A semiconductor counter telescope for neutron reaction studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lalovic, B I; Ajdacic, V S [Institute of nuclear sciences Boris Kidric, Vinca, Beograd (Yugoslavia)

    1963-12-15

    A counter telescope consisting of two or three semiconductor counters for {delta}E/{delta}x vs. E analysis was made for studying nuclear reactions induced by 14.4 MeV neutrons. Various factors important for the telescope performance are discussed in details and some solutions for getting an optimum resolution and a low background are given. Protons, deuterons and alpha particles resulting from scattering and reactions of 14.4 MeV neutrons on deuterium, tritium, praseodymium and niobium were detected, and pulses from the counters recorded on a two-dimensional analyzer. These experiments have shown that the telescope compares favorably with other types of telescopes with regards to the upper limit of neutron flux which can be used, (DELTADELTA)x and E resolution, versatility and compactness (author)

  3. Near-infrared metallicities, radial velocities, and spectral types for 447 nearby M dwarfs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Newton, Elisabeth R.; Charbonneau, David; Irwin, Jonathan; Berta-Thompson, Zachory K. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Rojas-Ayala, Barbara [Centro de Astrofsica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto (Portugal); Covey, Kevin [Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (United States); Lloyd, James P., E-mail: enewton@cfa.harvard.edu [Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, 226 Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)

    2014-01-01

    We present metallicities, radial velocities, and near-infrared (NIR) spectral types for 447 M dwarfs determined from moderate resolution (R ≈ 2000) NIR spectra obtained with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF)/SpeX. These M dwarfs are primarily targets of the MEarth Survey, a transiting planet survey searching for super Earths around mid-to-late M dwarfs within 33 pc. We present NIR spectral types for each star and new spectral templates for the IRTF in the Y, J, H, and K-bands, created using M dwarfs with near-solar metallicities. We developed two spectroscopic distance calibrations that use NIR spectral type or an index based on the curvature of the K-band continuum. Our distance calibration has a scatter of 14%. We searched 27 NIR spectral lines and 10 spectral indices for metallicity sensitive features, taking into account correlated noise in our estimates of the errors on these parameters. We calibrated our relation using 36 M dwarfs in common proper pairs with an F-, G-, or K-type star of known metallicity. We validated the physical association of these pairs using proper motions, radial velocities, and spectroscopic distance estimates. Our resulting metallicity calibration uses the sodium doublet at 2.2 μm as the sole indicator for metallicity. It has an accuracy of 0.12 dex inferred from the scatter between the metallicities of the primaries and the estimated metallicities of the secondaries. Our relation is valid for NIR spectral types from M1V to M5V and for –1.0 dex < [Fe/H] < +0.35 dex. We present a new color-color metallicity relation using J – H and J – K colors that directly relates two observables: the distance from the M dwarf main sequence and equivalent width of the sodium line at 2.2 μm. We used radial velocities of M dwarf binaries, observations at different epochs, and comparison between our measurements and precisely measured radial velocities to demonstrate a 4 km s{sup –1} accuracy.

  4. A Test Facility For Astronomical X-Ray Optics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lewis, R. A.; Bordas, J.; Christensen, Finn Erland

    1989-01-01

    Grazing incidence x-ray optics for x-ray astronomical applications are used outside the earths atmosphere. These devices require a large collection aperture and the imaging of an x-ray source which is essentially placed at infinity. The ideal testing system for these optical elements has...... to approximate that encountered under working conditions, however the testing of these optical elements is notoriously difficult with conventional x-ray generators. Synchrotron Radiation (SR) sources are sufficiently brilliant to produce a nearly perfect parallel beam over a large area whilst still retaining...... a flux considerably higher than that available from conventional x-ray generators. A facility designed for the testing of x-ray optics, particularly in connection with x-ray telescopes is described below. It is proposed that this facility will be accommodated at the Synchrotron Radiation Source...

  5. LCOGT: A World-Wide Network of Robotic Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, T.

    2013-05-01

    Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) is an organization dedicated to time-domain astronomy. To carry out the necessary observations in fields such as supernovae, extrasolar planets, small solar-system bodies, and pulsating stars, we have developed and are now deploying a set of robotic optical telescopes at sites around the globe. In this talk I will concentrate on the core of this network, consisting of up to 15 identical 1m telescopes deployed across multiple sites in both the northern and southern hemispheres. I will summarize the technical and performance aspect of these telescopes, including both their imaging and their anticipated spectroscopic capabilities. But I will also delve into the network organization, including communication among telescopes (to assure that observations are properly carried out), interactions among the institutions and scientists who will use the network (to optimize the scientific returns), and our funding model (which until now has relied entirely on one private donor, but will soon require funding from outside sources, if the full potential of the network is to be achieved).

  6. Eyes on the Universe: The Legacy of the Hubble Space Telescope and Looking to the Future with the James Webb Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Straughn, Amber

    2011-01-01

    Over the past 20 years the Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the Universe. Most recently, the complete refurbishment of Hubble in 2009 has given new life to the telescope and the new science instruments have already produced groundbreaking science results, revealing some of the most distant galaxy candidates ever discovered. Despite the remarkable advances in astrophysics that Hubble has provided, the new questions that have arisen demand a new space telescope with new technologies and capabilities. I will present the exciting new technology development and science goals of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which is currently being built and tested and will be launched this decade.

  7. MROI Array telescopes: the relocatable enclosure domes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchiori, G.; Busatta, A.; Payne, I.

    2016-07-01

    The MROI - Magdalena Ridge Interferometer is a project which comprises an array of up to 10 1.4m diameter mirror telescopes arranged in a "Y" configuration. Each of these telescopes will be housed inside a Unit Telescope Enclosure (UTE) which are relocatable onto any of 28 stations. EIE GROUP Srl, Venice - Italy, was awarded the contract for the design, the construction and the erection on site of the MROI by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The close-pack array of the MROI - including all 10 telescopes, several of which are at a relative distance of less than 8m center to center from each other - necessitated an original design for the Unit Telescope Enclosure (UTE). This innovative design enclosure incorporates a unique dome/observing aperture system to be able to operate in the harsh environmental conditions encountered at an altitude of 10,460ft (3,188m). The main characteristics of this Relocatable Enclosure Dome are: a Light insulated Steel Structure with a dome made of composites materials (e.g. glass/carbon fibers, sandwich panels etc.), an aperture motorized system for observation, a series of louvers for ventilation, a series of electrical and plants installations and relevant auxiliary equipment. The first Enclosure Dome is now under construction and the completion of the mounting on site id envisaged by the end of 2016. The relocation system utilizes a modified reachstacker (a transporter used to handle freight containers) capable of maneuvering between and around the enclosures, capable of lifting the combined weight of the enclosure with the telescope (30tons), with minimal impacts due to vibrations.

  8. CLIC Telescope optimization with ALLPIX simulation

    CERN Document Server

    Qi, Wu

    2015-01-01

    A simulation study of CLIC-EUDET telescope resolution with MIMOSA 26 as reference sensors under DESY (5.6 GeV electron beam) and CERN-SPS (120-180 GeV pion^{-} beam) conditions. During the study, a virtual DUT sensor with cylindrical sensing area was defined and used with ALLPIX software. By changing the configuration of telescope, some results for DESY's setup were found agreeing with the theoretical calculation.

  9. New infrared telescopic observation of Vesta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palomba, E.; D'Aversa, E.; Sato, T.; Longobardo, A.; Aoki, S.; Sindoni, G.; Oliva, F.

    2017-09-01

    In this work we present new telescopic observations of the Vesta asteroid made at the Subaru Telescope by using the COMICS IR spectrometer. We were able to obtain 5 different observations in 5 day, at two different epochs. The obtained spectra do not exhibit Reststrahlen bands and show only weak features attributable to the Christiansen peak and to the transparency feature compatible with a fine grain size regolith.

  10. Large fully retractable telescope enclosures still closable in strong wind

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bettonvil, Felix C. M.; Hammerschlag, Robert H.; Jägers, Aswin P. L.; Sliepen, Guus

    2008-07-01

    Two prototypes of fully retractable enclosures with diameters of 7 and 9 m have been built for the high-resolution solar telescopes DOT (Dutch Open Telescope) and GREGOR, both located at the Canary Islands. These enclosures protect the instruments for bad weather and are fully open when the telescopes are in operation. The telescopes and enclosures also operate in hard wind. The prototypes are based on tensioned membrane between movable but stiff bows, which fold together to a ring when opened. The height of the ring is small. The prototypes already survived several storms, with often snow and ice, without any damage, including hurricane Delta with wind speeds up to 68 m/s. The enclosures can still be closed and opened with wind speeds of 20 m/s without any problems or restrictions. The DOT successfully demonstrated the open, wind-flushing concept for astronomical telescopes. It is now widely recognized that also large future telescopes benefit from wind-flushing and retractable enclosures. These telescopes require enclosures with diameters of 30 m until roughly 100 m, the largest sizes for the ELTs (Extreme Large Telescopes), which will be built in the near future. We discuss developments and required technology for the realization of these large sizes.

  11. The Timepix3 Telescope for LHCb Upgrade RD 1 measurements

    CERN Document Server

    Saunders, Daniel Martin

    2016-01-01

    The Timepix3 telescope is a high rate, data driven beam telescope created for LHCb upgrade studies, such as sensor performance for prototypes of the vertex locator (VELO) upgrade. When testing VELO prototypes the readout is identical to the telescope, and additionally, a simple way to integrate triggers from other detectors is also provided, allowing tracks to be synchronised offline with other devices under test. Examples of LHCb upgrade detectors which have been qualified with the Timepix3 telescope are the Upstream Tracker (UT), Scintillating Fibres (SciFi), Ring Imaging CHerenkov (RICH), and Time Of internally Reflected CHerenkov light (TORCH). The telescope was installed in the SPS North hall at CERN. It consists of 8 planes with 300 μ m p-on-n silicon sensors read out by Timepix3 ASICs. Tracks measured with the telescope have excellent temporal ( ∼ 1 ns) and spatial resolution ( 2 μ m). The telescope has been operated with a rate of tracks written to disk up to 5 MHz - limited only by conditions at ...

  12. Rise to SUMMIT: the Sydney University Multiple-Mirror Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Anna M.; Davis, John

    2000-07-01

    The Sydney University Multiple Mirror Telescope (SUMMIT) is a medium-sized telescope designed specifically for high resolution stellar spectroscopy. Throughout the design emphasis has been placed on high efficiency at low cost. The telescope consists of four 0.46 m diameter mirrors mounted on a single welded steel frame. Specially designed mirror cells support and point each mirror, allowing accurate positioning of the images on optical fibers located at the foci of the mirrors. Four fibers convey the light to the future location of a high resolution spectrograph away from the telescope in a stable environment. An overview of the commissioning of the telescope is presented, including the guidance and automatic mirror alignment and focussing systems. SUMMIT is located alongside the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer at the Paul Wild Observatory, near Narrabri, Northern New South Wales.

  13. Mobile Tracking Systems Using Meter Class Reflective Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sturzenbecher, K.; Ehrhorn, B.

    This paper is a discussion on the use of large reflective telescopes on mobile tracking systems with modern instrument control systems. Large optics can be defined as reflective telescopes with an aperture of at least 20 inches in diameter. New carbon composite construction techniques allow for larger, stronger, and lighter telescopes ranging from 240 pounds for a 20 inch, to 800 pounds for a 32 inch, making them ideal for mobile tracking systems. These telescopes have better light gathering capability and produce larger images with greater detail at a longer range than conventional refractive lenses. In a mobile configuration these systems provide the ability to move the observation platform to the optimal location anywhere in the world. Mounting and systems integration - We will discuss how large telescopes can be physically fit to the mobile tracking system and the integration with the tracking systems' digital control system. We will highlight the remote control capabilities. We will discuss special calibration techniques available in a modern instrument control system such as star calibration, calibration of sensors. Tracking Performance - We will discuss the impact of using large telescopes on the performance of the mobile tracking system. We will highlight the capabilities for auto-tracking and sidereal rate tracking in a mobile mount. Large optics performance - We will discuss the advantages of two-mirror Ritchey-Chrétien reflective optics which offer in-focus imaging across the spectrum, from visible to Long Wave Infrared. These zero expansion optics won't lose figure or focus during temperature changes. And the carbon composite telescope tube is thermally inert. The primary mirror is a modern lightweight "dish" mirror for low thermal mass and is center supported/self balancing. Applications - We will discuss Visible - IR Imaging requirements, Optical Rangefinders, and capabilities for special filters to increase resolution in difficult conditions such as

  14. Deep space telescopes

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva

    2006-01-01

    The short series of seminars will address results and aims of current and future space astrophysics as the cultural framework for the development of deep space telescopes. It will then present such new tools, as they are currently available to, or imagined by, the scientific community, in the context of the science plans of ESA and of all major world space agencies. Ground-based astronomy, in the 400 years since Galileo’s telescope, has given us a profound phenomenological comprehension of our Universe, but has traditionally been limited to the narrow band(s) to which our terrestrial atmosphere is transparent. Celestial objects, however, do not care about our limitations, and distribute most of the information about their physics throughout the complete electromagnetic spectrum. Such information is there for the taking, from millimiter wavelengths to gamma rays. Forty years astronomy from space, covering now most of the e.m. spectrum, have thus given us a better understanding of our physical Universe then t...

  15. LOBSTER - New Space X-Ray telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hudec, R.; Pina, L.; Simon, V.; Sveda, L.; Inneman, A.; Semencova, V.; Skulinova, M.

    2007-01-01

    We discuss the technological and scientific aspects of fully innovative very wide-field X-ray telescopes with high sensitivity. The prototypes of Lobster telescopes designed, developed and tested are very promising, allowing the proposals for space projects with very wide-field Lobster Eye X-ray optics to be considered for the first time. The novel telescopes will monitor the sky with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution of order of 1 arcmin. They are expected to contribute essentially to study of various astrophysical objects such as AGN, SNe, Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), X-ray flashes (XRFs), galactic binary sources, stars, CVs, X-ray novae, various transient sources, etc. For example, the Lobster optics based X-ray All Sky Monitor is capable to detect around 20 GRBs and 8 XRFs yearly and this will surely significantly contribute to the related science

  16. Hubble Space Telescope via the Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Dea, Christopher P.

    The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) makes available a wide variety of information concerning the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) via the Space Telescope Electronic Information Service (STEIS). STEIS is accessible via anonymous ftp, gopher, WAIS, and WWW. The information on STEIS includes how to propose for time on the HST, the current status of HST, reports on the scientific instruments, the observing schedule, data reduction software, calibration files, and a set of publicly available images in JPEG, GIF and TIFF format. STEIS serves both the astronomical community as well as the larger Internet community. WWW is currently the most widely used interface to STEIS. Future developments on STEIS are expected to include larger amounts of hypertext, especially HST images and educational material of interest to students, educators, and the general public, and the ability to query proposal status.

  17. Perspectives on Gamma-Ray Burst Physics and Cosmology with Next Generation Facilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Weimin; Amati, Lorenzo; Cannizzo, John K.; Cordier, Bertrand; Gehrels, Neil; Ghirlanda, Giancarlo; Götz, Diego; Produit, Nicolas; Qiu, Yulei; Sun, Jianchao; Tanvir, Nial R.; Wei, Jianyan; Zhang, Chen

    2016-12-01

    High-redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) beyond redshift {˜}6 are potentially powerful tools to probe the distant early Universe. Their detections in large numbers and at truly high redshifts call for the next generation of high-energy wide-field instruments with unprecedented sensitivity at least one order of magnitude higher than the ones currently in orbit. On the other hand, follow-up observations of the afterglows of high-redshift GRBs and identification of their host galaxies, which would be difficult for the currently operating telescopes, require new, extremely large facilities of at multi-wavelengths. This chapter describes future experiments that are expected to advance this exciting field, both being currently built and being proposed. The legacy of Swift will be continued by SVOM, which is equipped with a set of space-based multi-wavelength instruments as well as and a ground segment including a wide angle camera and two follow-up telescopes. The established Lobster-eye X-ray focusing optics provides a promising technology for the detection of faint GRBs at very large distances, based on which the THESEUS, Einstein Probe and other mission concepts have been proposed. Follow-up observations and exploration of the reionization era will be enabled by large facilities such as SKA in the radio, the 30 m class telescopes in the optical/near-IR, and the space-borne WFIRST and JWST in the optical/near-IR/mid-IR. In addition, the X-ray and γ-ray polarization experiment POLAR is also introduced.

  18. Thermal Design and Thermal Behaviour of Radio Telescopes and their Enclosures

    CERN Document Server

    Greve, Albert

    2010-01-01

    Radio telescopes as well as communication antennas operate under the influence of gravity, temperature and wind. Among those, temperature influences may degrade the performance of a radio telescope through transient changes of the focus, pointing, path length and sensitivity, often in an unpredictable way. Thermal Design and Thermal Behaviour of Radio Telescopes and their Enclosures reviews the design and construction principles of radio telescopes in view of thermal aspects and heat transfer with the variable thermal environment; it explains supporting thermal model calculations and the application and efficiency of thermal protection and temperature control; it presents many measurements illustrating the thermal behaviour of telescopes in the environment of their observatory sites. The book benefits scientists and radio/communication engineers, telescope designers and construction firms as well as telescope operators, observatory staff, but also the observing astronomer who is directly confronted with the t...

  19. A monolithic silicon detector telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cardella, G.; Amorini, F.; Cabibbo, M.; Di Pietro, A.; Fallica, G.; Franzo, G.; Figuera, P.; Papa, M.; Pappalardo, G.; Percolla, G.; Priolo, F.; Privitera, V.; Rizzo, F.; Tudisco, S.

    1996-01-01

    An ultrathin silicon detector (1 μm) thick implanted on a standard 400 μm Si-detector has been built to realize a monolithic telescope detector for simultaneous charge and energy determination of charged particles. The performances of the telescope have been tested using standard alpha sources and fragments emitted in nuclear reactions with different projectile-target colliding systems. An excellent charge resolution has been obtained for low energy (less than 5 MeV) light nuclei. A multi-array lay-out of such detectors is under construction to charge identify the particles emitted in reactions induced by low energy radioactive beams. (orig.)

  20. Artificial Intelligence in Autonomous Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahoney, William; Thanjavur, Karun

    2011-03-01

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) is key to the natural evolution of today's automated telescopes to fully autonomous systems. Based on its rapid development over the past five decades, AI offers numerous, well-tested techniques for knowledge based decision making essential for real-time telescope monitoring and control, with minimal - and eventually no - human intervention. We present three applications of AI developed at CFHT for monitoring instantaneous sky conditions, assessing quality of imaging data, and a prototype for scheduling observations in real-time. Closely complementing the current remote operations at CFHT, we foresee further development of these methods and full integration in the near future.

  1. The 1.3-m Robotically Controlled Telescope (RCT) at Kitt Peak - A Fifty year old dream Realized: Telescope Characteristics, Current Research and Education Progr

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guinan, Edward; Gelderman, Richard; Strolger, Louis-Gregory; Carini, Michael T.; McGruder, Charles, III; Campbell, Rachel; Walter, Donald K.; Davis, Donald R.; Tedesco, Edward F.; Engle, Scott G.

    2011-03-01

    The 1.3 m Robotically Controlled Telescope (RCT) on Kitt Peak has a rich history, including its role as a prototype for remotely controlled telescopes during the 1960s. As such, the RCT could be considered one of the first - Telescopes from Afar. The telescope, originally called the Remotely Controlled Telescope, has been renamed the Robotically Controlled Telescope to reflect the change in operational control and mode of use. The RCT was a conceptual precursor of today's robotic telescopes, but the actual operation of a remotely controlled telescope was technologically premature for its time, and was subsequently manually operated primarily to conduct optical and infrared observations as well being used as a test bed for new spectroscopic and photometric instruments. In 1995 budget constraints forced the closing of the telescope as part of the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), following nearly 30 years of distinguished service to KPNO. A request for proposals to operate this telescope was issued to the science community. The RCT consortium, lead by Western Kentucky University, was the successful proposer for operation of the telescope. After several difficult years of retrofitting, refurbishing, and automating the telecope and observatory dome, the telescope has returned to routine science operations in November 2009. The RCT has operated smoothly since that time, with no major interruptions. Observations of objects of interest to the consortium partners (including: comets & asteroids, variable & binary stars, exoplanets, supernovae, quasars & blazars) are being routinely obtained and evaluated. One of the distinguishing features of the RCT is that it is an autonomous observatory designed to handle diverse optical imaging and photometry programs. These include being able to automatically deal with a wide range of observing parameters such as -integration time, sky conditions, repetitions, return visits, filters, air mass, non-sidereal objects, transients etc

  2. Beyond JWST: Science Drivers for the Next Great UVOIR Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tumlinson, Jason; Seager, Sara; Dalcanton, Julianne; Postman, Marc; Aigrain, Suzanne; battel, Steven; Brandt, W. Niel; Conroy, Charlie; Feinberg, Lee; Gezari, Suvi; Guyon, Olivier; Harris, Walter M.; Hirata, Chris; Mather, John C.; Redding, David; Schiminovich, David; Stahl, H. Philip

    2015-01-01

    We report on the AURA 'Beyond JWST' committee's considerations and conclusions regarding the science case for the development of a large UVOIR observatory, to be launched following JWST and WFIRST-AFTA. We find that a space-based UVOIR telescope of 10 meters or more in aperture will uniquely enable a wide range of transformational science investigations by itself and in tandem with ground-based OIR and radio facilities in its era. The chief goal of this facility is to assess the possibility of life beyond our Solar System by discovering Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of their host stars, via direct imaging, and by searching spectroscopically for biosignature gases in the atmospheres of the best exo-Earth candidates. The large aperture and mission architecture required to characterize the atmospheres of a significant number of potentially life-bearing planets will also transform studies of the galaxies and stars that led up to them. At 10 meters or larger, the telescope will spatially resolve scales of 100 AU everywhere in the Milky Way, 0.1 parsec everywhere in the Local Group, and 100 parsec everywhere in the observable Universe. This unprecedented spatial resolution over large fields, with stable optics and low backgrounds, will allow astronomers to follow, in high definition, the formation and evolution of the star forming regions inside galaxies over the past 10 Gyr, to robustly determine the complete star formation histories in every galaxy within the local volume (to 10 Mpc), and to track the motions of virtually any star in the Milky Way. High spectral resolution and multi-object spectroscopy in the UV will enable revolutionary new studies of gas flows in galaxies, bodies in the outer solar system, and the evolution of the most massive stars. We present these compelling science drivers and their associated observational requirements here; we summarize the technology requirements for high angular resolution, sensitivity, wavefront stability

  3. Cryo-Vacuum Testing of the Integrated Science Instrument Module for the James Webb Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimble, Randy A.; Davila, P. S.; Drury, M. P.; Glazer, S. D.; Krom, J. R.; Lundquist, R. A.; Mann, S. D.; McGuffey, D. B.; Perry, R. L.; Ramey, D. D.

    2011-01-01

    With delivery of the science instruments for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) expected in 2012, current plans call for the first cryo-vacuum test of the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) to be carried out at GSFC in early 2013. Plans are well underway for conducting this ambitious test, which will perform critical verifications of a number of optical, thermal, and operational requirements of the IS 1M hardware, at its deep cryogenic operating temperature. We describe here the facilities, goals, methods, and timeline for this important Integration & Test milestone in the JWST program.

  4. NASA 3D Models: James Webb Space Telescope

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. The project is working to a 2018 launch date. The JWST will...

  5. Do L chondrites come from the Gefion family?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGraw, Allison M.; Reddy, Vishnu; Sanchez, Juan A.

    2018-05-01

    Ordinary chondrites (H, L, and LL chondrites) are the most common type of meteorites comprising 80 per cent of the meteorites that fall on Earth. The source region of these meteorites in the main asteroid belt has been a basis of considerable debate in the small bodies community. L chondrites have been proposed to come from the Gefion asteroid family, based on dynamical models. We present results from our observational campaign to verify a link between the Gefion asteroid family and L chondrite meteorites. Near-infrared spectra of Gefion family asteroids (1839) Ragazza, (2373) Immo, (2386) Nikonov, (2521) Heidi, and (3860) Plovdiv were obtained at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). Spectral band parameters including band centres and the band area ratio were measured from each spectrum and used to constrain the composition of these asteroids. Based on our results, we found that some members of the Gefion family have surface composition similar to that of H chondrites, primitive achondrites, and basaltic achondrites. No evidence was found for L chondrites among the Gefion family members in our small sample study. The diversity of compositional types observed in the Gefion asteroid family suggests that the original parent body might be partially differentiated or that the three asteroids with non-ordinary chondrite compositions might be interlopers.

  6. THE ABUNDANCES OF POLYACETYLENES TOWARD CRL618

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fonfria, J. P.; Cernicharo, J.; Richter, M. J.; Lacy, J. H.

    2011-01-01

    We present a mid-infrared high spectral resolution spectrum of CRL618 in the frequency ranges 778-784 and 1227-1249 cm -1 (8.01-8.15 and 12.75-12.85 μm) taken with the Texas Echelon-cross-Echelle Spectrograph (TEXES) and the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). We have identified more than 170 rovibrational lines arising from C 2 H 2 , HCN, C 4 H 2 , and C 6 H 2 . We have found no unmistakable trace of C 8 H 2 . The line profiles display a complex structure suggesting the presence of polyacetylenes in several components of the circumstellar envelope (CSE). We derive total column densities of 2.5 x 10 17 , 3.1 x 10 17 , 2.1 x 10 17 , 9.3 x 10 16 cm -2 , and ∼ 16 cm -2 for HCN, C 2 H 2 , C 4 H 2 , C 6 H 2 , and C 8 H 2 , respectively. The observations indicate that both the rotational and vibrational temperatures in the innermost CSE depend on the molecule, varying from 100 to 350 K for the rotational temperatures and 100 to 500 K for the vibrational temperatures. Our results support a chemistry in the innermost CSE based on radical-neutral reactions triggered by the intense UV radiation field.

  7. Spatial and Seasonal Variability of Temperature in CO2 Emission from Mars' Mesosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Livengood, Timothy A.; Kostiuk, Theodor; Hewagama, Tilak; Kolasinski, John R.; Henning, Wade; Fast, Kelly Elizabeth; Sonnabend, Guido; Sornig, Manuela

    2017-10-01

    We have observed non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) emission of carbon dioxide that probes Mars’ mesosphere in 2001, 2003, 2007, 2012, 2014, and 2016. These measurements were conducted at 10.6 μm wavelength using the Goddard Space Flight Center Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary Winds and Composition (HIPWAC) from the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at resolving power (1-33)×106. The Maxwellian broadening of the emission line can be measured at this resolution, providing a direct determination of temperature in the mesosphere. The nonLTE line appears as a narrow emission core within a broad absorption formed by tropospheric CO2, which provides temperature information reaching down to the martian surface, while the mesospheric line probes temperature at about 60-80 km altitude. We will report on the spatial distribution of temperature and emission line strength with local solar time on Mars, with latitude, as well as long-term variability including seasonal effects that modify the overall thermal structure of the atmosphere. These remote measurements complement results from orbital spacecraft through access to a broad range of local solar time on each occasion.This work has been supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy and Solar Systems Observations Programs

  8. PROMPT: Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reichart, D.; Nysewander, M.; Moran, J. [North Carolina Univ., Chapel Hill (United States). Department of Physics and Astronomy] (and others)

    2005-07-15

    Funded by $1.2M in grants and donations, we are now building PROMPT at CTIO. When completed in late 2005, PROMPT will consist of six 0.41-meter diameter Ritchey-Chretien telescopes on rapidly slewing mounts that respond to GRB alerts within seconds, when the afterglow is potentially extremely bright. Each mirror and camera coating is being optimized for a different wavelength range and function, including a NIR imager, two red-optimized imager, a blue-optimized imager, an UV-optimized imager, and an optical polarimeter. PROMPT will be able to identify high-redshift events by dropout and distinguish these events from the similar signatures of extinction. In this way, PROMPT will act a distance-finder scope for spectroscopic follow up on the larger 4.1-meter diameter SOAR telescope, which is also located at CTIO. When not chasing GRBs, PROMPT serves broader educational objectives across the state of north Carolina. Enclosure construction and the first two telescopes are now complete and functioning: PROMPT observed Swift's first GRB in December 2004. We upgrade from two to four telescope in February 2005 and from four to six telescopes in mid-2005.

  9. Modular Orbital Demonstration of an Evolvable Space Telescope (MODEST)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baldauf, Brian; Conti, Alberto

    2016-01-01

    The "Search for Life" via imaging of exoplanets is a mission that requires extremely stable telescopes with apertures in the 10 m to 20 m range. The High Definition Space Telescope (HDST) envisioned for this mission would have an aperture >10 m, which is a larger payload than what can be delivered to space using a single launch vehicle. Building and assembling the mirror segments enabling large telescopes will likely require multiple launches and assembly in space. Space-based telescopes with large apertures will require major changes to system architectures.The Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA) for HDST is a primary mission cost driver. Enabling and affordable solutions for this next generation of large aperture space-based telescope are needed.This paper reports on the concept for the Modular Orbital Demonstration of an Evolvable Space Telescope (MODEST), which demonstrates on-orbit robotic and/or astronaut assembly of a precision optical telescope in space. It will also facilitate demonstration of active correction of phase and mirror shape. MODEST is proposed to be delivered to the ISS using standard Express Logistics Carriers (ELCs) and can mounted to one of a variety of ISS pallets. Post-assembly value includes space, ground, and environmental studies, and a testbed for new instruments. This demonstration program for next generation mirror technology provides significant risk reduction and demonstrates the technology in a six-mirror phased telescope. Other key features of the demonstration include the use of an active primary optical surface with wavefront feedback control that allows on-orbit optimization and demonstration of precise surface control to meet optical system wavefront and stability requirements.MODEST will also be used to evaluate advances in lightweight mirror and metering structure materials such as SiC or Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer that have excellent mechanical and thermal properties, e.g. high stiffness, high modulus, high thermal

  10. The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: The Receiver and Instrumentation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swetz, D. S.; Ade, P. A. R.; Amiri, M.; Appel, J. W.; Burger, B.; Devlin, M. J.; Dicker, S. R.; Doriese, W. B.; Essinger-Hileman, T.; Fisher, R. P.; hide

    2010-01-01

    The Atacama Cosmology Telescope was designed to measure small-scale anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background and detect galaxy clusters through the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. The instrument is located on Cerro Taco in the Atacama Desert, at an altitude of 5190 meters. A six-met.er off-axis Gregorian telescope feeds a new type of cryogenic receiver, the Millimeter Bolometer Array Camera. The receiver features three WOO-element arrays of transition-edge sensor bolometers for observations at 148 GHz, 218 GHz, and 277 GHz. Each detector array is fed by free space mm-wave optics. Each frequency band has a field of view of approximately 22' x 26'. The telescope was commissioned in 2007 and has completed its third year of operations. We discuss the major components of the telescope, camera, and related systems, and summarize the instrument performance.

  11. Preliminary Multi-Variable Cost Model for Space Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip; Hendrichs, Todd

    2010-01-01

    Parametric cost models are routinely used to plan missions, compare concepts and justify technology investments. This paper reviews the methodology used to develop space telescope cost models; summarizes recently published single variable models; and presents preliminary results for two and three variable cost models. Some of the findings are that increasing mass reduces cost; it costs less per square meter of collecting aperture to build a large telescope than a small telescope; and technology development as a function of time reduces cost at the rate of 50% per 17 years.

  12. The ATHENA telescope and optics status

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bavdaz, Marcos; Wille, Eric; Ayre, Mark

    2017-01-01

    chosen for ATHENA is the Silicon Pore Optics (SPO), which hinges on technology spin-in from the semiconductor industry, and uses a modular approach to produce large effective area lightweight telescope optics with a good angular resolution. Both system studies and the technology developments are guided...... by ESA and implemented in industry, with participation of institutional partners. In this paper an overview of the current status of the telescope optics accommodation and technology development activities is provided....

  13. The X-ray Telescope for the SWIFT Gamma-Ray Burst Mission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wells, A.; Abbey, A.F.; Beardmore, A.; Mukerjee, K.; Osborne, J.P.; Watson, D.J.; Willingale, R.; Burrows, D. N.; Hill, J. E.; Nousek, J.A.; Miles, B.J.; Mori, K.; Morris, D.C.; Zugger, M.; Chincarini, G.; Campana, S.; Citterio, O.; Moretti, A.; Tagliaferri, G.; Bosworth, J.

    2004-01-01

    The X-ray Telescope (XRT) for the SWIFT mission, built by the international consortium from Pennsylvania State University (United States), University of Leicester (UK) and Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera (Italy), is already installed on the SWIFT spacecraft. The XRT has two key functions on SWIFT; to determine locations of GRBs to better than 5 arc seconds within 100 seconds of initial detection of a burst and to measure spectra and light curves of the X-ray afterglow over around four orders of magnitude of decay in the afterglow intensity. This paper summarises the XRT performance, operating modes and sensitivity for the detection of prompt and extended X-ray afterglows from gamma-ray bursts. The performance characteristics have been determined from data taken during the ground calibration campaign at MPE's Panter facility in September 2002

  14. The Southern African Large Telescope project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckley, David A. H.; Charles, Philip A.; Nordsieck, Kenneth H.; O'Donoghue, Darragh

    The recently completed Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is a low cost, innovative, 10 m class optical telescope, which began limited scientific operations in August 2005, just 5 years after ground-breaking. This paper describes the design and construction of SALT, including the first-light instruments, SALTICAM and the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS). A rigorous systems engineering approach has ensured that SALT was built to specification, on budget, close to the original schedule and using a relatively small project team. The design trade-offs, which include an active spherical primary mirror array and a fixed altitude telescope with a prime focus tracker, although restrictive in comparison to conventional telescopes, have resulted in an affordable 10 m class telescope for South Africa and its ten partners. Coupled with an initial set of two seeing-limited instruments that concentrate on the UV-visible region (320 - 900 nm) and featuring some niche observational capabilities, SALT will have an ability to conduct some unique science. This includes high time resolution studies, for which some initial results have already been obtained. Many of the versatile modes available with the RSS - which is currently being commissioned - are unique and provide unparallelled opportunities for imaging polarimetry and spectropolarimetry. Likewise, Multi-Object Spectroscopy (with slit masks) and imaging spectroscopy with the RSS, the latter using Fabry-Perot étalons and interference filters, will extend the multiplex advantage over resolutions from 300 to 9000 and fields of view of 2 to 8 arcminutes. Future instrumentation plans include an extremely stable, fibre-fed, high resolution échelle spectrograph and a near-IR (to between 1.5 to 1.7 μm) extension to the RSS. Future development possibilities include phasing the primary mirror and AO. Finally, extrapolations of the SALT/HET designs to ELT proportions remain viable and are surely more affordable than conventional

  15. Radio Telescopes Reveal Unseen Galactic Cannibalism

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-06-01

    quasars and blazars are hundreds of times more powerful. The astronomers picked a number of relatively nearby Seyfert galaxies that had previously been observed with visible-light telescopes. They then carefully studied the Seyferts with the VLA, specifically looking for radio waves emitted by hydrogen atoms. The VLA images showed the vast majority of the Seyferts were disturbed by encounters with neighbor galaxies. By comparison, similar VLA images of inactive galaxies showed that very few were disturbed. "This comparison clearly shows a connection between close galactic encounters and the black-hole-powered activity in the cores," said Ya-Wen Tang, who began this work at the Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Academia Sinica (ASIAA), in Taiwan and now is a graduate student at the National Taiwan University. "This is the best evidence yet for the fueling of Seyfert galaxies. Other mechanisms have been proposed, but they have shown little if any difference between Seyferts and inactive galaxies," Tang added. "Our results show that images of the hydrogen gas are a powerful tool for revealing otherwise-invisible gravitational interactions among galaxies," said Jeremy Lim, also of ASIAA. "This is a welcome advance in our understanding of these objects, made possible by the best and most extensive survey ever made of hydrogen in Seyferts," Lim said. Kuo, Tang and Lim worked with Paul Ho, of ASIAA and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The scientists reported their findings in the Astrophysical Journal. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

  16. Twin-Telescope Wettzell (TTW)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hase, H.; Dassing, R.; Kronschnabl, G.; Schlüter, W.; Schwarz, W.; Lauber, P.; Kilger, R.

    2007-07-01

    Following the recommendations made by the VLBI2010 vision report of the IVS, a proposal has been made to construct a Twin Telescope for the Fundamental Station Wettzell in order to meet the future requirements of the next VLBI generation. The Twin Telescope consists of two identical radiotelescopes. It is a project of the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG). This article summarizes the project and some design ideas for the Twin-Telescope. %ZALMA (2005). Technical Specification for Design, Manufacturing, Transport and Integration on Site of the ALMA ANTENNAS, Doc. ALMA-34.00.00.00.006-BSPE. Behrend, D. (2006). VLBI2010 Antenna Specs, Data sheet. DeBoer, D. (2001). The ATA Offset Gregorian Antenna, ATA Memo #16, February 10. Imbriale, W.A. (2006). Design of a Wideband Radio Telescope, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and S. Weinreb and H. Mandi, California Institute of Technology. Kilger, R. (2007). TWIN-Design studies, Presentation for the IVS board members (internal document),Wettzell. Kronschnabl, G. (2006). Subject: Memo from Bill Petrachenko, E-mail to the Twin-Working Group (in German), July. Lindgren, ETS-Lindgren (2005). The Model 3164-05 Open Boundary Quadridge Horn, Data Sheet. Niell, A., A. Whitney, W. Petrachenko, W. Schlüter, N. Vandenberg, H.Hase, Y. Koyama, C. Ma, H. Schuh, G. Tucari (2006). in: IVS Annual Report 2005, pg. 13-40, NASA/TP-2006-214136, April. Olsson, R., Kildal, P.-S., and Weinreb, S. (2006). IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 54, No. 2, February. Petrachenko, B. (2006). The Case For and Against Multiple Antennas at a Site, IVS Memorandum, 2006-019v01. Petrachenko, B. (2006). IVS Memorandum, 2006-016v01. RFSpin (2004). Double Ridged Waveguide Horn-Model DRH20, Antenna Specifications, Data Sheet. Rohde&Schwarz (2004). SHF Antennas Crossed Log- Periodic Antennas HL024A1/S1, Data Sheet. Rohde&Schwarz (2004). SHF Antennas Log-Periodic Antennas HL050/HL050S1, Data Sheet. Rogers, A.E.E. (2006). Simulations of broadband

  17. An EUDET/AIDA Pixel Beam Telescope for Detector Development

    CERN Document Server

    Perrey, Hanno

    2013-01-01

    A high resolution ($\\sigma 2 \\sim \\mu$) beam telescope based on monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS) was developed within the EUDET collaboration. The telescope consists of six sensor planes using Mimosa26 MAPS with a pixel pitch of $18.4 \\mu$ and thinned down to $50 \\mu$. The excellent resolution, readout rate and DAQ integration capabilities made the telescope a primary test beam tool for many groups including several CERN based experiments. Within the new European detector infrastructure project AIDA the test beam telescope will be further extended in terms of cooling infrastructure, readout speed and precision. In order to provide a system optimized for the different requirements by the user community, a combination of various pixel technologies is foreseen. In this report the design of this even more flexible telescope with three different pixel technologies (TimePix, Mimosa, ATLAS FE-I4) will be presented. First test beam results with the HitOR signal provided by the FE-I4 integrated into the trigger...

  18. Infrared study of the Crab pulsar: The ''shoulder'' pulse and the 3.45 micron pulse profile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Middleditch, J.; Pennypacker, C.; Burns, M.S.

    1983-01-01

    Infrared measurements of the Crab pulsar with the NASA IRTF 3.0 m telescope show that the spectrum of the main pulse turns downward for wavelengths longer than 3 μm. The ''shoulder'' pulse discovered by Pennypacker is measured in the 0.9--2.4 μm region, but disappears at 3.5 μm. This pulse rises from 0 to 20% of the height of the main pulse within 1 to 2 ms after the main pulse peak and decays with a 4 to 5 ms time constant. Excess infrared flux also appears after the interpulse. The main peak itself may be narrower at 3.45 μm than in the optical to 2.2 μm band

  19. Simulation of Telescope Detectivity for Geo Survey and Tracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richard, P.

    2014-09-01

    As the number of space debris on Earths Orbit increases steadily, the need to survey, track and catalogue them becomes of key importance. In this context, CNES has been using the TAROT Telescopes (Rapid Telescopes for Transient Objects owned and operated by CNRS) for several years to conduct studies about space surveillance and tracking. Today, two testbeds of services using the TAROT telescopes are running every night: one for GEO situational awareness and the second for debris tracking. Additionally to the CNES research activity on space surveillance and tracking domain, an operational collision avoidance service for LEO and GEO satellites is in place at CNES for several years. This service named CAESAR (Conjunction Analysis and Evaluation: Alerts and Recommendations) is used by CNES as well as by external customers. As the optical debris tracking testbed based on TAROT telescopes is the first step toward an operational provider of GEO measures that could be used by CAESAR, simulations have been done to help choosing the sites and types of telescopes that could be added in the GEO survey and debris tracking telescope network. One of the distinctive characteristics of the optical observation of space debris compared to traditional astronomic observation is the need to observe objects at low elevations. The two mains reasons for this are the need to observe the GEO belt from non-equatorial sites and the need to observe debris at longitudes far from the telescope longitude. This paper presents the results of simulations of the detectivity for GEO debris of various telescopes and sites, based on models of the GEO belt, the atmosphere and the instruments. One of the conclusions is that clever detection of faint streaks and spread sources by image processing is one of the major keys to improve the detection of debris on the GEO belt.

  20. Thermal emissivity analysis of a GEMINI 8-meter telescopes design

    Science.gov (United States)

    St. Clair Dinger, Ann

    1993-01-01

    The GEMINI 8-meter Telescopes Project is designing twin 8-meter telescopes to be located in Hawaii and Chile. The GEMINI telescopes will have interchangeable secondary mirrors for use in the visible and IR. The APART/PADE program is being used to evaluate the effective IR emissivity of the IR configuration plus enclosure as a function of mirror contamination at three IR wavelengths. The goal is to design a telescope whose effective IR emissivity is no more than 2 percent when the mirrors are clean.

  1. Goddard Robotic Telescope (GRT)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Since it is not possible to predict when a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) occurs, the follow-up ground telescopes must be distributed as uniform as possible all over the...

  2. Infrared Astronomy Professional Development for K-12 Educators: WISE Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borders, Kareen; Mendez, B. M.

    2010-01-01

    K-12 educators need effective and relevant astronomy professional development. WISE Telescope (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer) and Spitzer Space Telescope Education programs provided an immersive teacher professional development workshop at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico during the summer of 2009. As many common misconceptions involve scale and distance, teachers worked with Moon/Earth scale, solar system scale, and distance of objects in the universe. Teachers built and used basic telescopes, learned about the history of telescopes, explored ground and satellite based telescopes, and explored and worked on models of WISE Telescope. An in-depth explanation of WISE and Spitzer telescopes gave participants background knowledge for infrared astronomy observations. We taught the electromagnetic spectrum through interactive stations. The stations included an overview via lecture and power point, the use of ultraviolet beads to determine ultraviolet exposure, the study of WISE lenticulars and diagramming of infrared data, listening to light by using speakers hooked up to photoreceptor cells, looking at visible light through diffraction glasses and diagramming the data, protocols for using astronomy based research in the classroom, and infrared thermometers to compare environmental conditions around the observatory. An overview of LIDAR physics was followed up by a simulated LIDAR mapping of the topography of Mars. We will outline specific steps for K-12 infrared astronomy professional development, provide data demonstrating the impact of the above professional development on educator understanding and classroom use, and detail future plans for additional K-12 professional development. Funding was provided by WISE Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, Starbucks, Arecibo Observatory, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Washington Space Grant Consortium.

  3. Low-cost programmable pulse generator for particle telescope calibration

    CERN Document Server

    Sanchez, S; Seisdedos, M; Meziat, D; Carbajo, M; Medina, J; Bronchalo, E; Peral, L D; Rodríguez-Pacheco, J

    1999-01-01

    In this paper we present a new calibration system for particle telescopes including multipulse generator and digital controller. The calibration system generates synchronized pulses of variable height for every detector channel on the telescope. The control system is based on a commercial microcontroller linked to a personal computer through an RS-232 bidirectional line. The aim of the device is to perform laboratory calibration of multi-detector telescopes prior to calibration at accelerator. This task includes evaluation of linearity and resolution of each detector channel, as well as coincidence logic. The heights of the pulses sent to the detectors are obtained by Monte Carlo simulation of telescope response to a particle flux of any desired geometry and composition.

  4. The Inner Coma Physical Environments of Ecliptic Comets 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, 2P/Encke, and 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak Revealed Through Long-Slit Spectroscopy at NASA IRTF

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonev, Boncho P.; DiSanti, Michael A.; Roth, Nathan; Dello Russo, Neil; Vervack, Ronald J.; Gibb, Erika L.; Villanueva, Geronimo Luis; Combi, Michael R.; Fougere, Nicolas; Kawakita, Hideyo; McKay, Adam J.; Saki, Mohammad; Cordiner, Martin; Protopapa, Silvia; de Val-Borro, Miguel

    2017-10-01

    Understanding the physical processes in the inner regions of cometary atmospheres is vital for interpretation of molecular cometary emission at all wavelengths. Furthermore, because ecliptic comets are continuously evaluated as space mission targets, understanding their coma environments is a central theme in both enhancing the science return of past missions (EPOXI, Rosetta) and in selecting future mission targets. With this motivation, we report long-slit high-resolution observations of H2O emission in the comae of three ecliptic comets observed in early 2017: 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, 2P/Encke, and 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak. Using the new crossed-dispersed spectrograph iSHELL at NASA IRTF, we detected a suite of water rovibrational emission lines from these comets and measured the spatial distributions of H2O rotational temperatures and molecular column densities. Both parameters are highly diagnostic of the physical environment in cometary comae, the competition between cooling and heating processes in these environments, and the presence (or lack thereof) of extended coma sources of gas-phase H2O. Comets 2P and 45P allowed a rare glimpse into coma physics at small (staff for their help with these challenging observations, most of which were done during daytime.

  5. The Green Bank Telescope: A radio telescope for the twenty-first century: Final proposal June 1989

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1989-01-01

    The scientific goals, design, and projected performance of a 100-m-aperture steerable radio telescope to be built at Green Bank, WV are discussed in a proposal to the NSF. The goals considered include observations of pulsars, stars and the solar system; studies of Galactic and extragalactic H I, spectroscopic studies, measurements of continuum radiation; and VLBI observations. Detailed attention is given to the antenna, electronics, control and monitor system, data processing, operational factors, the telescope site, and cost estimates. Drawings, diagrams, sample images, and tables of numerical data are provided

  6. The SPIRIT Telescope Initiative: six years on

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luckas, Paul

    2017-06-01

    Now in its sixth year of operation, the SPIRIT initiative remains unique in Australia, as a robust web-enabled robotic telescope initiative funded for education and outreach. With multiple modes of operation catering for a variety of usage scenarios and a fully supported education program, SPIRIT provides free access to contemporary astronomical tools for students and educators in Western Australia and beyond. The technical solution itself provides an excellent model for low cost robotic telescope installations, and the education program has evolved over time to include a broad range of student experiences-from engagement activities to authentic science. This paper details the robotic telescope solution, student interface and educational philosophy, summarises achievements and lessons learned and examines the possibilities for future enhancement including spectroscopy.

  7. Development of a Multivariable Parametric Cost Analysis for Space-Based Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dollinger, Courtnay

    2011-01-01

    Over the past 400 years, the telescope has proven to be a valuable tool in helping humankind understand the Universe around us. The images and data produced by telescopes have revolutionized planetary, solar, stellar, and galactic astronomy and have inspired a wide range of people, from the child who dreams about the images seen on NASA websites to the most highly trained scientist. Like all scientific endeavors, astronomical research must operate within the constraints imposed by budget limitations. Hence the importance of understanding cost: to find the balance between the dreams of scientists and the restrictions of the available budget. By logically analyzing the data we have collected for over thirty different telescopes from more than 200 different sources, statistical methods, such as plotting regressions and residuals, can be used to determine what drives the cost of telescopes to build and use a cost model for space-based telescopes. Previous cost models have focused their attention on ground-based telescopes due to limited data for space telescopes and the larger number and longer history of ground-based astronomy. Due to the increased availability of cost data from recent space-telescope construction, we have been able to produce and begin testing a comprehensive cost model for space telescopes, with guidance from the cost models for ground-based telescopes. By separating the variables that effect cost such as diameter, mass, wavelength, density, data rate, and number of instruments, we advance the goal to better understand the cost drivers of space telescopes.. The use of sophisticated mathematical techniques to improve the accuracy of cost models has the potential to help society make informed decisions about proposed scientific projects. An improved knowledge of cost will allow scientists to get the maximum value returned for the money given and create a harmony between the visions of scientists and the reality of a budget.

  8. Software framework for automatic learning of telescope operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez, Jose A.; Molgó, Jordi; Guerra, Dailos

    2016-07-01

    The "Gran Telescopio de Canarias" (GTC) is an optical-infrared 10-meter segmented mirror telescope at the ORM observatory in Canary Islands (Spain). The GTC Control System (GCS) is a distributed object and component oriented system based on RT-CORBA and it is responsible for the operation of the telescope, including its instrumentation. The current development state of GCS is mature and fully operational. On the one hand telescope users as PI's implement the sequences of observing modes of future scientific instruments that will be installed in the telescope and operators, in turn, design their own sequences for maintenance. On the other hand engineers develop new components that provide new functionality required by the system. This great work effort is possible to minimize so that costs are reduced, especially if one considers that software maintenance is the most expensive phase of the software life cycle. Could we design a system that allows the progressive assimilation of sequences of operation and maintenance of the telescope, through an automatic self-programming system, so that it can evolve from one Component oriented organization to a Service oriented organization? One possible way to achieve this is to use mechanisms of learning and knowledge consolidation to reduce to the minimum expression the effort to transform the specifications of the different telescope users to the operational deployments. This article proposes a framework for solving this problem based on the combination of the following tools: data mining, self-Adaptive software, code generation, refactoring based on metrics, Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering and Service Oriented Architectures.

  9. Optical design of a Michelson wide-field multiple-aperture telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cassaing, Frederic; Sorrente, Beatrice; Fleury, Bruno; Laubier, David

    2004-02-01

    Multiple-Aperture Optical Telescopes (MAOTs) are a promising solution for very high resolution imaging. In the Michelson configuration, the instrument is made of sub-telescopes distributed in the pupil and combined by a common telescope via folding periscopes. The phasing conditions of the sub-pupils lead to specific optical constraints in these subsystems. The amplitude of main contributors to the wavefront error (WFE) is given as a function of high level requirements (such as field or resolution) and free parameters, mainly the sub-telescope type, magnification and diameter. It is shown that for the periscopes, the field-to-resolution ratio is the main design driver and can lead to severe specifications. The effect of sub-telescopes aberrations on the global WFE can be minimized by reducing their diameter. An analytical tool for the MAOT design has been derived from this analysis, illustrated and validated in three different cases: LEO or GEO Earth observation and astronomy with extremely large telescopes. The last two cases show that a field larger than 10 000 resolution elements can be covered with a very simple MAOT based on Mersenne paraboloid-paraboloid sub-telescopes. Michelson MAOTs are thus a solution to be considered for high resolution wide-field imaging, from space or ground.

  10. The Volatile Composition of newly-discovered C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy) before its dissolutionas revealed by iSHELL at NASA/IRTF

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faggi, Sara; Villanueva, Geronimo Luis; Mumma, Michael J.; Paganini, Lucas

    2017-10-01

    In April 2017, we acquired comprehensive high-resolution spectra of newly-discovered comet C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy) as it approached perihelion, and before its disintegration. We detected many cometary emission lines across 4 customized instrument settings (L1-b, L3, Lp1-b and M1) in the (1 - 5) μm range, using iSHELL - the new near-IR high resolution immersion echelle spectrograph on NASA/IRTF (Mauna Kea, Hawaii).In M1, near 5μm, we detected multiple ro-vibrational lines of H2O, CO and the (X-X) system of CN; the latter data constitute a complete survey of CN at these wavelengths. We derived quantitative abundances for CN and addressed its origin by comparing with quantitative production rates for HCN. The ability to quantify both primary and product species eliminates systematic error that may be introduced when measurements are acquired with different astronomical techniques and instruments.In L1, around 3 μm, we detected fluorescence emission from HCN, C2H2, and water, prompt emission from OH, and many other features. Methane, ethane and methanol were detected both in L3 and Lp1 settings. These species are relevant to astrobiology, owing to questions regarding the origin of pre-biotic organics and water on terrestrial planets.The many water emission lines detected in L1-b (and M1) provided an opportunity to retrieve independent measures of rotational temperature for ortho- and para-H2O, thereby reducing systematic uncertainty in the derived ortho-para ratio and nuclear spin temperature. Deuterated species were also sought and results will be presented.The bright Oort cloud comet E4 Lovejoy combined with the new capabilities of iSHELL provided unique results. The individual iSHELL settings cover very wide spectral range with very high accuracy, eliminating many sources of systematic errors when retrieving molecular abundances; future comparisons amongst comets will clarify the nature and meaning of cosmogonic indicators based on composition.Acknowledgments NASA

  11. NST: Thermal Modeling for a Large Aperture Solar Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coulter, Roy

    2011-05-01

    Late in the 1990s the Dutch Open Telescope demonstrated that internal seeing in open, large aperture solar telescopes can be controlled by flushing air across the primary mirror and other telescope structures exposed to sunlight. In that system natural wind provides a uniform air temperature throughout the imaging volume, while efficiently sweeping heated air away from the optics and mechanical structure. Big Bear Solar Observatory's New Solar Telescope (NST) was designed to realize that same performance in an enclosed system by using both natural wind through the dome and forced air circulation around the primary mirror to provide the uniform air temperatures required within the telescope volume. The NST is housed in a conventional, ventilated dome with a circular opening, in place of the standard dome slit, that allows sunlight to fall only on an aperture stop and the primary mirror. The primary mirror is housed deep inside a cylindrical cell with only minimal openings in the side at the level of the mirror. To date, the forced air and cooling systems designed for the NST primary mirror have not been implemented, yet the telescope regularly produces solar images indicative of the absence of mirror seeing. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of the NST primary mirror system along with measurements of air flows within the dome, around the telescope structure, and internal to the mirror cell are used to explain the origin of this seemingly incongruent result. The CFD analysis is also extended to hypothetical systems of various scales. We will discuss the results of these investigations.

  12. Chinese large solar telescopes site survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yu

    2017-04-01

    In order to observe the solar surface with unprecedentedly higher resolution, Chinse solar physics society decided to launch their solar site survey project in 2010 as the first step to look for the best candidate sites for the Chinese next-generation large-aperture solar telescopes, i.e., the 5-8 meter Chinese Giant Solar Telescope, and the 1 meter level coronagraph. We have built two long-term monitoring sites in Daocheng, with altitudes of around 4800 meters above the sea level located in the large Shangri-La mountain area, and we have collected systematic site data since 2014. Clear evidence, including the key parameters of seeing factor, sky brightness and water vapor content, has indicated that the large Shangri-La area owns the potential conditions of excellent seeing level and sufficient amount of clear-sky hours suitable for developing large solar telescopes. We will review the site survey progress and present the preliminary statistical results in this talk.

  13. Observatories and Telescopes of Modern Times

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leverington, David

    2016-11-01

    Preface; Part I. Optical Observatories: 1. Palomar Mountain Observatory; 2. The United States Optical Observatory; 3. From the Next Generation Telescope to Gemini and SOAR; 4. Competing primary mirror designs; 5. Active optics, adaptive optics and other technical innovations; 6. European Northern Observatory and Calar Alto; 7. European Southern Observatory; 8. Mauna Kea Observatory; 9. Australian optical observatories; 10. Mount Hopkins' Whipple Observatory and the MMT; 11. Apache Point Observatory; 12. Carnegie Southern Observatory (Las Campanas); 13. Mount Graham International Optical Observatory; 14. Modern optical interferometers; 15. Solar observatories; Part II. Radio Observatories: 16. Australian radio observatories; 17. Cambridge Mullard Radio Observatory; 18. Jodrell Bank; 19. Early radio observatories away from the Australian-British axis; 20. The American National Radio Astronomy Observatory; 21. Owens Valley and Mauna Kea; 22. Further North and Central American observatories; 23. Further European and Asian radio observatories; 24. ALMA and the South Pole; Name index; Optical observatory and telescope index; Radio observatory and telescope index; General index.

  14. The Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roming, Peter; Hunsberger, S.D.; Nousek, John; Mason, Keith

    2001-01-01

    The Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) provides the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer with the capability of quickly detecting and characterizing the optical and ultraviolet properties of gamma ray burst counterparts. The UVOT design is based on the design of the Optical Monitor on XMM-Newton. It is a Ritchey-Chretien telescope with microchannel plate intensified charged-coupled devices (MICs) that deliver sub-arcsecond imaging. These MICs are photon-counting devices, capable of detecting low intensity signal levels. When flown above the atmosphere, the UVOT will have the sensitivity of a 4m ground based telescope, attaining a limiting magnitude of 24 for a 1000 second observation in the white light filter. A rotating filter wheel allows sensitive photometry in six bands spanning the UV and visible, which will provide photometric redshifts of objects in the 1-3.5z range. For bright counterparts, such as the 9th magnitude GRB990123, or for fainter objects down to 17th magnitude, two grisms provide low-resolution spectroscopy

  15. Deployable reflector configurations. [for space telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meinel, A. B.; Meinel, M. P.; Woolf, N. J.

    1983-01-01

    Both the theoretical reasons for considering a non-circular format for the Large Deployable Reflector, and a potentially realizable concept for such a device, are discussed. The optimum systems for diffraction limited telescopes with incoherent detection have either a single filled aperture, or two such apertures as an interferometer to synthesize a larger aperture. For a single aperture of limited area, a reflector in the form of a slot can be used to give increased angular resolution. It is shown how a 20 x 8 meter telescope can be configured to fit the Space Shuttle bay, and deployed with relatively simple operations. The relationship between the sunshield design and the inclination of the orbit is discussed. The possible use of the LDR as a basic module to permit the construction of supergiant space telescopes and interferometers both for IR/submm studies and for the entire ultraviolet through mm wave spectral region is discussed.

  16. Template analysis for the MAGIC telescopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Menzel, Uta [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Collaboration: MAGIC-Collaboration

    2016-07-01

    The MAGIC telescopes are two 17-m-diameter Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes located on the Canary island of La Palma. They record the Cherenkov light from air showers induced by very high energy photons. The current data analysis uses a parametrization of the two shower images (including Hillas parameters) to determine the characteristics of the primary particle. I am implementing an advanced analysis method that compares shower images on a pixel basis with template images based on Monte Carlo simulations. To reduce the simulation effort the templates contain only pure shower images that are convolved with the telescope response later in the analysis. The primary particle parameters are reconstructed by maximizing the likelihood of the template. By using all the information available in the shower images, the performance of MAGIC is expected to improve. In this presentation I will explain the general idea of a template-based analysis and show the first results of the implementation.

  17. Exploring Galileo's Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Straulino, Samuele; Terzuoli, Alessandra

    2010-01-01

    In the first months of 2009, the International Year of Astronomy, the authors developed an educational project for middle-level students connected with the first astronomical discoveries that Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) made 400 years ago. The project included the construction of a basic telescope and the observation of the Moon. The project, if…

  18. Novel optical scanning cryptography using Fresnel telescope imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Aimin; Sun, Jianfeng; Hu, Zhijuan; Zhang, Jingtao; Liu, Liren

    2015-07-13

    We propose a new method called modified optical scanning cryptography using Fresnel telescope imaging technique for encryption and decryption of remote objects. An image or object can be optically encrypted on the fly by Fresnel telescope scanning system together with an encryption key. For image decryption, the encrypted signals are received and processed with an optical coherent heterodyne detection system. The proposed method has strong performance through use of secure Fresnel telescope scanning with orthogonal polarized beams and efficient all-optical information processing. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated by numerical simulations and experimental results.

  19. Payload maintenance cost model for the space telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, W. L.

    1980-01-01

    An optimum maintenance cost model for the space telescope for a fifteen year mission cycle was developed. Various documents and subsequent updates of failure rates and configurations were made. The reliability of the space telescope for one year, two and one half years, and five years were determined using the failure rates and configurations. The failure rates and configurations were also used in the maintenance simulation computer model which simulate the failure patterns for the fifteen year mission life of the space telescope. Cost algorithms associated with the maintenance options as indicated by the failure patterns were developed and integrated into the model.

  20. Origins Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooray, Asantha; Origins Space Telescope Study Team

    2018-01-01

    The Origins Space Telescope (OST) is the mission concept for the Far-Infrared Surveyor, a study in development by NASA in preparation for the 2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey. Origins is planned to be a large aperture, actively-cooled telescope covering a wide span of the mid- to far-infrared spectrum. Its spectrographs will enable 3D surveys of the sky that will discover and characterize the most distant galaxies, Milky-Way, exoplanets, and the outer reaches of our Solar system. Origins will enable flagship-quality general observing programs led by the astronomical community in the 2030s. The Science and Technology Definition Team (STDT) would like to hear your science needs and ideas for this mission. The team can be contacted at firsurveyor_info@lists.ipac.caltech.edu. This presentation will provide a summary of the OST STDT, our completed first mission concept and an introduction to the second concept that will be studied at the study center in 2018. This presentation will also summarize key science drivers and the key study milestones between 2018 and 2020.

  1. Chromospheric telescope of Baikal Astrophysical Observatory. New light

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Skomorovsky V.I.

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available A chromospheric telescope is an important instrument for synoptic observations and solar research. After several decades of observations with the chromospheric telescope at the Baikal Astrophysical Observatory, a need arose to improve the characteristics of this telescope and filter. A new reimaging lens to produce full-disk solar images 18 mm in diameter at the CCD camera Hamamatsu C-124 with a 36×24 mm detector (4000×2672 pixels was designed and manufactured to replace the out-of-operation 50×50 mm Princeton Instruments camera. A contrast interference blocking filter and new calcite and quartz crystal plates were made and installed instead of damaged ones in the Hα birefringent filter (BF, manufactured by Bernhard Hallе Nachfl. The optical immersion in the filter was changed. All telescope optics was cleaned and adjusted. We describe for the first time the design features and their related BF passband tuning. The wavefront interferograms of optical elements and telescope as a whole show that the wavefront distortion of the optical path is within 0.25 λ. The BF and prefilter spectral parameters provide high-contrast monochromatic images. Besides, we give examples of solar chromospheric images in the Hα line core and wing.

  2. The telescopic tourist's guide to the Moon

    CERN Document Server

    May, Andrew

    2017-01-01

    Whether you’re interested in visiting Apollo landing sites or the locations of classic sci-fi movies, this is the tourist guide for you! This tourist guide has a twist – it is a guide to a whole different world, which you can visit from the comfort of your backyard with the aid of nothing more sophisticated than an inexpensive telescope. It tells you the best times to view the Moon, the most exciting sights to look out for, and the best equipment to use, allowing you to snap stunning photographs as well as view the sights with your own eyes. Have you ever been inspired by stunning images from the Hubble telescope, or the magic of sci-fi special effects, only to look through a small backyard telescope at the disappointing white dot of a planet or faint blur of a galaxy? Yet the Moon is different. Seen through even a relatively cheap telescope, it springs into life like a real place, with mountains and valleys and rugged craters. With a bit of imagination, you can even picture yourself as a sightseeing visi...

  3. Development of the optical system for the SST-1M telescope of the Cherenkov Telescope Array observatory

    CERN Document Server

    Ostrowski, Michael; Błocki, J.; Bogacz, L.; Bulik, T.; Cadoux, F.; Christov, A.; Curyło, M.; della Volpe, D.; Dyrda, M.; Favre, Y.; Frankowski, A.; Grudnik, Ł.; Grudzińska, M.; Heller, M.; Idźkowski, B.; Jamrozy, M.; Janiak, M.; Kasperek, J.; Lalik, K.; Lyard, E.; Mach, E.; Mandat, D.; Marszałek, A.; Michałowski, J.; Moderski, R.; Montaruli, T.; Neronov, A.; Niemiec, J.; Paśko, P.; Pech, M.; Porcelli, A.; Prandini, E.; Pueschel, E.; Rajda, P.; Rameez, M.; Schioppa, E. jr; Schovanek, P.; Skowron, K.; Sliusar, V.; Sowiński, M.; Stawarz, Ł.; Stodulska, M.; Stodulski, M.; Toscano, S.; Troyano Pujadas, I.; Walter, R.; Wiȩcek, M.; Zagdański, A.; Ziȩtara, K.; Żychowski, P.; Barciński, T.; Karczewski, M.; Kukliński, J. Nicolau; Płatos, Ł.; Rataj, M.; Wawer, P.; Wawrzaszek, R.

    2016-01-01

    The prototype of a Davies-Cotton small size telescope (SST-1M) has been designed and developed by a consortium of Polish and Swiss institutions and proposed for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory. The main purpose of the optical system is to focus the Cherenkov light emitted by extensive air showers in the atmosphere onto the focal plane detectors. The main component of the system is a dish consisting of 18 hexagonal mirrors with a total effective collection area of 6.47 m2 (including the shadowing and estimated mirror reflectivity). Such a solution was chosen taking into account the analysis of the Cherenkov light propagation and based on optical simulations. The proper curvature and stability of the dish is ensured by the mirror alignment system and the isostatic interface to the telescope structure. Here we present the design of the optical subsystem together with the performance measurements of its components.

  4. The Hubble Space Telescope from concept to success

    CERN Document Server

    Shayler, David J

    2016-01-01

    The highly successful Hubble Space Telescope was meant to change our view and understanding of the universe. Within weeks of its launch in 1990, however, the space community was shocked to find out that the primary mirror of the telescope was flawed. It was only the skills of scientists and engineers on the ground and the daring talents of astronauts sent to service the telescope in December 1993 that saved the mission. For over two decades NASA had developed the capabilities to service a payload in orbit. This involved numerous studies and the creation of a ground-based infrastructure to support the challenging missions. Unique tools and EVA hardware supported the skills developed in crew training that then enabled astronauts to complete a demanding series of spacewalks. Drawing upon first hand interviews with those closely involved in the project over thirty years ago this story explains the development of the servicing mission concept and the hurdles that had to be overcome to not only launch the telescope...

  5. Cryo Testing of tbe James Webb Space Telescope's Integrated Science Instrument Module

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanCampen, Julie

    2004-01-01

    The Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) of the James Webb Space Telescope will be integrated and tested at the Environmental Test Facilities at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The cryogenic thermal vacuum testing of the ISIM will be the most difficult and problematic portion of the GSFC Integration and Test flow. The test is to validate the coupled interface of the science instruments and the ISIM structure and to sufficiently stress that interface while validating image quality of the science instruments. The instruments and the structure are not made from the same materials and have different CTE. Test objectives and verification rationale are currently being evaluated in Phase B of the project plan. The test program will encounter engineering challenges and limitations, which are derived by cost and technology many of which can be mitigated by facility upgrades, creative GSE, and thorough forethought. The cryogenic testing of the ISIM will involve a number of risks such as the implementation of unique metrology techniques, mechanical, electrical and optical simulators housed within the cryogenic vacuum environment. These potential risks are investigated and possible solutions are proposed.

  6. 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope Project: Completion and first results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Brijesh; Omar, Amitesh; Maheswar, Gopinathan; Pandey, Anil Kumar; Sagar, Ram; Uddin, Wahab; Sanwal, Basant Ballabh; Bangia, Tarun; Kumar, Tripurari Satyanarayana; Yadav, Shobhit; Sahu, Sanjit; Pant, Jayshreekar; Reddy, Bheemireddy Krishna; Gupta, Alok Chandra; Chand, Hum; Pandey, Jeewan Chandra; Joshi, Mohit Kumar; Jaiswar, Mukeshkuma; Nanjappa, Nandish; Purushottam; Yadav, Rama Kant Singh; Sharma, Saurabh; Pandey, Shashi Bhushan; Joshi, Santosh; Joshi, Yogesh Chandra; Lata, Sneh; Mehdi, Biman Jyoti; Misra, Kuntal; Singh, Mahendra

    2018-04-01

    We present an update on the 3.6-m aperture optical telescope, which has been installed at Devasthal in the year 2016. In this paper, a brief overview of installation activities at site and first results are presented. The 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope project was initiated in 2007 by the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES; Nainital, India) in partnership with Belgium. The telescope has Ritchey-Chretien optics, an alt-azimuth mount, an active control of the primary and a corrected science field of view of 30' at the Cassegrain focus. The construction of the telescope enclosure building was completed in June 2014 and after successful installation of the telescope. The first engineering light was obtained on 22 March 2015. The on-sky performance of the telescope was carried out till February 2016.

  7. Stray light field dependence for large astronomical space telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lightsey, Paul A.; Bowers, Charles W.

    2017-09-01

    Future large astronomical telescopes in space will have architectures that expose the optics to large angular extents of the sky. Options for reducing stray light coming from the sky range from enclosing the telescope in a tubular baffle to having an open telescope structure with a large sunshield to eliminate solar illumination. These two options are considered for an on-axis telescope design to explore stray light considerations. A tubular baffle design will limit the sky exposure to the solid angle of the cone in front of the telescope set by the aspect ratio of the baffle length to Primary Mirror (PM) diameter. Illumination from this portion of the sky will be limited to the PM and structures internal to the tubular baffle. Alternatively, an open structure design will allow a large portion of the sky to directly illuminate the PM and Secondary Mirror (SM) as well as illuminating sunshield and other structure surfaces which will reflect or scatter light onto the PM and SM. Portions of this illumination of the PM and SM will be scattered into the optical train as stray light. A Radiance Transfer Function (RTF) is calculated for the open architecture that determines the ratio of the stray light background radiance in the image contributed by a patch of sky having unit radiance. The full 4π steradian of sky is divided into a grid of patches, with the location of each patch defined in the telescope coordinate system. By rotating the celestial sky radiance maps into the telescope coordinate frame for a given pointing direction of the telescope, the RTF may be applied to the sky brightness and the results integrated to get the total stray light from the sky for that pointing direction. The RTF data generated for the open architecture may analyzed as a function of the expanding cone angle about the pointing direction. In this manner, the open architecture data may be used to directly compare to a tubular baffle design parameterized by allowed cone angle based on the

  8. The TOTEM GEM Telescope (T2) at the LHC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quinto, M.; Berretti, M.; David, E.; Garcia, F.; Greco, V.; Heino, J.; Hilden, T.; Kurvinen, K.; Lami, S.; Latino, G.; Lauhakangas, R.; Oliveri, E.; Ropelewski, L.; Scribano, A.; Turini, N.; Stenis, M. van

    2011-01-01

    The TOTEM T2 telescope will measure inelastically produced charged particles in the forward region of the LHC Interaction Point 5. Each arm of the telescope consists in a set of 20 triple-GEM (Gas Electron Multiplier) detectors with tracking and trigger capabilities. The GEM technology has been considered for the design of TOTEM very forward T2 telescopes thanks to its characteristics: large active areas, good position and timing resolution, excellent rate capability and radiation hardness. Each of the four T2 half arms has been fully assembled and equipped with electronics at CERN and systematically tested in the SPS beam line H8 in 2008/09. After some optimization, the operation of the GEM chambers was fully satisfactory and the T2 telescopes were installed and commissioned in their final positions at the LHC interaction point. During the first LHC run (December 2009) the T2 telescopes have collected data, at 900 GeV and 2.36 TeV. We will present here the performances of the detector and the preliminary results obtained using the data collected.

  9. The TOTEM GEM Telescope (T2) at the LHC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Quinto, M. [INFN Sezione di Bari, Via E.Orabona n 4, 70126 Bari (Italy); Berretti, M. [University of Siena, Physics Department, Via Roma 56, I-53100 Siena (Italy); INFN Sezione di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo, 3. I-56127. Pisa (Italy); David, E. [CERN, PH Department, 1211 Geneva 23, Geneva (Switzerland); Garcia, F. [University of Helsinki, Institute of Physics and Department of Physical Sciences, Helsinki (Finland); Greco, V. [University of Siena, Physics Department, Via Roma 56, I-53100 Siena (Italy); INFN Sezione di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo, 3. I-56127. Pisa (Italy); Heino, J.; Hilden, T.; Kurvinen, K. [University of Helsinki, Institute of Physics and Department of Physical Sciences, Helsinki (Finland); Lami, S. [INFN Sezione di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo, 3. I-56127. Pisa (Italy); Latino, G. [University of Siena, Physics Department, Via Roma 56, I-53100 Siena (Italy); INFN Sezione di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo, 3. I-56127. Pisa (Italy); Lauhakangas, R. [University of Helsinki, Institute of Physics and Department of Physical Sciences, Helsinki (Finland); Oliveri, E. [University of Siena, Physics Department, Via Roma 56, I-53100 Siena (Italy); INFN Sezione di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo, 3. I-56127. Pisa (Italy); Ropelewski, L. [CERN, PH Department, 1211 Geneva 23, Geneva (Switzerland); Scribano, A.; Turini, N. [University of Siena, Physics Department, Via Roma 56, I-53100 Siena (Italy); INFN Sezione di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo, 3. I-56127. Pisa (Italy); Stenis, M. van [CERN, PH Department, 1211 Geneva 23, Geneva (Switzerland)

    2011-06-15

    The TOTEM T2 telescope will measure inelastically produced charged particles in the forward region of the LHC Interaction Point 5. Each arm of the telescope consists in a set of 20 triple-GEM (Gas Electron Multiplier) detectors with tracking and trigger capabilities. The GEM technology has been considered for the design of TOTEM very forward T2 telescopes thanks to its characteristics: large active areas, good position and timing resolution, excellent rate capability and radiation hardness. Each of the four T2 half arms has been fully assembled and equipped with electronics at CERN and systematically tested in the SPS beam line H8 in 2008/09. After some optimization, the operation of the GEM chambers was fully satisfactory and the T2 telescopes were installed and commissioned in their final positions at the LHC interaction point. During the first LHC run (December 2009) the T2 telescopes have collected data, at 900 GeV and 2.36 TeV. We will present here the performances of the detector and the preliminary results obtained using the data collected.

  10. Design Evolution of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope Using Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) and Lessons Learned

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peabody, Hume L.; Peters, Carlton V.; Rodriguez-Ruiz, Juan E.; McDonald, Carson S.; Content, David A.; Jackson, Clifton E.

    2015-01-01

    The design of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope using Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (WFIRST-AFTA) continues to evolve as each design cycle is analyzed. In 2012, two Hubble sized (2.4 m diameter) telescopes were donated to NASA from elsewhere in the Federal Government. NASA began investigating potential uses for these telescopes and identified WFIRST as a mission to benefit from these assets. With an updated, deeper, and sharper field of view than previous design iterations with a smaller telescope, the optical designs of the WFIRST instruments were updated and the mechanical and thermal designs evolved around the new optical layout. Beginning with Design Cycle 3, significant analysis efforts yielded a design and model that could be evaluated for Structural-Thermal-Optical-Performance (STOP) purposes for the Wide Field Imager (WFI) and provided the basis for evaluating the high level observatory requirements. Development of the Cycle 3 thermal model provided some valuable analysis lessons learned and established best practices for future design cycles. However, the Cycle 3 design did include some major liens and evolving requirements which were addressed in the Cycle 4 Design. Some of the design changes are driven by requirements changes, while others are optimizations or solutions to liens from previous cycles. Again in Cycle 4, STOP analysis was performed and further insights into the overall design were gained leading to the Cycle 5 design effort currently underway. This paper seeks to capture the thermal design evolution, with focus on major design drivers, key decisions and their rationale, and lessons learned as the design evolved.

  11. Development of the Phase-up Technology of the Radio Telescopes: 6.7 GHz Methanol Maser Observations with Phased Hitachi 32 m and Takahagi 32 m Radio Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takefuji, K.; Sugiyama, K.; Yonekura, Y.; Saito, T.; Fujisawa, K.; Kondo, T.

    2017-11-01

    For the sake of high-sensitivity 6.7 GHz methanol maser observations, we developed a new technology for coherently combining the two signals from the Hitachi 32 m radio telescope and the Takahagi 32 m radio telescope of the Japanese Very long baseline interferometer Network (JVN), where the two telescopes were separated by about 260 m. After the two telescopes were phased as a twofold larger single telescope, the mean signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the 6.7 GHz methanol masers observed by the phased telescopes was improved to 1.254-fold higher than that of the single dish, through a very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) experiment on the 50 km baseline of the Kashima 34 m telescope and the 1000 km baseline of the Yamaguchi 32 m telescope. Furthermore, we compared the S/Ns of the 6.7 GHz maser spectra for two methods. One is a VLBI method and the other is the newly developed digital position switching that is a similar technology to that used in noise-canceling headphones. Finally, we confirmed that the mean S/N of method of the digital position switching (ON-OFF) was 1.597-fold higher than that of the VLBI method.

  12. DESTINY, The Dark Energy Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pasquale, Bert A.; Woodruff, Robert A.; Benford, Dominic J.; Lauer, Tod

    2007-01-01

    We have proposed the development of a low-cost space telescope, Destiny, as a concept for the NASA/DOE Joint Dark Energy Mission. Destiny is a 1.65m space telescope, featuring a near-infrared (0.85-1.7m) survey camera/spectrometer with a moderate flat-field field of view (FOV). Destiny will probe the properties of dark energy by obtaining a Hubble diagram based on Type Ia supernovae and a large-scale mass power spectrum derived from weak lensing distortions of field galaxies as a function of redshift.

  13. Secondary mirror system for the European Solar Telescope (EST)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cavaller, L.; Siegel, B.; Prieto, G.; Hernandez, E.; Casalta, J. M.; Mercader, J.; Barriga, J.

    2010-07-01

    The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a European collaborative project to build a 4m class solar telescope in the Canary Islands, which is now in its design study phase. The telescope will provide diffraction limited performance for several instruments observing simultaneously at the Coudé focus at different wavelengths. A multi-conjugated adaptive optics system composed of a tip-tilt mirror and several deformable mirrors will be integrated in the telescope optical path. The secondary mirror system is composed of the mirror itself (Ø800mm), the alignment drives and the cooling system needed to remove the solar heat load from the mirror. During the design study the feasibility to provide fast tip-tilt capabilities at the secondary mirror to work as the adaptive optics tip-tilt mirror is also being evaluated.

  14. The ARC (Astrophysical Research Consortium) telescope project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, K. S.

    A consortium of universities intends to construct a 3.5 meter optical-infrared telescope at a site in south-central New Mexico. The use of innovative mirror technology, a fast primary, and an alt-azimuth mounting results in a compact and lightweight instrument. This telescope will be uniquely well-suited for addressing certain observational programs by virtue of its capability for fully remote operation and rapid instrument changes.

  15. Adaptive Optics Facility: control strategy and first on-sky results of the acquisition sequence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madec, P.-Y.; Kolb, J.; Oberti, S.; Paufique, J.; La Penna, P.; Hackenberg, W.; Kuntschner, H.; Argomedo, J.; Kiekebusch, M.; Donaldson, R.; Suarez, M.; Arsenault, R.

    2016-07-01

    The Adaptive Optics Facility is an ESO project aiming at converting Yepun, one of the four 8m telescopes in Paranal, into an adaptive telescope. This is done by replacing the current conventional secondary mirror of Yepun by a Deformable Secondary Mirror (DSM) and attaching four Laser Guide Star (LGS) Units to its centerpiece. In the meantime, two Adaptive Optics (AO) modules have been developed incorporating each four LGS WaveFront Sensors (WFS) and one tip-tilt sensor used to control the DSM at 1 kHz frame rate. The four LGS Units and one AO module (GRAAL) have already been assembled on Yepun. Besides the technological challenge itself, one critical area of AOF is the AO control strategy and its link with the telescope control, including Active Optics used to shape M1. Another challenge is the request to minimize the overhead due to AOF during the acquisition phase of the observation. This paper presents the control strategy of the AOF. The current control of the telescope is first recalled, and then the way the AO control makes the link with the Active Optics is detailed. Lab results are used to illustrate the expected performance. Finally, the overall AOF acquisition sequence is presented as well as first results obtained on sky with GRAAL.

  16. A Galaxy Zoo - WorldWide Telescope Mashup: Expanding User Defined Exploration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luebbert, Jarod; Sands, M.; Fay, J.; Smith, A.; Gay, P. L.; Galaxy Zoo Team

    2010-01-01

    We present a new way of exploring your favorite Galaxy Zoo galaxies within the context of the sky using Microsoft Research's WorldWide Telescope. Galaxy Zoo has a fantastic community that is eager to learn and contribute to science through morphological classifications of galaxies. WorldWide Telescope is an interactive observatory that allows users to explore the sky. WorldWide Telescope uses images from the world's best telescopes, including the galaxies of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. WorldWide Telescope provides a fantastic sense of size and distance that is hard to experience in Galaxy Zoo. Creating tours from favorite galaxies directly from Galaxy Zoo aims to solve this dilemma.The incorporation of Galaxy Zoo and WorldWide telescope provides a great resource for users to learn more about the galaxies they are classifying. Users can now explore the areas around certain galaxies and view information about that location from within WorldWide Telescope. Not only does this encourage self-motivated research but after tours are created they can be shared with anyone. We hope this will help spread citizen science to different audiences via email, Facebook, and Twitter.Without the WorldWide Telescope team at Microsoft Research this project would not have been possible. Please go start exploring at http://wwt.galaxyzoo.org. This project was funded through the Microsoft Research Academic Program.

  17. Memory and time: Backward and forward telescoping in Alzheimer's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Haj, Mohamad; Janssen, Steve M J; Antoine, Pascal

    2017-10-01

    Backward and forward telescoping are opposite timing biases. The former refers to misattributing events to earlier dates, whereas the latter refers to misattributing events to later dates. The present study investigated both biases in participants with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and healthy older adults, matched on age, sex, and education level. Participants were asked to recall the years when five remote and five recent public events had occurred. They were also assessed with a cognitive and clinical battery that included a context memory task on which they had to associate letters and locations. Results showed backward telescoping for recent events and forward telescoping for remote events in AD participants and older adults. Furthermore, poorer context recall was observed in AD participants and older adults displaying backward telescoping than in those displaying forward telescoping. These findings suggest an association between the amount of contextual information recalled and the direction of the timing bias. Backward telescoping can be associated with deficiencies in retrieving context characteristics of events, which have been associated with retrograde amnesia and pathological changes to the hippocampus in AD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. GPU-based online track reconstruction for the MuPix-telescope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grzesik, Carsten [JGU, Mainz (Germany); Collaboration: Mu3e-Collaboration

    2016-07-01

    The MuPix telescope is a beam telescope consisting of High Voltage Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (HV-MAPS). This type of sensor is going to be used for the Mu3e experiment, which is aiming to measure the lepton flavor violating decay μ→ eee with an ultimate sensitivity of 10{sup -16}. This sensitivity requires a high muon decay rate in the order of 1 GHz leading to a data rate of about 1 TBit/s for the whole detector. This needs to be reduced by a factor 1000 using online event selection algorithms on Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) before passing the data to the storage. A test setup for the MuPix sensors and parts of the Mu3e tracking detector readout is realized in a four plane telescope. The telescope can also be used to show the usability of an online track reconstruction using GPUs. As a result the telescope can provide online information about efficiencies of a device under test or the alignment of the telescope itself. This talk discusses the implementation of the GPU based track reconstruction and shows some results from recent testbeam campaigns.

  19. Advanced Athermal Telescopes, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This proposed innovative athermal telescope design uses advanced lightweight and high-stiffness material of Beryllium-Aluminum (Be-38Al). Peregrine's expertise with...

  20. Design and end-to-end modelling of a deployable telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dolkens, Dennis; Kuiper, Hans

    2017-09-01

    Deployable optics have the potential of revolutionizing the field of high resolution Earth Observation. By offering the same resolutions as a conventional telescope, while using a much smaller launch volume and mass, the costs of high resolution image data can be brought down drastically. In addition, the technology will ultimately enable resolutions that are currently unattainable due to limitations imposed by the size of launcher fairings. To explore the possibilities and system complexities of a deployable telescope, a concept study was done to design a competitive deployable imager. A deployable telescope was designed for a ground sampling distance of 25 cm from an orbital altitude of 550 km. It offers an angular field of view of 0.6° and has a panchromatic channel as well as four multispectral bands in the visible and near infrared spectrum. The optical design of the telescope is based on an off-axis Korsch Three Mirror Anastigmat. A freeform tertiary mirror is used to ensure a diffraction limited image quality for all channels, while maintaining a compact design. The segmented primary mirror consists of four tapered aperture segments, which can be folded down during launch, while the secondary mirror is mounted on a deployable boom. In its stowed configuration, the telescope fits within a quarter of the volume of a conventional telescope reaching the same resolution. To reach a diffraction limited performance while operating in orbit, the relative position of each individual mirror segment must be controlled to a fraction of a wavelength. Reaching such tolerances with deployable telescope challenging, due to inherent uncertainties in the deployment mechanisms. Adding to the complexity is the fact that the telescope will be operating in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) where it will be exposed to very dynamic thermal conditions. Therefore, the telescope will be equipped with a robust calibration system. Actuators underneath the primary mirror will be controlled using

  1. Selling the Space Telescope - The interpenetration of science, technology, and politics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Robert W.

    1991-01-01

    Attention is given to the politics of initiating the Space Telescope program and to the manner in which the coalition, or working consensus, for the Telescope was assembled, in particular, the role played by astronomers. It is contended that what ensued was a case study in the influence of government patronage on a large-scale scientific and technological program. It is concluded that while a politically feasible Space Telescope did result, in the selling process the Telescope had been both oversold and underfunded.

  2. The ultraviolet telescope on the Astron satellite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyarchuk, A.A.

    1987-01-01

    On 23 March 1983 in the USSR, the Astron astrophysical satellite, with the largest ultraviolet telescope (the UVT) in the world (main mirror diameter 80 cm) and a set of X-ray instruments on board was placed in a high-apogee orbit. The design of the ultraviolet telescope and the results of some of the observations carried out with it are described here. The X-ray instruments are discussed in a separate article. The ultraviolet telescope on the Astron astrophysical satellite is a result of the joint efforts of scientists and engineers at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (Academy of Sciences of the USSR), the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory (Academy of Sciences of the Armenian USSR), and several industrial enterprises in our country. The Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale (CNRS, Marseille, France) played a large role in building the spectrometer for the UVT

  3. The Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Mission

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Atwood, W.B.; /UC, Santa Cruz; Abdo, Aous A.; /Naval Research Lab, Wash., D.C.; Ackermann, M.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Anderson, B. /UC, Santa Cruz; Axelsson, M.; /Stockholm U.; Baldini, L.; /INFN, Pisa; Ballet, J.; /DAPNIA, Saclay; Band, D.L.; /NASA, Goddard /NASA, Goddard; Barbiellini, Guido; /INFN, Trieste /Trieste U.; Bartelt, J.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Bastieri, Denis; /INFN, Padua /Padua U.; Baughman, B.M.; /Ohio State U.; Bechtol, K.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Bederede, D.; /DAPNIA, Saclay; Bellardi, F.; /INFN, Pisa; Bellazzini, R.; /INFN, Pisa; Berenji, B.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Bignami, G.F.; /Pavia U.; Bisello, D.; /INFN, Padua /Padua U.; Bissaldi, E.; /Garching, Max Planck Inst., MPE; Blandford, R.D.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /INFN, Perugia /Perugia U. /NASA, Goddard /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /INFN, Pisa /INFN, Pisa /Bari U. /INFN, Bari /Ecole Polytechnique /Washington U., Seattle /INFN, Padua /Padua U. /Bari U. /INFN, Bari /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /IASF, Milan /IASF, Milan /Kalmar U. /Royal Inst. Tech., Stockholm /DAPNIA, Saclay /ASI, Rome /INFN, Pisa /INFN, Perugia /Perugia U. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /George Mason U. /Naval Research Lab, Wash., D.C. /NASA, Goddard /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /DAPNIA, Saclay /NASA, Goddard /INFN, Perugia /Perugia U. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Montpellier U. /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; /more authors..

    2009-05-15

    The Large Area Telescope (Fermi/LAT, hereafter LAT), the primary instrument on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi) mission, is an imaging, wide field-of-view (FoV), high-energy {gamma}-ray telescope, covering the energy range from below 20 MeV to more than 300 GeV. The LAT was built by an international collaboration with contributions from space agencies, high-energy particle physics institutes, and universities in France, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States. This paper describes the LAT, its preflight expected performance, and summarizes the key science objectives that will be addressed. On-orbit performance will be presented in detail in a subsequent paper. The LAT is a pair-conversion telescope with a precision tracker and calorimeter, each consisting of a 4 x 4 array of 16 modules, a segmented anticoincidence detector that covers the tracker array, and a programmable trigger and data acquisition system. Each tracker module has a vertical stack of 18 (x, y) tracking planes, including two layers (x and y) of single-sided silicon strip detectors and high-Z converter material (tungsten) per tray. Every calorimeter module has 96 CsI(Tl) crystals, arranged in an eight-layer hodoscopic configuration with a total depth of 8.6 radiation lengths, giving both longitudinal and transverse information about the energy deposition pattern. The calorimeter's depth and segmentation enable the high-energy reach of the LAT and contribute significantly to background rejection. The aspect ratio of the tracker (height/width) is 0.4, allowing a large FoV (2.4 sr) and ensuring that most pair-conversion showers initiated in the tracker will pass into the calorimeter for energy measurement. Data obtained with the LAT are intended to (1) permit rapid notification of high-energy {gamma}-ray bursts and transients and facilitate monitoring of variable sources, (2) yield an extensive catalog of several thousand high-energy sources obtained from an all-sky survey, (3

  4. UV/Visible Telescope with Hubble Disposal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benford, Dominic J.

    2013-01-01

    Submission Overview: Our primary objective is to convey a sense of the significant advances possible in astrophysics investigations for major Cosmic Origins COR program goals with a 2.4m telescope asset outfitted with one or more advanced UV visible instruments. Several compelling science objectives were identified based on community meetings these science objectives drove the conceptual design of instruments studied by the COR Program Office during July September 2012. This RFI submission encapsulates the results of that study, and suggests that a more detailed look into the instrument suite should be conducted to prove viability and affordability to support the demonstrated scientific value. This study was conducted in the context of a larger effort to consider the options available for a mission to dispose safely of Hubble hence, the overall architecture considered for the mission we studied for the 2.4m telescope asset included resource sharing. This mitigates combined cost and risk and provides naturally for a continued US leadership role in astrophysics with an advanced, general-purpose UV visible space telescope.

  5. Continent-Spanning Radio Telescope Blazes Trails At the Frontiers of Astrophysics

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-06-01

    The supersharp radio "vision" of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is revealing unprecedented details of astronomical objects from stars in our own cosmic neighborhood to galaxies billions of light-years away. Astronomers from across North America and beyond are presenting the results of VLBA research at the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) meeting in Chicago. "The VLBA is one of the most powerful tools in the world for astronomy," said Paul Vanden Bout, Director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), which operates the VLBA. "It can produce images hundreds of times more detailed than those produced by the Hubble Space Telescope, and that capability has yielded some spectacular scientific results." Examples of VLBA research presented at the AAS meeting include the most accurate measurement ever made of the distance to another galaxy; the detection of our Solar System's orbital motion around the center of our own Galaxy; a "movie" showing the expansion of debris from a star's explosion in a galaxy 11 million light-years away; and a "movie" of gas motions in the atmosphere of a star more than 1,000 light-years away -- the first time gas motions have ever been tracked in a star other than the Sun. With ten giant dish antennas spread from Hawaii in the Pacific to St. Croix in the Caribbean, all working together as a single telescope, the VLBA is "the world's biggest astronomical instrument," Vanden Bout said. The VLBA has been in full operation for more than five years. A pair of sessions at the AAS meeting is devoted to reports of research using the VLBA. In more than 40 scientific presentations, astronomers tell how they used the VLBA to gain valuable new information about nearly every area from the frontiers of astrophysics. Some of those reporting on their VLBA research are graduate students working on their Ph.D degrees. "We are particularly proud that this instrument, one of the world's premier facilities

  6. Scientific Performance of a Nano-satellite MeV Telescope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lucchetta, Giulio; Berlato, Francesco; Rando, Riccardo; Bastieri, Denis; Urso, Giorgio, E-mail: giulio.lucchetta@desy.de, E-mail: fberlato@mpe.mpg.de [Dipartimento di Fisica and Astronomia “G. Galilei,” Università di Padova, I-35131 Padova (Italy)

    2017-05-01

    Over the past two decades, both X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy have experienced great progress. However, the region of the electromagnetic spectrum around ∼1 MeV is not so thoroughly explored. Future medium-sized gamma-ray telescopes will fill this gap in observations. As the timescale for the development and launch of a medium-class mission is ∼10 years, with substantial costs, we propose a different approach for the immediate future. In this paper, we evaluate the viability of a much smaller and cheaper detector: a nano-satellite Compton telescope, based on the CubeSat architecture. The scientific performance of this telescope would be well below that of the instrument expected for the future larger missions; however, via simulations, we estimate that such a compact telescope will achieve a performance similar to that of COMPTEL.

  7. NECTAR: New electronics for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naumann, Christopher Lindsay; Bolmont, J.; Corona, P.; Delagnes, E.; Dzahini, D.; Feinstein, F.; Gascon, D.; Glicenstein, J.-F.; Nayman, P.; Rarbi, F.; Ribo, M.; Sanuy, A.; Siero, X.; Tavernet, J.-P.; Toussenel, F.; Vincent, P.; Vorobiov, S.

    2012-12-01

    The international CTA consortium is currently in the preparatory phase for the development of the next-generation Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA [1]), based on the return of experience from the three major current-generation arrays H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS. To achieve an unprecedented sensitivity and energy range for TeV gamma rays, a new kind of flexible and powerful yet inexpensive front-end hardware will be required for the order of 105 channels of photodetectors in up to 100 telescopes. One possible solution is the NECTAr (New Electronics for the Cherenkov Telescope Array) system, based on the integration of as much as possible of the front-end electronics (amplifiers, fast analogue samplers, memory and ADCs) into a single ASIC for very fast readout performance and a significant reduction of the cost and the lower consumption per channel, while offering a high degree of flexibility both for the triggering and the readout of the telescope. The current status of its development is presented, along with newest results from measurements and simulation studies.

  8. A tip / tilt mirror with large dynamic range for the ESO VLT Four Laser Guide Star Facility

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rijnveld, N.; Henselmans, R.; Nijland, B.A.H.

    2011-01-01

    One of the critical elements in the Four Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF) for the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) is the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA), consisting of a stable 20x laser beam expander and an active tip/tilt mirror, the Field Selector Mechanism (FSM). This paper describes the design and

  9. An optics education program designed around experiments with small telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pompea, Stephen M.; Sparks, Robert T.; Walker, Constance E.; Dokter, Erin F. C.

    2010-08-01

    The National Optical Astronomy Observatory has led the development of a new telescope kit for kids as part of a strategic plan to interest young children in science. This telescope has been assembled by tens of thousands of children nationwide, who are now using this high-quality telescope to conduct optics experiments and to make astronomical observations. The Galileoscope telescope kit and its associated educational program are an outgrowth of the NSF sponsored "Hands-On Optics" (HOO) project, a collaboration of the SPIE, the Optical Society of America, and NOAO. This project developed optics kits and activities for upper elementary students and has reached over 20,000 middle school kids in afterschool programs. HOO is a highly flexible educational program and was featured as an exemplary informal science program by the National Science Teachers Association. Our new "Teaching with Telescopes" program builds on HOO, the Galileoscope and other successful optical education projects.

  10. The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thornton, Robert J.; Atacama Cosmology Telescope Team

    2010-01-01

    The 6-meter Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) is making detailed maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background at Cerro Toco in northern Chile. In this talk, I focus on the design and operation of the telescope and its commissioning instrument, the Millimeter Bolometer Array Camera. The camera contains three independent sets of optics that operate at 148 GHz, 217 GHz, and 277 GHz with arcminute resolution, each of which couples to a 1024-element array of Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers. I will report on the camera performance, including the beam patterns, optical efficiencies, and detector sensitivities. Under development for ACT is a new polarimeter based on feedhorn-coupled TES devices that have improved sensitivity and are planned to operate at 0.1 K.

  11. Status of the GroundBIRD Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, J.; Génova-Santos, R.; Hattori, M.; Hazumi, M.; Ishitsuka, H.; Kanno, F.; Karatsu, K.; Kiuchi, K.; Koyano, R.; Kutsuma, H.; Lee, K.; Mima, S.; Minowa, M.; Nagai, M.; Nagasaki, T.; Naruse, M.; Oguri, S.; Okada, T.; Otani, C.; Rebolo, R.; Rubiño-Martín, J.; Sekimoto, Y.; Suzuki, J.; Taino, T.; Tajima, O.; Tomita, N.; Uchida, T.; Won, E.; Yoshida, M.

    2018-01-01

    Our understanding of physics at very early Universe, as early as 10-35 s after the Big Bang, relies on the scenario known as the inflationary cosmology. Inflation predicts a particular polarization pattern in the cosmic microwave background, known as the B-mode yet the strength of such polarization pattern is extremely weak. To search for the B-mode of the polarization in the cosmic microwave background, we are constructing an off-axis rotating telescope to mitigate systematic effects as well as to maximize the sky coverage of the observation. We will discuss the present status of the GroundBIRD telescope.

  12. VLT Unit Telescopes Named at Paranal Inauguration

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-03-01

    General, speeches were delivered by the President of the ESO Council and the President of Chile. The speakers praised the great achievement of bringing the very complex, high-technology VLT project this far so successfully and also the wonderful new opportunities for front-line research with this new facility. This would not have been possible without excellent cooperation between the many parties to this project, individuals as well as research institutes, companies and governments, all working towards a common goal. The ceremony was concluded with a discourse on "Understanding the Universe" by Physics Nobel Prize winner, Professor Carlo Rubbia, former Director of CERN. At the end of the day, the President of the ESO Council, the ESO Director General and the Heads of Delegations had the opportunity to witness an observing session with the UT1 from the VLT Control Room. The 300 other guests followed this event via internal video broadcast. Mapuche names for the Unit Telescopes It had long been ESO's intention to provide "real" names to the four VLT Unit Telescopes, to replace the current, somewhat dry and technical designations as UT1 to UT4. Four meaningful names of objects in the sky in the Mapuche language were chosen. This indigeneous people lives mostly in the area south of Santiago de Chile. An essay contest was arranged in this connection among schoolchildren of the Chilean II Region of which Antofagasta is the capital to write about the implications of these names. It drew many excellent entries dealing with the rich cultural heritage of ESO's host country. The jury was unanimous in its choice of the winning essay. This was submitted by 17-year old Jorssy Albanez Castilla from Chuquicamata near the city of Calama. She received the prize, an amateur telescope, during the Paranal Inauguration. Henceforth, the four Unit Telescopes will be known as ANTU (UT1; pronounced an-too ; The Sun), KUEYEN (UT2; qua-yen , like in "quake"; The Moon), MELIPAL (UT3; me-li-pal ; The

  13. High performance Lyot and PIAA coronagraphy for arbitrarily shaped telescope apertures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guyon, Olivier; Hinz, Philip M. [Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Cady, Eric [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Belikov, Ruslan [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Martinache, Frantz, E-mail: guyon@naoj.org [National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Subaru Telescope, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States)

    2014-01-10

    Two high-performance coronagraphic approaches compatible with segmented and obstructed telescope pupils are described. Both concepts use entrance pupil amplitude apodization and a combined phase and amplitude focal plane mask to achieve full coronagraphic extinction of an on-axis point source. While the first concept, called Apodized Pupil Complex Mask Lyot Coronagraph (APCMLC), relies on a transmission mask to perform the pupil apodization, the second concept, called Phase-Induced Amplitude Apodization complex mask coronagraph (PIAACMC), uses beam remapping for lossless apodization. Both concepts theoretically offer complete coronagraphic extinction (infinite contrast) of a point source in monochromatic light, with high throughput and sub-λ/D inner working angle, regardless of aperture shape. The PIAACMC offers nearly 100% throughput and approaches the fundamental coronagraph performance limit imposed by first principles. The steps toward designing the coronagraphs for arbitrary apertures are described for monochromatic light. Designs for the APCMLC and the higher performance PIAACMC are shown for several monolith and segmented apertures, such as the apertures of the Subaru Telescope, Giant Magellan Telescope, Thirty Meter Telescope, the European Extremely Large Telescope, and the Large Binocular Telescope. Performance in broadband light is also quantified, suggesting that the monochromatic designs are suitable for use in up to 20% wide spectral bands for ground-based telescopes.

  14. The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Harrison, Fiona A.; Boggs, Steve; Christensen, Finn Erland

    2010-01-01

    The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a NASA Small Explorer mission that will carry the first focusing hard X-ray (6 - 80 keV) telescope to orbit. NuSTAR will offer a factor 50 - 100 sensitivity improvement compared to previous collimated or coded mask imagers that have operated...... in this energy band. In addition, NuSTAR provides sub-arcminute imaging with good spectral resolution over a 12-arcminute eld of view. After launch, NuSTAR will carry out a two-year primary science mission that focuses on four key programs: studying the evolution of massive black holes through surveys carried...... on-orbit deployment of an extendable mast. An aspect and alignment metrology system enable reconstruction of the absolute aspect and variations in the telescope alignment resulting from mast exure during ground data processing. Data will be publicly available at GSFC's High Energy Archive Research...

  15. Physics and astrophysics with gamma-ray telescopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vandenbroucke, J. [Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)

    2012-08-15

    In the past few years gamma-ray astronomy has entered a golden age. A modern suite of telescopes is now scanning the sky over both hemispheres and over six orders of magnitude in energy. At {approx}TeV energies, only a handful of sources were known a decade ago, but the current generation of ground-based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS) has increased this number to nearly one hundred. With a large field of view and duty cycle, the Tibet and Milagro air shower detectors have demonstrated the promise of the direct particle detection technique for TeV gamma rays. At {approx}GeV energies, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has increased the number of known sources by nearly an order of magnitude in its first year of operation. New classes of sources that were previously theorized to be gamma-ray emitters have now been confirmed observationally. Moreover, there have been surprise discoveries of GeV gamma-ray emission from source classes for which no theory predicted it was possible. In addition to elucidating the processes of high-energy astrophysics, gamma-ray telescopes are making essential contributions to fundamental physics topics including quantum gravity, gravitational waves, and dark matter. I summarize the current census of astrophysical gamma-ray sources, highlight some recent discoveries relevant to fundamental physics, and describe the synergetic connections between gamma-ray and neutrino astronomy. This is a brief overview intended in particular for particle physicists and neutrino astronomers, based on a presentation at the Neutrino 2010 conference in Athens, Greece. I focus in particular on results from Fermi (which was launched soon after Neutrino 2008), and conclude with a description of the next generation of instruments, namely HAWC and the Cherenkov Telescope Array.

  16. The first GCT camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    CERN Document Server

    De Franco, A.; Allan, D.; Armstrong, T.; Ashton, T.; Balzer, A.; Berge, D.; Bose, R.; Brown, A.M.; Buckley, J.; Chadwick, P.M.; Cooke, P.; Cotter, G.; Daniel, M.K.; Funk, S.; Greenshaw, T.; Hinton, J.; Kraus, M.; Lapington, J.; Molyneux, P.; Moore, P.; Nolan, S.; Okumura, A.; Ross, D.; Rulten, C.; Schmoll, J.; Schoorlemmer, H.; Stephan, M.; Sutcliffe, P.; Tajima, H.; Thornhill, J.; Tibaldo, L.; Varner, G.; Watson, J.; Zink, A.

    2015-01-01

    The Gamma Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) is proposed to be part of the Small Size Telescope (SST) array of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The GCT dual-mirror optical design allows the use of a compact camera of diameter roughly 0.4 m. The curved focal plane is equipped with 2048 pixels of ~0.2{\\deg} angular size, resulting in a field of view of ~9{\\deg}. The GCT camera is designed to record the flashes of Cherenkov light from electromagnetic cascades, which last only a few tens of nanoseconds. Modules based on custom ASICs provide the required fast electronics, facilitating sampling and digitisation as well as first level of triggering. The first GCT camera prototype is currently being commissioned in the UK. On-telescope tests are planned later this year. Here we give a detailed description of the camera prototype and present recent progress with testing and commissioning.

  17. An EUDET/AIDA Pixel Beam Telescope for Detector Development

    CERN Document Server

    Rubinskiy, I

    2015-01-01

    Ahigh resolution(σ< 2 μm) beam telescope based on monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS) was developed within the EUDET collaboration. EUDET was a coordinated detector R&D programme for the future International Linear Collider providing test beam infrastructure to detector R&D groups. The telescope consists of six sensor planes with a pixel pitch of either 18.4 μm or 10 μmand canbe operated insidea solenoidal magnetic fieldofupto1.2T.Ageneral purpose cooling, positioning, data acquisition (DAQ) and offine data analysis tools are available for the users. The excellent resolution, readout rate andDAQintegration capabilities made the telescopea primary beam tests tool also for several CERN based experiments. In this report the performance of the final telescope is presented. The plans for an even more flexible telescope with three differentpixel technologies(ATLASPixel, Mimosa,Timepix) withinthenew European detector infrastructure project AIDA are presented.

  18. Neutrino Telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coelin Baldo, Milla

    2009-01-01

    The present volume contains the proceedings of the 13. International Workshop on 'Neutrino Telescope', 17. of the series 'Un altro modo di guardare il cielo', held in Venice at the 'Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti' from March 10 to March 13, 2009. This series started in Venice 21 years ago, in 1988, motivated by the growing interest in the exciting field of the neutrino physics and astrophysics, with the aim to bring together experimentalists and theorists and encourage discussion on the most recent results and to chart the direction of future researchers.

  19. Telescopic Overdenture: A Case Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shruthi, C. S.; Poojya, R.; Ram, Swati; Anupama

    2017-01-01

    Patient: This report describes the case of a 68 year old female patient who presented with the chief complaint of difficulty in chewing and poor aesthetics due to missing teeth. The patient was interested in saving the remaining natural teeth and desired minimal tissue coverage from the prosthesis. After consideration of all the factors involved, it was deemed advisable to resort to a palate free maxillary telescopic complete denture and a mandibular removable partial denture. Discussion: Considering the age of the patient and the cost involved, implant supported prosthesis was ruled out as a treatment option for the patient. A telescopic denture was chosen as a favourable treatment option since it overcomes many of the problems posed by conventional complete dentures like progressive bone loss, lower stability and retention, loss of periodontal proprioception and low masticatory efficiency. It also provides minimal tissue coverage and better distribution of forces. Evaluation of occlusion, esthetics, phonetics and comfort after 24 hours, 1 week and 1 month of treatment showed that the patient was happy with the prosthesis and was able to speak and chew well. Conclusion: Telescopic overdentures have better retention and stability as compared to conventional complete dentures. They improve the chewing efficiency, patient comfort and also decrease the alveolar bone resorption. As such they are an excellent alternative to conventional complete denture treatment. PMID:28533736

  20. Telescopic Overdenture: A Case Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shruthi, C S; Poojya, R; Ram, Swati; Anupama

    2017-03-01

    This report describes the case of a 68 year old female patient who presented with the chief complaint of difficulty in chewing and poor aesthetics due to missing teeth. The patient was interested in saving the remaining natural teeth and desired minimal tissue coverage from the prosthesis. After consideration of all the factors involved, it was deemed advisable to resort to a palate free maxillary telescopic complete denture and a mandibular removable partial denture. Considering the age of the patient and the cost involved, implant supported prosthesis was ruled out as a treatment option for the patient. A telescopic denture was chosen as a favourable treatment option since it overcomes many of the problems posed by conventional complete dentures like progressive bone loss, lower stability and retention, loss of periodontal proprioception and low masticatory efficiency. It also provides minimal tissue coverage and better distribution of forces. Evaluation of occlusion, esthetics, phonetics and comfort after 24 hours, 1 week and 1 month of treatment showed that the patient was happy with the prosthesis and was able to speak and chew well. Telescopic overdentures have better retention and stability as compared to conventional complete dentures. They improve the chewing efficiency, patient comfort and also decrease the alveolar bone resorption. As such they are an excellent alternative to conventional complete denture treatment.

  1. A cost-performance model for ground-based optical communications receiving telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lesh, J. R.; Robinson, D. L.

    1986-01-01

    An analytical cost-performance model for a ground-based optical communications receiving telescope is presented. The model considers costs of existing telescopes as a function of diameter and field of view. This, coupled with communication performance as a function of receiver diameter and field of view, yields the appropriate telescope cost versus communication performance curve.

  2. Ambient Optomechanical Alignment and Pupil Metrology for the Flight Instruments Aboard the James Webb Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coulter, Phillip; Beaton, Alexander; Gum, Jeffrey S.; Hadjimichael, Theodore J.; Hayden, Joseph E.; Hummel, Susann; Hylan, Jason E.; Lee, David; Madison, Timothy J.; Maszkiewicz, Michael; hide

    2014-01-01

    The James Webb Space Telescope science instruments are in the final stages of being integrated into the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) element. Each instrument is tied into a common coordinate system through mechanical references that are used for optical alignment and metrology within ISIM after element-level assembly. In addition, a set of ground support equipment (GSE) consisting of large, precisely calibrated, ambient, and cryogenic structures are used as alignment references and gauges during various phases of integration and test (I&T). This GSE, the flight instruments, and ISIM structure feature different types of complimentary metrology targeting. These GSE targets are used to establish and track six degrees of freedom instrument alignment during I&T in the vehicle coordinate system (VCS). This paper describes the optomechanical metrology conducted during science instrument integration and alignment in the Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility (SSDIF) cleanroom at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The measurement of each instrument's ambient entrance pupil location in the telescope coordinate system is discussed. The construction of the database of target locations and the development of metrology uncertainties is also discussed.

  3. Update on Multi-Variable Parametric Cost Models for Ground and Space Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, H. Philip; Henrichs, Todd; Luedtke, Alexander; West, Miranda

    2012-01-01

    Parametric cost models can be used by designers and project managers to perform relative cost comparisons between major architectural cost drivers and allow high-level design trades; enable cost-benefit analysis for technology development investment; and, provide a basis for estimating total project cost between related concepts. This paper reports on recent revisions and improvements to our ground telescope cost model and refinements of our understanding of space telescope cost models. One interesting observation is that while space telescopes are 50X to 100X more expensive than ground telescopes, their respective scaling relationships are similar. Another interesting speculation is that the role of technology development may be different between ground and space telescopes. For ground telescopes, the data indicates that technology development tends to reduce cost by approximately 50% every 20 years. But for space telescopes, there appears to be no such cost reduction because we do not tend to re-fly similar systems. Thus, instead of reducing cost, 20 years of technology development may be required to enable a doubling of space telescope capability. Other findings include: mass should not be used to estimate cost; spacecraft and science instrument costs account for approximately 50% of total mission cost; and, integration and testing accounts for only about 10% of total mission cost.

  4. The SPIRIT Telescope Initiative: Six Years On (Abstract)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luckas, P.

    2017-12-01

    (Abstract only) Now in its sixth year of operation, the SPIRIT initiative remains unique in Australia, as a robust web-enabled robotic telescope initiative funded for education and outreach. With multiple modes of operation catering for a variety of usage scenarios and a fully supported education program, SPIRIT provides free access to contemporary astronomical tools for students and educators in Western Australia and beyond. The technical solution itself provides an excellent model for low cost robotic telescope installations, and the education program has evolved over time to include a broad range of student experiences - from engagement activities to authentic science. This paper details the robotic telescope solution, student interface, and educational philosophy, summarizes achievements and lessons learned, and examines the possibilities for future enhancement including spectroscopy.

  5. Eyes on the Skies 400 Years of Telescopic Discovery

    CERN Document Server

    Schilling, Govert

    2011-01-01

    Adopted as the official book of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009, this stunningly illustrated history of telescopic discovery spans the range from the first telescopes via the Hubble Space Telescope to next generation platforms, and how they have changed and continue to change our view of the universe, our place in it and where it all came from. Eyes on the Skies features numerous full-page photographs and is printed in high-quality color throughout. Also includes the official IYA DVD with 59 minutes of narrated text, expert comments and interviews, animations, computer simulatio

  6. Modal vibration testing of the DVA-1 radio telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrnes, Peter W. G.; Lacy, Gordon

    2016-07-01

    The Dish Verification Antenna 1 (DVA-1) is a 15m aperture offset Gregorian radio telescope featuring a rim-supported single piece molded composite primary reflector on an altitude-azimuth pedestal mount. Vibration measurements of the DVA-1 telescope were conducted over three days in October 2014 by NSI Herzberg engineers. The purpose of these tests was to measure the first several natural frequencies of the DVA-1 telescope. This paper describes the experimental approach, in particular the step-release method, and summarizes some interesting results, including unexpectedly high damping of the first mode over a narrow range of zenith angles.

  7. Calibration of the High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun (HEROES) Hard X-ray Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson-Hodge, Colleen A.; Gaskin, Jessica; Christe, Steven; Shih, Albert; Tennant, Allyn; Swartz, Doug; Kilaru, Kiranmayee; Elsner, Ron; Kolodziejczak, Jeff; Ramsey, Brian

    2014-01-01

    On September 21-22, 2013, the High Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun (HEROES) hard X-ray telescope, flew as a balloon payload from Ft. Sumner, N.M. HEROES observed the Sun, the black hole binary GRS 1915+105, and the Crab Nebula during its 27 hour flight. In this paper we describe laboratory calibration measurements of the HEROES detectors using line and continuum sources, applications of these measurements to define channel to energy (gain) corrections for observed events and to define detector response matrices. We characterize the HEROES X-ray grazing incidence optics using measurements taken in the Stray-Light (SLF) Facility in Huntsville, AL, and using ray traces.

  8. Search for magnetic monopoles with the neutrino telescope ANTARES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Picot-Clemente, N.

    2010-01-01

    The ANTARES neutrino telescope is located at a 2500 meters depth, and is composed of an array of 900 photomultipliers installed for the detection of Cherenkov light emitted by neutrino-induced muons, after having interacted with matter, and in order to reconstruct their directions. However, besides of being capable of detecting high energy neutrinos, neutrino telescopes could measure the incoming flux of magnetic monopoles in the detector. In this work, were first presented the different methods used in order to calibrate the photomultipliers, which are the heart of a neutrino telescope. The possibility of detecting magnetic monopoles with ANTARES was then discussed, and a first analysis optimised for the search for high velocity magnetic monopoles showed the great sensitivity offered by the telescope. Finally, a track reconstruction algorithm was modified, and a new analysis this time sensitive over a wider range of velocities was performed. After the application of the last analysis on the data taken in 2008 with the ANTARES telescope, new upper limits on the upward going magnetic monopole flux, of masses lower than 10 14 GeV were obtained, and are the best experimental constraints on their flux for the velocity region β ∼ [0.65, 0.995]. (author)

  9. Reception and dissemination of American amateur telescope making in Sweden

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karnfelt, Johan

    2017-04-01

    This paper discusses the appropriation of the American Amateur Telescope Making (ATM) movement in Sweden in the 1940s and 1950s. A key player was the Swedish Astronomical Society, which in 1943, and inspired by the American example, launched a campaign to raise interest in ATM and disseminate the necessary knowledge amongst potential amateur astronomers. The campaign was successful and in just a few years it quadrupled the number of amateurs with access to telescopes. Swedish amateurs kept on building telescopes through the 1950s, but the activities then stalled with the introduction of cheap mass-market telescopes. The appropriation of ATM in Sweden is an important example of how technical innovations have shaped the course of amateur astronomy.

  10. Deconvolution of Thermal Emissivity Spectra of Mercury to their Endmember Counterparts measured in Simulated Mercury Surface Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varatharajan, I.; D'Amore, M.; Maturilli, A.; Helbert, J.; Hiesinger, H.

    2017-12-01

    The Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (MERTIS) payload of ESA/JAXA Bepicolombo mission to Mercury will map the thermal emissivity at wavelength range of 7-14 μm and spatial resolution of 500 m/pixel [1]. Mercury was also imaged at the same wavelength range using the Boston University's Mid-Infrared Spectrometer and Imager (MIRSI) mounted on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii with the minimum spatial coverage of 400-600km/spectra which blends all rocks, minerals, and soil types [2]. Therefore, the study [2] used quantitative deconvolution algorithm developed by [3] for spectral unmixing of this composite thermal emissivity spectrum from telescope to their respective areal fractions of endmember spectra; however, the thermal emissivity of endmembers used in [2] is the inverted reflectance measurements (Kirchhoff's law) of various samples measured at room temperature and pressure. Over a decade, the Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory (PSL) at the Institute of Planetary Research (PF) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) facilitates the thermal emissivity measurements under controlled and simulated surface conditions of Mercury by taking emissivity measurements at varying temperatures from 100-500°C under vacuum conditions supporting MERTIS payload. The measured thermal emissivity endmember spectral library therefore includes major silicates such as bytownite, anorthoclase, synthetic glass, olivine, enstatite, nepheline basanite, rocks like komatiite, tektite, Johnson Space Center lunar simulant (1A), and synthetic powdered sulfides which includes MgS, FeS, CaS, CrS, TiS, NaS, and MnS. Using such specialized endmember spectral library created under Mercury's conditions significantly increases the accuracy of the deconvolution model results. In this study, we revisited the available telescope spectra and redeveloped the algorithm by [3] by only choosing the endmember spectral library created at PSL for unbiased model

  11. The E-ELT project: the telescope main structure detailed design study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marchiori, Gianpietro; Busatta, Andrea; Ghedin, Leonardo; De Lorenzi, Simone

    2012-09-01

    The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is the biggest telescope in the world. Within the Detailed Design activities, ESO has awarded EIE GROUP (European Industrial Engineering) a contract for the Design of the Main Structure to the point where the concept of the telescope has been consolidated, from a construction point of view. All the Design activities have been developed in order to create an integrated system in terms of functionality and performance, while the engineering activities have been performed with the aim of obtaining a telescope that can be built, transported, integrated, with a reduced maintainability.

  12. NASA Telescopes Help Identify Most Distant Galaxy Cluster

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    WASHINGTON -- Astronomers have uncovered a burgeoning galactic metropolis, the most distant known in the early universe. This ancient collection of galaxies presumably grew into a modern galaxy cluster similar to the massive ones seen today. The developing cluster, named COSMOS-AzTEC3, was discovered and characterized by multi-wavelength telescopes, including NASA's Spitzer, Chandra and Hubble space telescopes, and the ground-based W.M. Keck Observatory and Japan's Subaru Telescope. "This exciting discovery showcases the exceptional science made possible through collaboration among NASA projects and our international partners," said Jon Morse, NASA's Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Scientists refer to this growing lump of galaxies as a proto-cluster. COSMOS-AzTEC3 is the most distant massive proto-cluster known, and also one of the youngest, because it is being seen when the universe itself was young. The cluster is roughly 12.6 billion light-years away from Earth. Our universe is estimated to be 13.7 billion years old. Previously, more mature versions of these clusters had been spotted at 10 billion light-years away. The astronomers also found that this cluster is buzzing with extreme bursts of star formation and one enormous feeding black hole. "We think the starbursts and black holes are the seeds of the cluster," said Peter Capak of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "These seeds will eventually grow into a giant, central galaxy that will dominate the cluster -- a trait found in modern-day galaxy clusters." Capak is first author of a paper appearing in the Jan. 13 issue of the journal Nature. Most galaxies in our universe are bound together into clusters that dot the cosmic landscape like urban sprawls, usually centered around one old, monstrous galaxy containing a massive black hole. Astronomers thought that primitive versions of these clusters, still forming and clumping

  13. Stray light characteristics of the diffractive telescope system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Dun; Wang, Lihua; Yang, Wei; Wu, Shibin; Fan, Bin; Wu, Fan

    2018-02-01

    Diffractive telescope technology is an innovation solution in construction of large light-weight space telescope. However, the nondesign orders of diffractive optical elements (DOEs) may affect the imaging performance as stray light. To study the stray light characteristics of a diffractive telescope, a prototype was developed and its stray light analysis model was established. The stray light characteristics including ghost, point source transmittance, and veiling glare index (VGI) were analyzed. During the star imaging test of the prototype, the ghost images appeared around the star image as the exposure time of the charge-coupled device improving, consistent with the simulation results. The test result of VGI was 67.11%, slightly higher than the calculated value 57.88%. The study shows that the same order diffraction of the diffractive primary lens and correcting DOE is the main factor that causes ghost images. The stray light sources outside the field of view can illuminate the image plane through nondesign orders diffraction of the primary lens and contributes to more than 90% of the stray light flux on the image plane. In summary, it is expected that these works will provide some guidance for optimizing the imaging performance of diffractive telescopes.

  14. A Cosmic Ray Telescope For Educational Purposes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voulgaris, G.; Kazanas, S.; Chamilothoris, I.

    2010-01-01

    Cosmic ray detectors are widely used, for educational purposes, in order to motivate students to the physics of elementary particles and astrophysics. Using a 'telescope' of scintillation counters, the directional characteristics, diurnal variation, correlation with solar activity, can be determined, and conclusions about the composition, origin and interaction of elementary particles with the magnetic field of earth can be inferred. A telescope was built from two rectangular scintillator panels with dimensions: 91.6x1.9x3.7 cm 3 . The scintillators are placed on top of each other, separated by a fixed distance of 34.6 cm. They are supported by a wooden frame which can be rotated around a horizontal axis. Direction is determined by the coincidence of the signals of the two PMTs. Standard NIM modules are used for readout. This device is to be used in the undergraduate nuclear and particle physics laboratory. The design and construction of the telescope as well as some preliminary results are presented.

  15. San Pedro Martir Telescope: Mexican design endeavor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toledo-Ramirez, Gengis K.; Bringas-Rico, Vicente; Reyes, Noe; Uribe, Jorge; Lopez, Aldo; Tovar, Carlos; Caballero, Xochitl; Del-Llano, Luis; Martinez, Cesar; Macias, Eduardo; Lee, William; Carramiñana, Alberto; Richer, Michael; González, Jesús; Sanchez, Beatriz; Lucero, Diana; Manuel, Rogelio; Segura, Jose; Rubio, Saul; Gonzalez, German; Hernandez, Obed; García, Mary; Lazaro, Jose; Rosales-Ortega, Fabian; Herrera, Joel; Sierra, Gerardo; Serrano, Hazael

    2016-08-01

    The Telescopio San Pedro Martir (TSPM) is a new ground-based optical telescope project, with a 6.5 meters honeycomb primary mirror, to be built in the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional on the Sierra San Pedro Martir (OAN-SPM) located in Baja California, Mexico. The OAN-SPM has an altitude of 2830 meters above sea level; it is among the best location for astronomical observation in the world. It is located 1830 m higher than the atmospheric inversion layer with 70% of photometric nights, 80% of spectroscopic nights and a sky brightness up to 22 mag/arcsec2. The TSPM will be suitable for general science projects intended to improve the knowledge of the universe established on the Official Mexican Program for Science, Technology and Innovation 2014-2018. The telescope efforts are headed by two Mexican institutions in name of the Mexican astronomical community: the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica. The telescope has been financially supported mainly by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT). It is under development by Mexican scientists and engineers from the Center for Engineering and Industrial Development. This development is supported by a Mexican-American scientific cooperation, through a partnership with the University of Arizona (UA), and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). M3 Engineering and Technology Corporation in charge of enclosure and building design. The TSPM will be designed to allow flexibility and possible upgrades in order to maximize resources. Its optical and mechanical designs are based upon those of the Magellan and MMT telescopes. The TSPM primary mirror and its cell will be provided by the INAOE and UA. The telescope will be optimized from the near ultraviolet to the near infrared wavelength range (0.35-2.5 m), but will allow observations up to 26μm. The TSPM will initially offer a f/5 Cassegrain focal station. Later, four folded Cassegrain and

  16. The Lovell Telescope and its role in pulsar astronomy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyne, Andrew; Morison, Ian

    2017-12-01

    This year marks the 60th anniversary of the commissioning of the 250-ft telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, and the 50th anniversary of the discovery of pulsars at Cambridge. Both events resulted in enduring astronomical researches that have become intimately entwined, and here we celebrate them with a brief historical account of their relationship. We describe how the completion of the telescope in October 1957 coincided with the launch of Sputnik 1 at the start of the space race, a timely circumstance that was the financial saviour of Bernard Lovell's ambitious project. The telescope established a vital role in space tracking and, by the time that pulsars were discovered a decade later, was supported by an infrastructure that allowed their prompt, successful observation. Technical innovations to both the telescope and its receivers since then have continued to make it a superb tool for world-leading pulsar investigations and the study of the radio Universe.

  17. Radio telescope reflectors historical development of design and construction

    CERN Document Server

    Baars, Jacob W M

    2018-01-01

    This book demonstrates how progress in radio astronomy is intimately linked to the development of reflector antennas of increasing size and precision. The authors describe the design and construction of major radio telescopes as those in Dwingeloo, Jodrell Bank, Parkes, Effelsberg and Green Bank since 1950 up to the present as well as millimeter wavelength telescopes as the 30m MRT of IRAM in Spain, the 50m LMT in Mexico and the ALMA submillimeter instrument. The advances in methods of structural design and coping with environmental influences (wind, temperature, gravity) as well as application of new materials are explained in a non-mathematical, descriptive and graphical way along with the story of the telescopes. Emphasis is placed on the interplay between astronomical and electromagnetic requirements and structural, mechanical and control solutions. A chapter on management aspects of large telescope projects closes the book. The authors address a readership with interest in the progress of engineering sol...

  18. FACT. Normalized and asynchronous mirror alignment for Cherenkov telescopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mueller, Sebastian Achim [ETH Zurich (Switzerland); Buss, Jens [TU Dortmund (Germany)

    2016-07-01

    Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) need fast and large imaging optics to map the faint Cherenkov light emitted in cosmic ray air showers onto their image sensors. Segmented reflectors are inexpensive, lightweight and offer good image quality. However, alignment of the mirror facets remains a challenge. A good alignment is crucial in IACT observations to separate gamma rays from hadronic cosmic rays. We present a star tracking alignment method which is not restricted to clear nights. It normalizes the mirror facet reflections to be independent of the reference star or the cloud coverage. It records asynchronously of the telescope drive which makes the method easy to integrate in existing telescopes. It can be combined with remote facet actuation, but it does not need one to work. Furthermore, it can reconstruct all individual mirror facet point spread functions. We present the method and alignment results on the First Geiger-mode Photo Diode Avalanche Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) on the Canary Island of La Palma, Spain.

  19. Wide-Field Imaging Telescope-0 (WIT0) with automatic observing system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Tae-Geun; Byeon, Seoyeon; Lee, Hye-In; Park, Woojin; Lee, Sang-Yun; Hwang, Sungyong; Choi, Changsu; Gibson, Coyne Andrew; Kuehne, John W.; Prochaska, Travis; Marshall, Jennifer L.; Im, Myungshin; Pak, Soojong

    2018-01-01

    We introduce Wide-Field Imaging Telescope-0 (WIT0), with an automatic observing system. It is developed for monitoring the variabilities of many sources at a time, e.g. young stellar objects and active galactic nuclei. It can also find the locations of transient sources such as a supernova or gamma-ray bursts. In 2017 February, we installed the wide-field 10-inch telescope (Takahashi CCA-250) as a piggyback system on the 30-inch telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, US. The 10-inch telescope has a 2.35 × 2.35 deg field-of-view with a 4k × 4k CCD Camera (FLI ML16803). To improve the observational efficiency of the system, we developed a new automatic observing software, KAOS30 (KHU Automatic Observing Software for McDonald 30-inch telescope), which was developed by Visual C++ on the basis of a windows operating system. The software consists of four control packages: the Telescope Control Package (TCP), the Data Acquisition Package (DAP), the Auto Focus Package (AFP), and the Script Mode Package (SMP). Since it also supports the instruments that are using the ASCOM driver, the additional hardware installations become quite simplified. We commissioned KAOS30 in 2017 August and are in the process of testing. Based on the WIT0 experiences, we will extend KAOS30 to control multiple telescopes in future projects.

  20. LOBSTER: new space x-ray telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudec, R.; Sveda, L.; Pína, L.; Inneman, A.; Semencova, V.; Skulinova, M.

    2017-11-01

    The LOBSTER telescopes are based on the optical arrangement of the lobster eye. The main difference from classical X-ray space telescopes in wide use is the very large field of view while the use of optics results in higher efficiency if compared with detectors without optics. Recent innovative technologies have enabled to design, to develop and to test first prototypes. They will provide deep sensitive survey of the sky in X-rays for the first time which is essential for both long-term monitoring of celestial high-energy sources as well as in understanding transient phenomena. The technology is now ready for applications in space.

  1. Autonomous Dome for a Robotic Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, A.; Sengupta, A.; Ganesh, S.

    2016-12-01

    The Physical Research Laboratory operates a 50 cm robotic observatory at Mount Abu (Rajsthan, India). This Automated Telescope for Variability Studies (ATVS) makes use of the Remote Telescope System 2 (RTS2) for autonomous operations. The observatory uses a 3.5 m dome from Sirius Observatories. We have developed electronics using Arduino electronic circuit boards with home grown logic and software to control the dome operations. We are in the process of completing the drivers to link our Arduino based dome controller with RTS2. This document is a short description of the various phases of the development and their integration to achieve the required objective.

  2. Status of the GroundBIRD Telescope

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Choi J.

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Our understanding of physics at very early Universe, as early as 10−35 s after the Big Bang, relies on the scenario known as the inflationary cosmology. Inflation predicts a particular polarization pattern in the cosmic microwave background, known as the B-mode yet the strength of such polarization pattern is extremely weak. To search for the B-mode of the polarization in the cosmic microwave background, we are constructing an off-axis rotating telescope to mitigate systematic effects as well as to maximize the sky coverage of the observation. We will discuss the present status of the GroundBIRD telescope.

  3. A New Observing Tool for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Folger, Martin; Bridger, Alan; Dent, Bill; Kelly, Dennis; Adamson, Andy; Economou, Frossie; Hirst, Paul; Jenness, Tim

    A new Observing Tool (OT) has been developed at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh, UK and the Joint Astronomy Centre, Hilo, Hawaii, USA. It is based on the Gemini Observing Tool and provides the first graphical observation preparation tool for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) as well as being the first use of the OT for a non-optical/IR telescope. The OT allows the observer to assemble high level Science Programs using graphical representations of observation components such as instrument, target, and filter. This is later translated into low level control sequences for telescope and instruments. The new OT is designed to work on multiple telescopes: currently the UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) and JCMT. Object-oriented design makes the inclusion of telescope and instrument specific packages easy. The OT is written in Java using GUI packages such as Swing and JSky. A new component for the JCMT OT is the graphical Frequency Editor for Heterodyne instruments. It can be used to specify parameters such as frequencies, bandwidths, and sidebands of multiple subsystems, while graphically displaying the front-end frequency, emission lines and atmospheric transmission. In addition, Flexible Scheduling support has been added to the OT. The observer can define scheduling constraints by arranging observations graphically. Science Programs can be saved as XML or sent directly from the OT to a database (via SOAP).

  4. Kalman Filter for Calibrating a Telescope Focal Plane

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Bryan; Bayard, David

    2006-01-01

    The instrument-pointing frame (IPF) Kalman filter, and an algorithm that implements this filter, have been devised for calibrating the focal plane of a telescope. As used here, calibration signifies, more specifically, a combination of measurements and calculations directed toward ensuring accuracy in aiming the telescope and determining the locations of objects imaged in various arrays of photodetectors in instruments located on the focal plane. The IPF Kalman filter was originally intended for application to a spaceborne infrared astronomical telescope, but can also be applied to other spaceborne and ground-based telescopes. In the traditional approach to calibration of a telescope, (1) one team of experts concentrates on estimating parameters (e.g., pointing alignments and gyroscope drifts) that are classified as being of primarily an engineering nature, (2) another team of experts concentrates on estimating calibration parameters (e.g., plate scales and optical distortions) that are classified as being primarily of a scientific nature, and (3) the two teams repeatedly exchange data in an iterative process in which each team refines its estimates with the help of the data provided by the other team. This iterative process is inefficient and uneconomical because it is time-consuming and entails the maintenance of two survey teams and the development of computer programs specific to the requirements of each team. Moreover, theoretical analysis reveals that the engineering/ science iterative approach is not optimal in that it does not yield the best estimates of focal-plane parameters and, depending on the application, may not even enable convergence toward a set of estimates.

  5. Education and outreach using the falcon telescope network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gresham, Kimberlee C.; Palma, Christopher; Polsgrove, Daniel E.; Chun, Francis K.; Della-Rose, Devin J.; Tippets, Roger D.

    2016-12-01

    The Falcon Telescope Network (FTN) is a global network of small aperture telescopes developed by the Center for Space Situational Awareness Research in the Department of Physics at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). Consisting of commercially available equipment, the FTN is a collaborative effort between USAFA and other educational institutions ranging from two- and four-year colleges to major research universities. USAFA provides the equipment (e.g. telescope, mount, camera, filter wheel, dome, weather station, computers and storage devices) while the educational partners provide the building and infrastructure to support an observatory. The user base includes USAFA along with K-12 and higher education faculty and students. The diversity of the users implies a wide variety of observing interests, and thus the FTN collects images on diverse objects, including satellites, galactic and extragalactic objects, and objects popular for education and public outreach. The raw imagery, all in the public domain, will be accessible to FTN partners and will be archived at USAFA. Currently, there are five Falcon telescopes installed, two in Colorado and one each in Pennsylvania, Chile, and Australia. These five telescopes are in various stages of operational capability but all are remotely operable via a remote desktop application. The FTN team has conducted STEM First Light Projects for three of the U.S. observatories, soliciting proposals from middle and high school students and teachers that suggest and then become what is observed as official STEM first-light objects. Students and teachers learn how to write and submit a proposal as well as how telescopes operate and take data, while university-level students at the U.S. Air Force Academy and The Pennsylvania State University learn how to evaluate proposals and provide feedback to the middle and high school students and teachers. In this paper, we present the current status of the FTN, details of and lessons

  6. The Telescope Array experiment: status and prospects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tokuno, H; Cohen, F [Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa (Japan); Abbasi, R U; Abu-Zayyad, T; Belz, J W; Blake, S A; Brusova, O; Cady, R; Cao, Z [University of Utah, Salt Lake City (United States); Azuma, R [Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo (Japan); Benno, T; Chikawa, M; Doura, K [Kinki University, Osaka (Japan); Bergman, D R [Rutgers University, Piscataway (United States); Cheon, B G [Hanyang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Chiba, J [Tokyo University of Science, Noda (Japan); Cho, I S [Yonsei University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Chung, T [Ewha Womans University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Doyle, T [Utah State University, Logan (United States); Endo, A [Saitama University, Saitama (Japan)], E-mail: htokuno@icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp (and others)

    2008-07-15

    Telescope Array (TA) is a hybrid detector of a surface detector array and fluorescence telescopes. This hybrid detector will measure the energy spectrum, anisotropy and composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) to identify their origin. The almost construction of the detector has been completed in May 2007, and the detector is running under test and adjustments. The first hybrid observation with the full configuration is planned in beginning of 2008. In this paper the status and prospects of TA detector is described.

  7. The Thirty-Meter Telescope

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-01-27

    Jan 27, 2016 ... The Thirty-Meter Telescope international observatory will enable transformational observations over the full cosmic timeline all the way from the first luminous objects in the Universe to the planets and moons of our own solar system. To realize its full scientific potential, TMT will be equipped with a powerful ...

  8. FRAM telescope - monitoring of atmospheric extinction and variable star photometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurysek, J.; Honkova, K.; Masek, M.

    2015-02-01

    The FRAM (F/(Ph)otometric Robotic Atmospheric Monitor) telescope is a part of the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) located near town Malargüe in Argentina. The main task of the FRAM telescope is the continuous night - time monitoring of the atmospheric extinction and its wavelength dependence. The current methodology of the measurement of a atmospheric extinction and for instrumentation properties also allows simultaneous observation of other interesting astronomical targets. The current observations of the FRAM telescope are focused on the photometry of eclipsing binaries, positional refinement of minor bodies of the Solar system and observations of optical counterparts of gamma ray bursts. In this contribution, we briefly describe the main purpose of the FRAM telescope for the PAO and we also present its current astrono mical observing program.

  9. Observations of VHE γ-Ray Sources with the MAGIC Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartko, H.

    2008-10-01

    The MAGIC telescope with its 17m diameter mirror is today the largest operating single-dish Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT). It is located on the Canary Island La Palma, at an altitude of 2200m above sea level, as part of the Roque de los Muchachos European Northern Observatory. The MAGIC telescope detects celestial very high energy γ-radiation in the energy band between about 50 GeV and 10 TeV. Since Autumn of 2004 MAGIC has been taking data routinely, observing various objects like supernova remnants (SNRs), γ-ray binaries, Pulsars, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and Gamma-ray Bursts (GRB). We briefly describe the observational strategy, the procedure implemented for the data analysis, and discuss the results for individual sources. An outlook to the construction of the second MAGIC telescope is given.

  10. Reducing the Requirements and Cost of Astronomical Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, W. Scott; Whitakter, Ann F. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    Limits on astronomical telescope apertures are being rapidly approached. These limits result from logistics, increasing complexity, and finally budgetary constraints. In an historical perspective, great strides have been made in the area of aperture, adaptive optics, wavefront sensors, detectors, stellar interferometers and image reconstruction. What will be the next advances? Emerging data analysis techniques based on communication theory holds the promise of yielding more information from observational data based on significant computer post-processing. This paper explores some of the current telescope limitations and ponders the possibilities increasing the yield of scientific data based on the migration computer post-processing techniques to higher dimensions. Some of these processes hold the promise of reducing the requirements on the basic telescope hardware making the next generation of instruments more affordable.

  11. Sub-millimeter science with the Heinrich-Hertz-Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dumke, Michael

    The Heinrich-Hertz-Telescope on Mt. Graham, Arizona, is a state-of-the-art single-dish radio telescope for observations in the sub-millimeter wavelength range. It is operated by the Sub-Millimeter Telescope Observatory (SMTO), which is a collaboration between the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn. In this talk I give an overview over the telescope and its instrumentation, and show some examples of forefront research performed by astronomers from both the U.S. and Europe using this instrument. The telescope is located on Mt. Graham, Arizona, at an altitude of 3178 m, which ensures sub-mm weather conditions during a significant amount of available observing time. It has a primary reflector of 10 m diameter, mounted on a carbon fiber backup structure, and is equipped with a corotating enclosure. The surface accuracy of the primary reflector is 12 microns rms, what makes the HHT the most accurate radio telescope ever built. For spectral line observations, SIS receivers covering the frequency range from 200 to 500 GHz are available. Furthermore, a Hot-Electron-Bolometer, developed at the CfA, can be used for spectral line observations above 800 GHz. The continuum receivers are a 4-color bolometer, observing at 1300, 870, 450, and 350 microns, and a 19-channel bolometer array, developed at the MPIfR, which is sensitive around 850 microns. In the last few years, the HHT has been used by several groups to perform astronomical research. The most notable result was the measurement of the CO(9--8) line in Orion at 1.037 THz with the Hot-Electron Bolometer -- the first radioastronomical observation above 1 THz from a ground-based telescope. Several galactic molecular line sources have been mapped in the CO(7--6) line at 806 GHz, and in two fine-structure lines of atomic carbon. A continuum map of the galactic center at 850 microns could be produced using the new 19-channel bolometer array. Even external galaxies, where

  12. “An Instrument for the Frontiers of Modern Astronomy”: An Exhibit for the Harlan J. Smith 2.7-m Telescope Lobby at McDonald Observatory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preston, Sandra; Cianciolo, F.; Jones, T.; Wetzel, M.; Mace, K.; Barrick, R.; Kelton, P.; Cochran, A.; Johnson, R.

    2007-05-01

    Of the 100,000 visitors that come to McDonald Observatory each year, about half of them visit the Harlan J. Smith 2.7-m Telescope. Visitors experience the 2.7-m telescope as part of a guided tour, a self-guided tour, and during the once-a-month special viewing nights, that are unique to a telescope this size. Recent safety requirements limiting visitor access to the dome-floor level and a need to modernize out-of-date displays in the 2.7-m lobby area, motivated us to do this new exhibit. A planning team consisting of McDonald Observatory personnel from Outreach & Education, Physical Plant, and Administration came together via videoconferences (between Austin and Fort Davis) to develop an exhibit for the lobby area of this telescope. As the planning process unfolded, the team determined that a mix of static displays and modern technology such as flat panel displays and DVD video were key to presenting the history of the facility, introducing basic concepts about the telescope and current research, as well as giving virtual access to the dome floor for visitors on the self-guided tour. This approach also allows for content development and much of production to be done in-house, which was important from both a cost and maintenance standpoint. A representative of the Smith family was also consulted throughout the development of the exhibit to insure that the exhibit plan was seen as an acceptable memorial to the late director. The exhibit was installed in January 2007.

  13. Femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery and implantable miniature telescope

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Randal Pham

    2017-09-01

    Conclusions and importance: To our knowledge and confirmed by the manufacturer of the implantable miniature telescope this is the first case ever reported of a patient who has undergone femtosecond laser cataract surgery with corneal astigmatism correction and implantation of the implantable miniature telescope. This is also the first case report of the preoperative use of microperimetry and visual electrophysiology to evaluate a patient's postoperative potential visual acuity. The success of the procedure illustrated the importance of meticulous preoperative planning, the combined use of state-of-the-art technologies and the seamless teamwork in order to achieve the best clinical outcome for patients who undergo implantation of the implantable miniature telescope.

  14. News and Views: Research council resource allocations: managing demand; e-MERLIN radio telescope network is up and running

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-01

    The research councils discovered in December the allocation of money from the UK government's Comprehensive Spending Review, and have set out their delivery plans outlining how they will spend it. Details and decisions will follow consultation in the coming months. The first image from eMerlin, the UK's national radio astronomy facility, shows the power of the enhanced network of radio telescopes spread over 220 km and now linked by fibre optics. These links and advanced receivers will allow astronomers to see in a single day what would have previously taken them more than a year of observations.

  15. Real-time vibration compensation for large telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Böhm, M.; Pott, J.-U.; Sawodny, O.; Herbst, T.; Kürster, M.

    2014-08-01

    We compare different strategies for minimizing the effects of telescope vibrations to the differential piston (optical pathway difference) for the Near-InfraRed/Visible Adaptive Camera and INterferometer for Astronomy (LINC-NIRVANA) at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) using an accelerometer feedforward compensation approach. We summarize, why this technology is important for LINC-NIRVANA, and also for future telescopes and already existing instruments. The main objective is outlining a solution for the estimation problem in general and its specifics at the LBT. Emphasis is put on realistic evaluation of the used algorithms in the laboratory, such that predictions for the expected performance at the LBT can be made. Model-based estimation and broad-band filtering techniques can be used to solve the estimation task, and the differences are discussed. Simulation results and measurements are shown to motivate our choice of the estimation algorithm for LINC-NIRVANA. The laboratory setup is aimed at imitating the vibration behaviour at the LBT in general, and the M2 as main contributor in particular. For our measurements, we introduce a disturbance time series which has a frequency spectrum comparable to what can be measured at the LBT on a typical night. The controllers' ability to suppress vibrations in the critical frequency range of 8-60 Hz is demonstrated. The experimental results are promising, indicating the ability to suppress differential piston induced by telescope vibrations by a factor of about 5 (rms), which is significantly better than any currently commissioned system.

  16. News from the ESO Science Archive Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dobrzycki, A.; Arnaboldi, M.; Bierwirth, T.; Boelter, M.; Da Rocha, C.; Delmotte, N.; Forchì, V.; Fourniol, N.; klein Gebbinck, M.; Lange, U.; Mascetti, L.; Micol, A.; Moins, C.; Munte, C.; Pluciennik, C.; Retzlaff, J.; Romaniello, M.; Rosse, N.; Sequeiros, I. V.; Vuong, M.-H.; Zampieri, S.

    2015-09-01

    ESO Science Archive Facility (SAF) - one of the world's biggest astronomical archives - combines two roles: operational (ingest, tallying, safekeeping and distribution to observers of raw data taken with ESO telescopes and processed data generated both internally and externally) and scientific (publication and delivery of all flavours of data to external users). This paper presents the “State of the SAF.” SAF, as a living entity, is constantly implementing new services and upgrading the existing ones. We present recent and future developments related to the Archive's Request Handler and metadata handling as well as performance and usage statistics and trends. We also discuss the current and future datasets on offer at SAF.

  17. Resurfacing the Jodrell Bank Mk II radio telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, R. E.; Haggis, J. S.; Morrison, I.; Davis, R. J.; Melling, R. J.

    The improvement of the short-wavelength performance of the Jodrell Bank Mk II radio telescope is described. A final rms profile error of 0.6 mm was achieved due to the invention of an inexpensive technique of panel construction and measurement combined with the use of radio-astronomical holographic techniques to measure the telescope under actual operating conditions. Some further improvements to extend the short wavelength performance are suggested.

  18. Push-To Telescope Mathematics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teets, Donald

    2012-01-01

    Two coordinate systems are related here, one defined by the earth's equator and north pole, the other by the orientation of a telescope at some location on the surface of the earth. Applying an interesting though somewhat obscure property of orthogonal matrices and using the cross-product simplifies this relationship, revealing that a surprisingly…

  19. The Status of the Telescope Array experiment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tokuno, H; Azuma, R [Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro, Tokyo (Japan); Abu-Zayyad, T; Allen, M; Barcikowski, E; Belz, J W; Blake, S A; Brusova, O; Cady, R [University of Utah, High Energy Astrophysics Institute, Salt Lake City, Utah (United States); Aida, R [University of Yamanashi, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, Kofu, Yamanashi (Japan); Benno, T; Chikawa, M; Doura, K [Kinki University, Higashi Osaka, Osaka (Japan); Bergman, D R [Rutgers University, Piscataway (United States); Cheon, B G; Cho, E J [Hanyang University, Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Chiba, J [Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Chiba (Japan); Cho, L S; Cho, W R [Yonsei University, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Cohen, F, E-mail: htokuno@cr.phys.titech.ac.jp [Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba (Japan)

    2011-04-01

    The purpose of The Telescope Array experiment is to identify origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays. The Telescope Array is a hybrid detector consists of a surface detector array and air fluorescence detectors. This hybrid detector is observing extensive air showers to measure the energy spectrum, anisotropy and composition of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays. The detector construction has been completed in March 2008, and the hybrid observation with the full configuration has been running since that time. In this talk, the status of observation and our prospects are described.

  20. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Integrated Science Instruments Module (ISIM) Cryo-Vacuum (CV) Test Campaign Summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yew, Calinda; Whitehouse, Paul; Lui, Yan; Banks, Kimberly

    2016-01-01

    JWST Integrated Science Instruments Module (ISIM) has completed its system-level testing program at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). In March 2016, ISIM was successfully delivered for integration with the Optical Telescope Element (OTE) after the successful verification of the system through a series of three cryo-vacuum (CV) tests. The first test served as a risk reduction test; the second test provided the initial verification of the fully-integrated flight instruments; and the third test verified the system in its final flight configuration. The complexity of the mission has generated challenging requirements that demand highly reliable system performance and capabilities from the Space Environment Simulator (SES) vacuum chamber. As JWST progressed through its CV testing campaign, deficiencies in the test configuration and support equipment were uncovered from one test to the next. Subsequent upgrades and modifications were implemented to improve the facility support capabilities required to achieve test requirements. This paper: (1) provides an overview of the integrated mechanical and thermal facility systems required to achieve the objectives of JWST ISIM testing, (2) compares the overall facility performance and instrumentation results from the three ISIM CV tests, and (3) summarizes lessons learned from the ISIM testing campaign.

  1. Test facility for astronomical x-ray optics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Finn Erland; Lewis, Robert A.; Bordas, J.

    1990-01-01

    Grazing incidence x-ray optics for x-ray astronomical applications are used outside the earth's atmosphere. These devices require a large collection aperture and the imaging of an x-ray source that is essentially placed at infinity. The ideal testing system for these optical elements has to appro......Grazing incidence x-ray optics for x-ray astronomical applications are used outside the earth's atmosphere. These devices require a large collection aperture and the imaging of an x-ray source that is essentially placed at infinity. The ideal testing system for these optical elements has...... to approximate that encountered under working conditions; however, the testing of these optical elements is notoriously difficult with conventional x-ray generators. Synchrotron radiation (SR) sources are sufficiently brilliant to produce a nearly perfect parallel beam over a large area while still retaining...... a flux considerably higher than that available from conventional x-ray generators. A facility designed for the testing of x-ray optics, particularly in connection with x-ray telescopes, is described. It is proposed that this facility will be accommodated at the Synchrotron Radiation Source...

  2. Engaging Undergraduate Students in Transiting Exoplanet Research with Small Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephens, Denise C.; Stoker, E.; Gaillard, C.; Ranquist, E.; Lara, P.; Wright, K.

    2013-10-01

    Brigham Young University has a relatively large undergraduate physics program with 300 to 360 physics majors. Each of these students is required to be engaged in a research group and to produce a senior thesis before graduating. For the astronomy professors, this means that each of us is mentoring at least 4-6 undergraduate students at any given time. For the past few years I have been searching for meaningful research projects that make use of our telescope resources and are exciting for both myself and my students. We first started following up Kepler Objects of Interest with our 0.9 meter telescope, but quickly realized that most of the transits we could observe were better analyzed with Kepler data and were false positive objects. So now we have joined a team that is searching for transiting planets, and my students are using our 16" telescope to do ground based follow-up on the hundreds of possible transiting planet candidates produced by this survey. In this presentation I will describe our current telescopes, the observational setup, and how we use our telescopes to search for transiting planets. I'll describe some of the software the students have written. I'll also explain how to use the NASA Exoplanet Archive to gather data on known transiting planets and Kepler Objects of Interests. These databases are useful for determining the observational limits of your small telescopes and teaching your students how to reduce and report data on transiting planets. Once that is in place, you are potentially ready to join existing transiting planet missions by doing ground-based follow-up. I will explain how easy it can be to implement this type of research at any high school, college, or university with a small telescope and CCD camera.

  3. CTA-A project for a new generation of Cherenkov telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doro, Michele

    2011-01-01

    Gamma-rays provide a powerful insight into the non-thermal universe and perhaps a unique probe for new physics beyond the standard model. Current experiments are already giving results in the physics of acceleration of cosmic rays in supernova remnants, pulsar and active galactic nuclei with a 100 sources detected at very-high-energies so far. Despite its relatively recent appearance, very high-energy gamma-ray astronomy has proven to have reached a mature technology with fast assembling, relatively cheap and reliable telescopes. The goal of future installation is to increase the sensitivity by a factor 10 compared to current installations, and enlarge the energy domain from few 10s of GeV to a 100 TeV. Gamma-ray spectra of astrophysical origin are rather soft thus hardly one single size telescope can cover more than 1.5 decades in energy, therefore an array of telescopes of 2-3 different sizes is required. Hereafter, we present design considerations for a Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), a project for a new generation of highly automated telescopes for gamma-ray astronomy. The status of the project, technical solutions and an insight in the involved physics will be presented.

  4. A concept for a thirty-meter telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgarella, Denis; Zamkotsian, Frederic; Dohlen, Kjetil; Ferrari, Marc; Hammer, Francois; Sayede, Frederic; Rigaud, Francois

    2004-07-01

    In May 2000, the Canada-France-Hawaii (CFHT) Telescope Science Advisory Committee solicited the Canadian, Hawaiian and French communities to propose concepts to replace the present CFH telescope by a larger telescope. Three groups were selected: Carlberg et al. (2001) in Canada, Khun et al. (2001) in Hawaii and Burgarella et al. (2001a) in France. The reports were delivered to CFHT in May 2001 and are now available throughout the CFHT website. One of the main constraints was due to the fact that the new and larger telescope should use as much as possible the existing site and be compliant with the Mauna Kea Science reserve Master Plan (2000). This plan analyses all aspects of the Mauna Kea summit but most of them are related to the facts that the mountain must be considered as a sacred area for indigenous Hawaiian people and that the ecosystem is fragile. But in addition, the plan also tries to account for the fact that the summit of Mauna Kea is a world famous site for astronomy. The points that we can highlight in the context of our project are of two types. Since then, the project evolved and Hawaii is not considered as the one and only site to build an Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Moreover, the size of the primary mirror, which was strongly dependent on the above constraints, is no more limited to the 16 - 20 m which was our conclusion at this time. Nevertheless, the three points of the resolution are still valid and since then, we have kept on working on the concept by launching differnt follow-up studies that are necessary to start such a project. Of course, the main point is the Science Objectives which drive the main specifications for an ELT. But related technical studies are also mandatory e.g. Adaptive Optics, Building of a primary mirror larger than 30 m in diameter, Image Quality as a function of the segment size and shape.

  5. Completion of the Southern African Large Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckley, D. A. H.; Charles, P. A.; O'Donoghue, D.; Nordsieck, K. H.

    2006-08-01

    The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is a low cost (19.7M), innovative, 10-m class optical telescope, which was inaugurated on 10 November 2005, just 5 years after ground-breaking. SALT and its first-light instruments are currently being commissioned, and full science operations are expected to begin later this year. This paper describes the design and construction of SALT, including the first-light instruments, SALTICAM and the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS). A rigorous Systems Engineering approach was adopted to ensure that SALT was built to specification, on budget, close to the original schedule and using a relatively small project team. The design trade-offs, which include an active spherical primary mirror array in a fixed altitude telescope with a prime focus tracker, although restrictive in comparison to conventional telescopes, have resulted in an affordable and capable 10-m class telescope for South Africa and its ten partners. Coupled with an initial set of two seeing-limited instruments that concentrate on the UV-visible region (320 - 900nm) and featuring some unique observational capabilities, SALT will have an ability to conduct a wide range of science programs. These will include high time resolution studies, for which some initial results have already been obtained and are presented here. Many of the versatile modes available with the RSS will provide unparalleled opportunities for imaging polarimetry and spectropolarimetry. Likewise, Multi-Object Spectroscopy (using laser cut graphite slit masks) and imaging spectroscopy with the RSS, the latter using Fabry-Perot etalons and interference filters, will extend the multiplex advantage over resolutions from R = 300 to 9000 over fields of view of 2 to 8 arcminutes. Future instrumentation plans include an extremely stable, fibre-fed, high resolution échelle spectrograph and a near-IR (possibly to 1.7 μm) extension to the RSS. Future development possibilities include phasing the primary mirror

  6. ESO takes the public on an astronomical journey "Around the World in 80 Telescopes"

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-03-01

    A live 24-hour free public video webcast, "Around the World in 80 Telescopes", will take place from 3 April 09:00 UT/GMT to 4 April 09:00 UT/GMT, chasing day and night around the globe to let viewers "visit" some of the most advanced astronomical telescopes on and off the planet. The webcast, organised by ESO for the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), is the first time that so many large observatories have been linked together for a public event. ESO PR Photo 13a/09 Map of Participating Observatories ESO PR Photo 13b/09 100 Hours of Astronomy logo Viewers will see new images of the cosmos, find out what observatories in their home countries or on the other side of the planet are discovering, send in questions and messages, and discover what astronomers are doing right now. Participating telescopes include those at observatories in Chile such as ESO's Very Large Telescope and La Silla, the Hawaii-based telescopes Gemini North and Keck, the Anglo-Australian Telescope, telescopes in the Canary Islands, the Southern African Large Telescope, space-based telescopes such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, ESA XMM-Newton and Integral, and many more. "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" will take viewers to every continent, including Antarctica! The webcast production will be hosted at ESO's headquarters near Munich, Germany, with live internet streaming by Ustream.tv. Anyone with a web browser supporting Adobe Flash will be able to follow the show, free of charge, from the website www.100hoursofastronomy.org and be a part of the project by sending messages and questions. The video player can be freely embedded on other websites. TV stations, web portals and science centres can also use the high quality feed. Representatives of the media who wish to report from the "front-line" and interview the team should get in touch. "Around the World in 80 Telescopes" is a major component of the 100 Hours of Astronomy (100HA), a Cornerstone project of the International

  7. SALTICAM: $0.5M acquisition camera: every big telescope should have one

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Donoghue, Darragh; Bauermeister, Etienne; Carter, David B.; Evans, Geoffrey P.; Koorts, Willie P.; O'Connor, James; Osman, Faranah; van der Merwe, Stan; Bigelow, Bruce C.

    2003-03-01

    The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is a 10-m class telescope presently under construction at Sutherland in South Africa. It is designed along the lines of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) at McDonald Observatory in West Texas. SALTICAM will be the Acquisition Camera and simple Science Imager (ACSI) for this telescope. It will also function as the Verification Instrument (VI) to check the performance of the telescope during commissioning. In VI mode, SALTICAM will comprise a filter unit, shutter and cryostat with a 2x1 mosaic of 2k x 4k x 15 micron pixel CCDs. It will be mounted at the f/4.2 corrected prime focus of the telescope. In ACSI mode it will be fed by a folding flat located close to the exit pupil of the telescope. ACSI mode will have the same functional components as VI mode but it will in addition be garnished with focal conversion lenses to re-image the corrected prime focal plane at f/2. The lenses will be made from UV transmitting crystals as the wavelength range for which the instrument is designed will span 320 to 950 nm. In addition to acting as Verification Instrument and Acquisition Camera, SALTICAM will perform simple science imaging in support of other instruments, but will also have a high time resolution capability which is not widely available on large telescopes. This paper will describe the design of the instrument, emphasizing features of particular interest.

  8. Magnetospheric particle detection efficiency of a conical telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miah, M.A.; Mitchell, J.W.; Wefel, J.P.

    1989-01-01

    A semianalytic program has been developed to map the pitch angles of magnetospheric particles onto a detector telescope acceptance cone. The telescope fractional efficiency is defined as the fraction of the pitch angle cone in common with the telescope cone multiplied by the fractional perpendicular component of the exposed detector area, and normalized by 2π. Calculations have been performed as a function of the satellite's location, orbital inclination and the zenith angle of the telescope axis, both in dipole and real geomagnetic field models. At the dipole equator, the peak efficiency occurs at 90 0 pitch angle. In the real geomagnetic field model, the average value of the pitch angle for maximum efficiency is ≅ 88 0 . The efficiency function depends strongly upon latitude and is independent of longitude in a dipole field, but depends on longitude in the real field model. In either field model, altitude, angle of tilt and orbital inclination have little effect upon efficiency. The efficiency function calculated at the dipole equator can be used at the minimum magnetic field equator with little error, but not for points away from the B min position. The results are applied to calculate the absolute flux of magnetospheric particles observed near the equator. (orig.)

  9. Calculation and experimental measurements in the Argonauta reactor subcritical and exponential facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Voi, Dante L.; Furieri, Rosane C.A.A.; Renke, Carlos A.C.; Bastos, Wilma S.; Ferreira, Francisco J.O.

    1997-01-01

    Initial measurements were performed on the exponential and subcritical facility installed on the internal thermal column of the Argonauta reactor at IEN-CNEN-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The measurements are include in the reactor physics experimental program for integral parameters determination, for both valid and confirmed theoretical models for reactor calculation. Gamma doses and neutron fluxes were measured with telescopic, proportional counters, wire and foil detectors. Experimental data were compared with results obtained by application of CITATION code. (author). 4 refs., 8 figs

  10. SAAO's new robotic telescope and WiNCam (Wide-field Nasmyth Camera)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Worters, Hannah L.; O'Connor, James E.; Carter, David B.; Loubser, Egan; Fourie, Pieter A.; Sickafoose, Amanda; Swanevelder, Pieter

    2016-08-01

    The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) is designing and manufacturing a wide-field camera for use on two of its telescopes. The initial concept was of a Prime focus camera for the 74" telescope, an equatorial design made by Grubb Parsons, where it would employ a 61mmx61mm detector to cover a 23 arcmin diameter field of view. However, while in the design phase, SAAO embarked on the process of acquiring a bespoke 1-metre robotic alt-az telescope with a 43 arcmin field of view, which needs a homegrown instrument suite. The Prime focus camera design was thus adapted for use on either telescope, increasing the detector size to 92mmx92mm. Since the camera will be mounted on the Nasmyth port of the new telescope, it was dubbed WiNCam (Wide-field Nasmyth Camera). This paper describes both WiNCam and the new telescope. Producing an instrument that can be swapped between two very different telescopes poses some unique challenges. At the Nasmyth port of the alt-az telescope there is ample circumferential space, while on the 74 inch the available envelope is constrained by the optical footprint of the secondary, if further obscuration is to be avoided. This forces the design into a cylindrical volume of 600mm diameter x 250mm height. The back focal distance is tightly constrained on the new telescope, shoehorning the shutter, filter unit, guider mechanism, a 10mm thick window and a tip/tilt mechanism for the detector into 100mm depth. The iris shutter and filter wheel planned for prime focus could no longer be accommodated. Instead, a compact shutter with a thickness of less than 20mm has been designed in-house, using a sliding curtain mechanism to cover an aperture of 125mmx125mm, while the filter wheel has been replaced with 2 peripheral filter cartridges (6 filters each) and a gripper to move a filter into the beam. We intend using through-vacuum wall PCB technology across the cryostat vacuum interface, instead of traditional hermetic connector-based wiring. This

  11. Can Telescopes Help Leo Satellites Dodge Most Lethal Impacts?

    Science.gov (United States)

    GUDIEL, ANDREA; Carroll, Joseph; Rowe, David

    2018-01-01

    Authors: Joseph Carroll and David RoweABSTRACT LEO objects are tracked by radar because it works day and night, in all weather. This fits military interest in potentially hostile objects. There is less interest in objects too small to be credible active threats. But accidental hypervelocity impact by even 5-10 mm objects can disable most LEO satellites. Such “cm-class” objects greatly outnumber objects of military interest, and will cause most accidental impact losses.Under good viewing conditions, a sunlit 5mm sphere with 0.15 albedo at 800 km altitude is a 19th magnitude object. A ground-based 0.5m telescope tracking it against a 20 mag/arcsec2 sky can see it in seconds, and provide 1 million such objects in LEO, nearly all debris fragments, mostly cm-class and at 600-1200 km altitude.Maintaining a ~million-item catalog requires a world-wide network of several dozen telescope sites with several telescopes at each site. Each telescope needs a mount capable of ~1,000,000 fast slews/year without wearing out.The paper discusses recent advances that make such a service far more feasible:1. Automated tasking and remote control of distributed telescope networks,2. Direct-drive mounts that can make millions of fast slews without wearing out,3. Telescope optics with low focal curvature that are in focus across large imagers,4. CMOS imagers with 95% peak QE and 1.5e- noise at 2E8 pix/sec readout rates,5. Methods for uncued detection of most lethal LEO debris (eg., >5 mm at 800 km),6. Initial orbit determination using 3 alt-az fixes made during the discovery pass,7. High-speed photometry to infer debris spin axis, to predict drag area changes,8. Better conjunction predictions using explicit modeling of drag area variations.

  12. Taiwan Automated Telescope Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dean-Yi Chou

    2010-01-01

    can be operated either interactively or fully automatically. In the interactive mode, it can be controlled through the Internet. In the fully automatic mode, the telescope operates with preset parameters without any human care, including taking dark frames and flat frames. The network can also be used for studies that require continuous observations for selected objects.

  13. Relay telescope for high power laser alignment system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dane, C. Brent; Hackel, Lloyd; Harris, Fritz B.

    2006-09-19

    A laser system includes an optical path having an intracavity relay telescope with a telescope focal point for imaging an output of the gain medium between an image location at or near the gain medium and an image location at or near an output coupler for the laser system. A kinematic mount is provided within a vacuum chamber, and adapted to secure beam baffles near the telescope focal point. An access port on the vacuum chamber is adapted for allowing insertion and removal of the beam baffles. A first baffle formed using an alignment pinhole aperture is used during alignment of the laser system. A second tapered baffle replaces the alignment aperture during operation and acts as a far-field baffle in which off angle beams strike the baffle a grazing angle of incidence, reducing fluence levels at the impact areas.

  14. Recent results on galactic sources with MAGIC telescope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De los Reyes, R.

    2009-01-01

    Located at the Canary island of La Palma, the single-dish MAGIC telescope currently has the lowest energy threshold achieved by any Cherenkov telescope, which can be as low as 25 GeV. In the last two years, the MAGIC telescope has detected a significant amount of galactic sources that emit at very high energies (up to several TeV). Here we present the most recent results that have yielded important scientific highlights in astrophysics, which include the first detection of gamma-ray emission from a pulsar, an X-ray binary system and a stellar-mass black hole. We also make a review of the latest results of the MAGIC observations on galactic sources, which will include also γ-ray unidentified sources (TeV J2032+4130), the Galactic Centre, X-ray binaries (LSI +61 303), pulsars (Crab pulsar) and SNRs (IC443).

  15. DynamiX, numerical tool for design of next-generation x-ray telescopes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauvin, Maxime; Roques, Jean-Pierre

    2010-07-20

    We present a new code aimed at the simulation of grazing-incidence x-ray telescopes subject to deformations and demonstrate its ability with two test cases: the Simbol-X and the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) missions. The code, based on Monte Carlo ray tracing, computes the full photon trajectories up to the detector plane, accounting for the x-ray interactions and for the telescope motion and deformation. The simulation produces images and spectra for any telescope configuration using Wolter I mirrors and semiconductor detectors. This numerical tool allows us to study the telescope performance in terms of angular resolution, effective area, and detector efficiency, accounting for the telescope behavior. We have implemented an image reconstruction method based on the measurement of the detector drifts by an optical sensor metrology. Using an accurate metrology, this method allows us to recover the loss of angular resolution induced by the telescope instability. In the framework of the Simbol-X mission, this code was used to study the impacts of the parameters on the telescope performance. In this paper we present detailed performance analysis of Simbol-X, taking into account the satellite motions and the image reconstruction. To illustrate the versatility of the code, we present an additional performance analysis with a particular configuration of IXO.

  16. DynamiX, numerical tool for design of next-generation x-ray telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chauvin, Maxime; Roques, Jean-Pierre

    2010-01-01

    We present a new code aimed at the simulation of grazing-incidence x-ray telescopes subject to deformations and demonstrate its ability with two test cases: the Simbol-X and the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) missions. The code, based on Monte Carlo ray tracing, computes the full photon trajectories up to the detector plane, accounting for the x-ray interactions and for the telescope motion and deformation. The simulation produces images and spectra for any telescope configuration using Wolter I mirrors and semiconductor detectors. This numerical tool allows us to study the telescope performance in terms of angular resolution, effective area, and detector efficiency, accounting for the telescope behavior. We have implemented an image reconstruction method based on the measurement of the detector drifts by an optical sensor metrology. Using an accurate metrology, this method allows us to recover the loss of angular resolution induced by the telescope instability. In the framework of the Simbol-X mission, this code was used to study the impacts of the parameters on the telescope performance. In this paper we present detailed performance analysis of Simbol-X, taking into account the satellite motions and the image reconstruction. To illustrate the versatility of the code, we present an additional performance analysis with a particular configuration of IXO.

  17. DynamiX, numerical tool for design of next-generation x-ray telescopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chauvin, Maxime; Roques, Jean-Pierre

    2010-07-20

    We present a new code aimed at the simulation of grazing-incidence x-ray telescopes subject to deformations and demonstrate its ability with two test cases: the Simbol-X and the International X-ray Observatory (IXO) missions. The code, based on Monte Carlo ray tracing, computes the full photon trajectories up to the detector plane, accounting for the x-ray interactions and for the telescope motion and deformation. The simulation produces images and spectra for any telescope configuration using Wolter I mirrors and semiconductor detectors. This numerical tool allows us to study the telescope performance in terms of angular resolution, effective area, and detector efficiency, accounting for the telescope behavior. We have implemented an image reconstruction method based on the measurement of the detector drifts by an optical sensor metrology. Using an accurate metrology, this method allows us to recover the loss of angular resolution induced by the telescope instability. In the framework of the Simbol-X mission, this code was used to study the impacts of the parameters on the telescope performance. In this paper we present detailed performance analysis of Simbol-X, taking into account the satellite motions and the image reconstruction. To illustrate the versatility of the code, we present an additional performance analysis with a particular configuration of IXO.

  18. Lightweight Inexpensive Ozone Lidar Telescope Using a Plastic Fresnel Lens

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeYoung, Russell J.; Notari, Anthony; Carrion, William; Pliutau, Denis

    2014-01-01

    An inexpensive lightweight ozone lidar telescope was designed, constructed and operated during an ozone lidar field campaign. This report summarizes the design parameters and performance of the plastic Fresnel lens telescope and shows the ozone lidar performance compared to Zemax calculations.

  19. The use of contact lens telescopic systems in low vision rehabilitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vincent, Stephen J

    2017-06-01

    Refracting telescopes are afocal compound optical systems consisting of two lenses that produce an apparent magnification of the retinal image. They are routinely used in visual rehabilitation in the form of monocular or binocular hand held low vision aids, and head or spectacle-mounted devices to improve distance visual acuity, and with slight modifications, to enhance acuity for near and intermediate tasks. Since the advent of ground glass haptic lenses in the 1930's, contact lenses have been employed as a useful refracting element of telescopic systems; primarily as a mobile ocular lens (the eyepiece), that moves with the eye. Telescopes which incorporate a contact lens eyepiece significantly improve the weight, comesis, and field of view compared to traditional spectacle-mounted telescopes, in addition to potential related psycho-social benefits. This review summarises the underlying optics and use of contact lenses to provide telescopic magnification from the era of Descartes, to Dallos, and the present day. The limitations and clinical challenges associated with such devices are discussed, along with the potential future use of reflecting telescopes incorporated within scleral lenses and tactile contact lens systems in low vision rehabilitation. Copyright © 2017 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. First Steps Toward K-12 Teacher Professional Development Using Internet-based Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berryhill, K. J.; Gershun, D.; Slater, T. F.; Armstrong, J. D.

    2012-12-01

    How can science teachers become more familiar with emerging technology, excite their students and give students a taste of astronomy research? Astronomy teachers do not always have research experience, so it is difficult for them to convey to students how researchers use telescopes. The nature of astronomical observation (e.g., remote sites, expensive equipment, and odd hours) has been a barrier to providing teachers with insight into the process. Robotic telescopes (operated automatically with queued observing schedules) and remotely controlled telescopes (controlled by the user via the Internet) allow scientists to conduct observing sessions on research-grade telescopes half a world away. The same technology can now be harnessed by STEM educators to engage students and reinforce what is being taught in the classroom, as seen in some early research in elementary schools (McKinnon and Mainwaring 2000 and McKinnon and Geissinger 2002), and middle/high schools (Sadler et al. 2001, 2007 and Gehret et al. 2005). However, teachers need to be trained to use these resources. Responding to this need, graduate students and faculty at the University of Wyoming and CAPER Center for Astronomy & Physics Education Research are developing teacher professional development programs using Internet-based telescopes. We conducted an online course in the science education graduate program at the University of Wyoming. This course was designed to sample different types of Internet-based telescopes to evaluate them as resources for teacher professional development. The 10 participants were surveyed at the end of the course to assess their experiences with each activity. In addition, pre-test/post-test data were collected focusing specifically on one of the telescopes (Gershun, Berryhill and Slater 2012). Throughout the course, the participants learned to use a variety of robotic and remote telescopes including SLOOH Space Camera (www.slooh.com), Sky Titan Observatory (www

  1. European astronaut selected for the third Hubble Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    1998-08-01

    only observed relatively near celestial objects, like the planets in our solar system, but also looked thousands of millions of light years into space, taking images of the most distant galaxies ever seen. "The observations and spectral measurements taken with Hubble have improved our understanding of the origin and age of the universe. In some cases, the Hubble Space Telescope has already changed our thinking about the evolution of planetary systems, stars and galaxies," points out Roger Bonnet, ESA's Director of Science. Astronomers throughout the world are using the telescope. European astronomers have a significant share in the scientific utilisation of Hubble. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, USA, coordinates and schedules the various observations. Europe's centre for coordinating observations from Hubble, the Space Telescope European Coordination Facility, is located at the Headquarters of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at Garching, near Munich, Germany. The Hubble Space Telescope is the first spacecraft ever built that has been designed for extensive in-orbit maintenance and refurbishment by astronauts. Unlike other satellites launched on unmanned rockets, Hubble is accessible by astronauts in orbit. It has numerous grapple fixtures and handholds for ease of access and the safety of astronauts. Hence the telescope's planned 15-year continuous operating time, despite the harsh environmental conditions, and the ability to upgrade it with more powerful instruments as technology progresses. At regular intervals of 3 to 4 years, the US Space Shuttle visits the telescope in orbit to replace components which have failed or reached the nominal end of their operational lifetime and to replace and upgrade instruments with newer, better ones. STS-104 will be the third Hubble servicing mission, after STS-61 in December 1993 and STS-82 in February 1997. To increase Hubble's scientific capability, Nicollier and his fellow crew members from NASA

  2. Telescopic Partial Dentures-Concealed Technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhagat, Tushar Vitthalrao; Walke, Ashwini Nareshchandra

    2015-09-01

    The ideal goal of good dentist is to restore the missing part of oral structure, phonetics, his look and the most important is restored the normal health of the patient, which is hampered due to less or insufficient intake of food. Removable partial denture (RPD) treatment option is considered as a notion, which precludes the inevitability of "floating plastic" in edentulous mouth, that many times fail to fulfill the above essential of the patients. In modern dentistry, though the dental implants or fixed partial denture is the better options, but they have certain limitations. However, overdentures and particularly telescopic denture is the overlooked technology in dentistry that would be a boon for such needy patients. Telescopic denture is especially indicated in the distal edentulous area with minimum two teeth bilaterally present with a good amount of periodontal support. This treatment modality is sort of preventive prosthodontics remedy, which in a conservative manner preserve the remaining teeth and helps in conservation of alveolar bone ultimately. There are two tenets related to this option, one is constant conservation edentulous ridge around the retained tooth and the most important is the endless existence of periodontal sensory action that directs and monitor gnathodynamic task. In this option the primary coping or inner coping are cemented on the prepared tooth, and a similar removable outer or inner telescopic crown placed tightly by using a mechanism of tenso-friction, this is firmly attached to a removable RPD in place without moving or rocking of the prosthesis, which is the common compliant of almost all patients of RPD. Copings are also protecting the abutment from tooth decay and also offers stabilization and maintaining of the outer crown. The outer crown engages the inner coping and gives as an anchor for the remainder of the dentition. This work is the review of telescopic prosthesis which is well supported by the case discussion, and

  3. Monster telescope hunts blue planets

    CERN Multimedia

    Leake, J

    2003-01-01

    BRITAIN is to back a project to build the world's biggest telescope - so powerful that it could see life-bearing planets in other solar systems. It will need the largest mirror ever built at about 100 metres in diameter (1/2 page).

  4. Speckle Interferometry with the McMath-Pierce East Auxiliary Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harshaw, Richard; Ray, Jimmy; Douglass, David; Prause, Lori; Genet, Russell

    2015-09-01

    Engineering runs and tests on the McMath-Pierce 0.8 meter East Auxiliary telescope successfully configured the telescope for speckle interferometry observations of close visual double stars. This paper reports the procedure and results of the speckle analysis of four double stars.

  5. The KM3NeT deep-sea neutrino telescope

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Margiotta, Annarita

    2014-12-01

    KM3NeT is a deep-sea research infrastructure being constructed in the Mediterranean Sea. It will host the next generation Cherenkov neutrino telescope and nodes for a deep sea multidisciplinary observatory, providing oceanographers, marine biologists, and geophysicists with real time measurements. The neutrino telescope will complement IceCube in its field of view and exceed it substantially in sensitivity. Its main goal is the detection of high energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin. The detector will have a modular structure with six building blocks, each consisting of about 100 Detection Units (DUs). Each DU will be equipped with 18 multi-PMT digital optical modules. The first phase of construction has started and shore and deep-sea infrastructures hosting the future KM3NeT detector are being prepared in offshore Toulon, France and offshore Capo Passero on Sicily, Italy. The technological solutions for the neutrino detector of KM3NeT and the expected performance of the neutrino telescope are presented and discussed. - Highlights: • A deep-sea research infrastructure is being built in the Mediterranean Sea. • It will host a km{sup 3}-size neutrino telescope and a deep-sea multidisciplinary observatory. • The main goal of the neutrino telescope is the search for Galactic neutrino sources. • A major innovation is adopted in the design of the optical module. • 31 3 in. photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) will be hosted in the same glass sphere.

  6. Las Cumbres Observatory 1-Meter Global Science Telescope Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pickles, Andrew; Dubberley, M.; Haldeman, B.; Haynes, R.; Posner, V.; Rosing, W.; staff, LCOGT

    2009-05-01

    We present the optical, mechanical and electronic design of the LCOGT 1-m telescope. These telescopes are planned to go in pairs to each of 6 sites worldwide, complementing 0.4m telescopes and 2-m telescopes at two existing sites. This science network is designed to provide continuously available photometric monitoring and spectroscopy of variable sources. The 1-m optical design is an f/8 quasi-RC system, with a doublet corrector and field flattener to provide good image quality out to 0.8 degrees. The field of view of the Fairchild 4K science CCD is 27 arcmin, with 0.39 arcsec pixels. The mechanical design includes a stiff C-ring equatorial mount and friction drive rollers, mounted on a triangular base that can be adjusted for latitude. Another friction drive is coupled at the Declination axis to the M1 mirror cell, that forms the main Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) structural element. The OTA design includes a stiff carbon fiber truss assembly, with offset vanes to an M2 drive that provides remote focus, tilt and collimation. The tube assembly weighs about 600 Kg, including Hextek mirrors, 4K science CCD, filter wheel, autoguiders and medium resolution spectrograph pick-off fiber. The telescopes will be housed in domes at existing observatory sites. They are designed to operate remotely and reliably under centralized control for automatic, optimized scheduling of observations with available hardware.

  7. Where size does matter: foldable telescope design for microsat application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Segert, Tom; Danziger, Björn; Lieder, Matthias

    2017-11-01

    The DOBSON SPACE TELESCOPE Project (DST) at the Technical University of Berlin (TUB) believes that micro satellites can be a challenging competitor in the high resolution remote sensing market. Using a micro satellite as basis for a remote sensing platform will dramatically reduce the cost for the end users thereby initiating the predicted remote sensing boom. The Challenging task is that an optic required for a GSD smaller than 1m is much bigger than the given room for secondary payload. In order to break the volume limits of hitchhiker payloads the DST team develops an optical telescope with deployable structures. The core piece of DST is a 20 inch modified Cassegrain optic. Stored during ascend the instrument fits in a box measuring 60 x 60 x 30cm (including telescope and optical plane assembly). After the satellite was released into free space the telescope unfolds and collimates automatically.

  8. Application of Molecular Adsorber Coatings in Chamber A for the James Webb Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abraham, Nithin S.

    2017-01-01

    As a coating made of highly porous zeolite materials, the Molecular Adsorber Coating (MAC) was developed to capture outgassed molecular contaminants, such as hydrocarbons and silicones. For spaceflight applications, the adsorptive capabilities of the coating can alleviate on-orbit outgassing concerns on or near sensitive surfaces and instruments within the spacecraft. Similarly, this sprayable paint technology has proven to be significantly beneficial for ground-based space applications, in particular, for vacuum chamber environments. This presentation describes the application of the MAC technology for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). The coating was used as a mitigation tool to entrap outgassed contaminants, specifically silicone-based diffusion pump oil, from within JSCs cryogenic optical vacuum chamber test facility called Chamber A. This presentation summarizes the background, fabrication, installation, chemical analysis test results, and future plans for the MAC technology, which was effectively used to protect the JWST test equipment from vacuum chamber contamination. As a coating made of highly porous zeolite materials, the Molecular Adsorber Coating (MAC) was developed to capture outgassed molecular contaminants, such as hydrocarbons and silicones. For spaceflight applications, the adsorptive capabilities of the coating can alleviate on-orbit outgassing concerns on or near sensitive surfaces and instruments within the spacecraft. Similarly, this sprayable paint technology has proven to be significantly beneficial for ground-based space applications, in particular, for vacuum chamber environments. This presentation describes the application of the MAC technology for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). The coating was used as a mitigation tool to entrap outgassed contaminants, specifically silicone-based diffusion pump oil, from within JSCs cryogenic optical vacuum chamber test

  9. Prime focus architectures for large space telescopes: reduce surfaces to save cost

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breckinridge, J. B.; Lillie, C. F.

    2016-07-01

    Conceptual architectures are now being developed to identify future directions for post JWST large space telescope systems to operate in the UV Optical and near IR regions of the spectrum. Here we show that the cost of optical surfaces within large aperture telescope/instrument systems can exceed $100M/reflection when expressed in terms of the aperture increase needed to over come internal absorption loss. We recommend a program in innovative optical design to minimize the number of surfaces by considering multiple functions for mirrors. An example is given using the Rowland circle imaging spectrometer systems for UV space science. With few exceptions, current space telescope architectures are based on systems optimized for ground-based astronomy. Both HST and JWST are classical "Cassegrain" telescopes derived from the ground-based tradition to co-locate the massive primary mirror and the instruments at the same end of the metrology structure. This requirement derives from the dual need to minimize observatory dome size and cost in the presence of the Earth's 1-g gravitational field. Space telescopes, however function in the zero gravity of space and the 1- g constraint is relieved to the advantage of astronomers. Here we suggest that a prime focus large aperture telescope system in space may have potentially have higher transmittance, better pointing, improved thermal and structural control, less internal polarization and broader wavelength coverage than Cassegrain telescopes. An example is given showing how UV astronomy telescopes use single optical elements for multiple functions and therefore have a minimum number of reflections.

  10. Cosmic inquirers: Modern telescopes and their makers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tucker, W.; Tucker, K.

    1986-01-01

    An historical account is given of major, telescopic instrument-related advancements in 20th-century astronomy, with attention to the roles played by leading figures in the various fields of astronomical research involved. These biographical treatments encompass David Heeshen and the development of the VLA; Riccardo Giacconi and the X-ray astronomy Uhuru, High Energy Astronomy Observatory, and X-ray Explorer, and Einstein Observatory satellites; Allan Jacobson and the Gamma Ray Observatory satellite; the involvements of Frank Low and Gerry Neugebauer in the development of the IR Astronomy Satellite; and C. R. O'Dell's organization of the NASA Space Telescope program. 62 references

  11. Dynamic Model and Analysis of Asymmetric Telescopic Wing for Morphing Aircraft

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Lili

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Morphing aircraft has been the research hot topics of new concept aircrafts in aerospace engineering. Telescopic wing is an important morphing technology for morphing aircraft. This paper describes the dynamic equations and kinematic equations based on theorem of momentum and theorem of moment of momentum, which are available for all morphing aircrafts. Meanwhile,as simplified , dynamic equations for rectangular telescopic wing are presented. In order to avoid the complexity using aileron to generate rolling moment , an new idea that asymmetry of wings can generate roll moment is introduced. Finally, roll performance comparison of asymmetric wing and aileron deflection shows that asymmetric telescopic wing can provide the required roll control moment as aileron, and in some cases, telescopic wing has the superior roll performance.

  12. Telescopic crowns as attachments for implant supported restorations: a case series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffmann, Oliver; Beaumont, Christian; Tatakis, Dimitris N; Zafiropoulos, Gregory-George

    2006-01-01

    The use of dental implants to support mandibular or maxillary overdentures is a widely used treatment modality. Advantages are an increase in retention, an increase in chewing ability, and easy access for oral hygiene procedures. While telescopic and conical crowns have been used for decades to connect natural teeth to overdentures, not many cases have been reported in the literature of telescopic crowns placed on implants to support overdentures. This article describes 7 patients with overdentures supported by telescopic crowns who received 65 implants (ITI Straumann). The cases presented in this report have been in function for up to 4.5 years. During that time no adverse events were reported. The use of telescopic crowns as attachments for implant-supported overdentures may be a viable treatment option.

  13. The X-ray Telescope of the CAST Experiment

    CERN Document Server

    Kotthaus, Rainer; Friedrich, P.; Kang, D.; Hartmann, R.; Kuster, M.; Lutz, G.; Strüder, L.

    2005-01-01

    The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) searches for solar axions employing a 9 Tesla superconducting dipole magnet equipped with 3 independent detection systems for X-rays from axion-photon conversions inside the 10 m long magnetic field. Results of the first 6 months of data taking in 2003 imply a 95 % CL upper limit on the axion-photon coupling constant of 1.16x10(-10) GeV(-1) for axion masses < 0.02 eV. The most sensitive detector of CAST is a X-ray telescope consisting of a Wolter I type mirror system and a fully depleted pn-CCD as focal plane detector. Exploiting the full potential of background suppression by focussing X-rays emerging from the magnet bore, the axion sensitivity obtained with telescope data taken in 2004, for the first time in a controlled laboratory experiment, will supersede axion constraints derived from stellar energy loss arguments.

  14. The GCT camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lapington, J. S.; Abchiche, A.; Allan, D.; Amans, J.-P.; Armstrong, T. P.; Balzer, A.; Berge, D.; Boisson, C.; Bousquet, J.-J.; Bose, R.; Brown, A. M.; Bryan, M.; Buchholtz, G.; Buckley, J.; Chadwick, P. M.; Costantini, H.; Cotter, G.; Daniel, M. K.; De Franco, A.; De Frondat, F.; Dournaux, J.-L.; Dumas, D.; Ernenwein, J.-P.; Fasola, G.; Funk, S.; Gironnet, J.; Graham, J. A.; Greenshaw, T.; Hervet, O.; Hidaka, N.; Hinton, J. A.; Huet, J.-M.; Jankowsky, D.; Jegouzo, I.; Jogler, T.; Kawashima, T.; Kraus, M.; Laporte, P.; Leach, S.; Lefaucheur, J.; Markoff, S.; Melse, T.; Minaya, I. A.; Mohrmann, L.; Molyneux, P.; Moore, P.; Nolan, S. J.; Okumura, A.; Osborne, J. P.; Parsons, R. D.; Rosen, S.; Ross, D.; Rowell, G.; Rulten, C. B.; Sato, Y.; Sayede, F.; Schmoll, J.; Schoorlemmer, H.; Servillat, M.; Sol, H.; Stamatescu, V.; Stephan, M.; Stuik, R.; Sykes, J.; Tajima, H.; Thornhill, J.; Tibaldo, L.; Trichard, C.; Varner, G.; Vink, J.; Watson, J. J.; White, R.; Yamane, N.; Zech, A.; Zink, A.; Zorn, J.; CTA Consortium

    2017-12-01

    The Gamma Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) is one of the designs proposed for the Small Sized Telescope (SST) section of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The GCT uses dual-mirror optics, resulting in a compact telescope with good image quality and a large field of view with a smaller, more economical, camera than is achievable with conventional single mirror solutions. The photon counting GCT camera is designed to record the flashes of atmospheric Cherenkov light from gamma and cosmic ray initiated cascades, which last only a few tens of nanoseconds. The GCT optics require that the camera detectors follow a convex surface with a radius of curvature of 1 m and a diameter of 35 cm, which is approximated by tiling the focal plane with 32 modules. The first camera prototype is equipped with multi-anode photomultipliers, each comprising an 8×8 array of 6×6 mm2 pixels to provide the required angular scale, adding up to 2048 pixels in total. Detector signals are shaped, amplified and digitised by electronics based on custom ASICs that provide digitisation at 1 GSample/s. The camera is self-triggering, retaining images where the focal plane light distribution matches predefined spatial and temporal criteria. The electronics are housed in the liquid-cooled, sealed camera enclosure. LED flashers at the corners of the focal plane provide a calibration source via reflection from the secondary mirror. The first GCT camera prototype underwent preliminary laboratory tests last year. In November 2015, the camera was installed on a prototype GCT telescope (SST-GATE) in Paris and was used to successfully record the first Cherenkov light of any CTA prototype, and the first Cherenkov light seen with such a dual-mirror optical system. A second full-camera prototype based on Silicon Photomultipliers is under construction. Up to 35 GCTs are envisaged for CTA.

  15. PHOBOS AS A D-TYPE CAPTURED ASTEROID, SPECTRAL MODELING FROM 0.25 TO 4.0 μm

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pajola, M.; Magrin, S.; Bertini, I.; Barbieri, C. [Center of Studies and Activities for Space, CISAS, ' G. Colombo' , University of Padova, I-35131 Padova (Italy); Lazzarin, M.; La Forgia, F. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, I-35131 Padova (Italy); Dalle Ore, C. M. [Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043 (United States); Cruikshank, D. P.; Roush, T. L., E-mail: maurizio.pajola@studenti.unipd.it, E-mail: maurizio.pajola@gmail.com, E-mail: Maurizio.Pajola@jpl.nasa.gov [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)

    2013-11-10

    This paper describes the spectral modeling of the surface of Phobos in the wavelength range between 0.25 and 4.0 μm. We use complementary data to cover this spectral range: the OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System on board the ESA Rosetta spacecraft) reflectance spectrum that Pajola et al. merged with the VSK-KRFM-ISM (Videospectrometric Camera (VSK)-Combined Radiometer and Photometer for Mars (KRFM)-Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (ISM) on board the USSR Phobos 2 spacecraft) spectra by Murchie and Erard and the IRTF (NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, Hawaii, USA) spectra published by Rivkin et al. The OSIRIS data allow the characterization of an area of Phobos covering from 86.°8 N to 90° S in latitude and from 126° W to 286° W in longitude. This corresponds chiefly to the trailing hemisphere, but with a small sampling of the leading hemisphere as well. We compared the OSIRIS results with the Trojan D-type asteroid 624 Hektor and show that the overall slope and curvature of the two bodies over the common wavelength range are very similar. This favors Phobos being a captured D-type asteroid as previously suggested. We modeled the OSIRIS data using two models, the first one with a composition that includes organic carbonaceous material, serpentine, olivine, and basalt glass, and the second one consisting of Tagish Lake meteorite and magnesium-rich pyroxene glass. The results of these models were extended to longer wavelengths to compare the VSK-KRFM-ISM and IRTF data. The overall shape of the second model spectrum between 0.25 and 4.0 μm shows curvature and an albedo level that match both the OSIRIS and Murchie and Erard data and the Rivkin et al. data much better than the first model. The large interval fit is encouraging and adds weight to this model, making it our most promising fit for Phobos. Since Tagish Lake is commonly used as a spectral analog for D-type asteroids, this provides additional support for compositional

  16. Physical Characterization of Warm Spitzer-observed Near-Earth Objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Cristina A.; Emery, Joshua P.; Trilling, David E.; Delbo, Marco; Hora, Joseph L.; Mueller, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Near-infrared spectroscopy of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) connects diagnostic spectral features to specific surface mineralogies. The combination of spectroscopy with albedos and diameters derived from thermal infrared observations can increase the scientific return beyond that of the individual datasets. For instance, some taxonomic classes can be separated into distinct compositional groupings with albedo and different mineralogies with similar albedos can be distinguished with spectroscopy. To that end, we have completed a spectroscopic observing campaign to complement the ExploreNEOs Warm Spitzer program that obtained albedos and diameters of nearly 600 NEOs (Trilling et al., 2010). The spectroscopy campaign included visible and near-infrared observations of ExploreNEOs targets from various observatories. Here we present the results of observations using the low-resolution prism mode (approx. 0.7-2.5 microns) of the SpeX instrument on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). We also include near-infrared observations of Explore-NEOs targets from the MIT-UH-IRTF Joint Campaign for Spectral Reconnaissance. Our dataset includes near-infrared spectra of 187 ExploreNEOs targets (125 observations of 92 objects from our survey and 213 observations of 154 objects from the MIT survey). We identify a taxonomic class for each spectrum and use band parameter analysis to investigate the mineralogies for the S-, Q-, and V-complex objects. Our analysis suggests that for spectra that contain near-infrared data but lack the visible wavelength region, the Bus-DeMeo system misidentifies some S-types as Q-types. We find no correlation between spectral band parameters and ExploreNEOs albedos and diameters. We investigate the correlations of phase angle with band area ratio and near-infrared spectral slope. We find slightly negative Band Area Ratio (BAR) correlations with phase angle for Eros and Ivar, but a positive BAR correlation with phase angle for Ganymed.The results of our

  17. PHOBOS AS A D-TYPE CAPTURED ASTEROID, SPECTRAL MODELING FROM 0.25 TO 4.0 μm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pajola, M.; Magrin, S.; Bertini, I.; Barbieri, C.; Lazzarin, M.; La Forgia, F.; Dalle Ore, C. M.; Cruikshank, D. P.; Roush, T. L.

    2013-01-01

    This paper describes the spectral modeling of the surface of Phobos in the wavelength range between 0.25 and 4.0 μm. We use complementary data to cover this spectral range: the OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System on board the ESA Rosetta spacecraft) reflectance spectrum that Pajola et al. merged with the VSK-KRFM-ISM (Videospectrometric Camera (VSK)-Combined Radiometer and Photometer for Mars (KRFM)-Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (ISM) on board the USSR Phobos 2 spacecraft) spectra by Murchie and Erard and the IRTF (NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, Hawaii, USA) spectra published by Rivkin et al. The OSIRIS data allow the characterization of an area of Phobos covering from 86.°8 N to 90° S in latitude and from 126° W to 286° W in longitude. This corresponds chiefly to the trailing hemisphere, but with a small sampling of the leading hemisphere as well. We compared the OSIRIS results with the Trojan D-type asteroid 624 Hektor and show that the overall slope and curvature of the two bodies over the common wavelength range are very similar. This favors Phobos being a captured D-type asteroid as previously suggested. We modeled the OSIRIS data using two models, the first one with a composition that includes organic carbonaceous material, serpentine, olivine, and basalt glass, and the second one consisting of Tagish Lake meteorite and magnesium-rich pyroxene glass. The results of these models were extended to longer wavelengths to compare the VSK-KRFM-ISM and IRTF data. The overall shape of the second model spectrum between 0.25 and 4.0 μm shows curvature and an albedo level that match both the OSIRIS and Murchie and Erard data and the Rivkin et al. data much better than the first model. The large interval fit is encouraging and adds weight to this model, making it our most promising fit for Phobos. Since Tagish Lake is commonly used as a spectral analog for D-type asteroids, this provides additional support for compositional

  18. A retrospective of the GREGOR solar telescope in scientific literature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denker, C.; von der Lühe, O.; Feller, A.; Arlt, K.; Balthasar, H.; Bauer, S.-M.; Bello González, N.; Berkefeld, Th.; Caligari, P.; Collados, M.; Fischer, A.; Granzer, T.; Hahn, T.; Halbgewachs, C.; Heidecke, F.; Hofmann, A.; Kentischer, T.; Klva{ňa, M.; Kneer, F.; Lagg, A.; Nicklas, H.; Popow, E.; Puschmann, K. G.; Rendtel, J.; Schmidt, D.; Schmidt, W.; Sobotka, M.; Solanki, S. K.; Soltau, D.; Staude, J.; Strassmeier, K. G.; Volkmer, R.; Waldmann, T.; Wiehr, E.; Wittmann, A. D.; Woche, M.

    2012-11-01

    In this review, we look back upon the literature, which had the GREGOR solar telescope project as its subject including science cases, telescope subsystems, and post-focus instruments. The articles date back to the year 2000, when the initial concepts for a new solar telescope on Tenerife were first presented at scientific meetings. This comprehensive bibliography contains literature until the year 2012, i.e., the final stages of commissioning and science verification. Taking stock of the various publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings also provides the ``historical'' context for the reference articles in this special issue of Astronomische Nachrichten/Astronomical Notes.

  19. Optical telescope BIRT in ORIGIN for gamma ray burst observing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Content, Robert; Content, Robert; Sharples, Ray

    2012-01-01

    The ORIGIN concept is a space mission with a gamma ray, an X-ray and an optical telescope to observe the gamma ray bursts at large Z to determine the composition and density of the intergalactic matter in the line of sight. It was an answer to the ESA M3 call for proposal. The optical telescope i...... length. All 3 instruments use the same 2k x 2k detector simultaneously so that telescope pointing and tip-tilt control of a fold mirror permit to place the gamma ray burst on the desired instrument without any other mechanism. © 2012 SPIE....

  20. Workshop: Neutrino telescopes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1990-01-01

    Despite being the most elusive of the known particles, neutrinos provide vital new physics insights. Most neutrino knowledge so far has come from studies using beams from reactors and accelerators, but in recent years important new contributions have resulted from investigation of natural neutrinos from cosmic rays, nearby stars (the sun), or distant sources, such as the 1987 supernova. The supernova observations marked the start of a new era in neutrino astronomy, but neutrino telescopes were anyway assured of an important ongoing role

  1. Workshop: Neutrino telescopes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anon.

    1990-05-15

    Despite being the most elusive of the known particles, neutrinos provide vital new physics insights. Most neutrino knowledge so far has come from studies using beams from reactors and accelerators, but in recent years important new contributions have resulted from investigation of natural neutrinos from cosmic rays, nearby stars (the sun), or distant sources, such as the 1987 supernova. The supernova observations marked the start of a new era in neutrino astronomy, but neutrino telescopes were anyway assured of an important ongoing role.

  2. Tritel: 3D silicon detector telescope used for space dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pazmandi, T.; Hirn, A.; Deme, S.; Apathy, I.; Csoke, A.; Bodnar, L.

    2006-01-01

    One of the many risks of long-duration space flights is the excessive exposure to cosmic radiation, which has great importance particularly during solar flares and higher solar activity. Radiation weighting factor, which is a function of the linear energy transfer of the radiation, is used to convert absorbed dose to equivalent dose. Since space radiation mainly consists of charged heavy particles, the equivalent dose differs significantly from the absorbed dose. The objectives of this project are to develop and manufacture a three-axis silicon detector telescope (Tritel), and to develop software for data evaluation of the measured energy deposition spectra. The 3 D silicon telescope should be the first such device used for measuring the dose astronauts are subjected to. Research and development began in the K.F.K.I. Atomic Energy Research Institute several years ago. The geometric parameters of the 3 D silicon Let telescope were defined, results of previous measurements were used as a benchmark. Features of various types and sizes of telescopes were analyzed. Elements of the Tritel telescope system, issues of the electronic block diagram, requirements for the mechanical construction and possibilities of data handling and data evaluation are analyzed in this paper. First results of the calibrations are presented as well. (authors)

  3. A coded mask telescope for the Spacelab 2 mission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Willmore, A.P.; Skinner, G.K.; Eyles, C.J.; Ramsey, B.

    1984-01-01

    A dual coded mask telescope for the Spacelab 2 mission is now in the final stages of preparation at Birmingham University. It is due for launch in late 1984/early 1985 and will be by far the largest and most sophisticated such instrument to be flown in this time-frame. The design and capabilities of the telescope will be described. (orig.)

  4. Update on the Status of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernandez, Svea; Aloisi, A.; Bostroem, K. A.; Cox, C.; Debes, J. H.; DiFelice, A.; Roman-Duval, J.; Hodge, P.; Holland, S.; Lindsay, K.; Lockwood, S. A.; Mason, E.; Oliveira, C. M.; Penton, S. V.; Proffitt, C. R.; Sonnentrucker, P.; Taylor, J. M.; Wheeler, T.

    2013-06-01

    The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) has been on orbit for approximately 16 years as one of the 2nd generation instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Its operations were interrupted by an electronics failure in 2004, but STIS was successfully repaired in May 2009 during Service Mission 4 (SM4) allowing it to resume science observations. The Instrument team continues to monitor its performance and work towards improving the quality of its products. Here we present updated information on the status of the FUV and NUV MAMA and the CCD detectors onboard STIS and describe recent changes to the STIS calibration pipeline. We also discuss the status of efforts to apply a pixel-based correction for charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) effects to STIS CCD data. These techniques show promise for ameliorating the effects of ongoing radiation damage on the quality of STIS CCD data.

  5. Telescope Networks in Education: Where We Are Now and Where We Are Headed

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freed, R.

    2017-12-01

    Remote telescopes have become more common and accessible over the past 20 years as technology has evolved, and there has been a corresponding interest in bringing telescopes and astronomy into the educational arena. Numerous telescope networks (i.e. Las Cumbres Observatory, the Faulkes Telescopes, Skynet, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics MicroObservatory, the SPIRIT Telescopes, iTelescope, telescope.org and others) as well as curriculum development groups and national and international programs have been developed during this time to connect students and the public with the technology and the science. While some programs and networks have come and gone, we are now at a time where sustainable communities of practice around astronomical research, ground-based telescope networks, and education can take hold and grow. The global connectivity that today's technology affords makes possible many more types of astronomical studies than in previous decades as we now have the capacity for continual sky coverage in both hemispheres by larger numbers of people and larger telescopes. Astronomy is one of few scientific fields that captures the imagination of the masses and as an undergraduate general science course it is often the last exposure to formal science that students will have and as such can play a critical role in STEM education. As the advances in computer and space exploration technologies continue, and the amount of data coming from remote observatories and space exploration missions increases astronomically, integrating remote telescope networks into educational settings, in tandem with teaching students and the general public about the nature and processes of scientific inquiry is vital not only for the field of astronomy but in helping to develop a generation of critical thinkers and informed citizens.

  6. Developments in fiber-positioning technology for the WEAVE instrument at the William Herschel Telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schallig, Ellen; Lewis, Ian J.; Gilbert, James; Dalton, Gavin; Brock, Matthew; Abrams, Don Carlos; Middleton, Kevin; Aguerri, J. Alfonso L.; Bonifacio, Piercarlo; Carrasco, Esperanza; Trager, Scott C.; Vallenari, Antonella

    2016-08-01

    WEAVE is the next-generation wide-field optical spectroscopy facility for the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. It is a multi-object "pick-and-place" fibre-fed spectrograph with a 1000 fibre multiplex behind a new dedicated 2° prime focus corrector. The WEAVE positioner concept uses two robots working in tandem in order to reconfigure a fully populated field within the expected 1 hour dwell-time for the instrument (a good match between the required exposure times and the limit of validity for a given configuration due to the effects of differential refraction). In this paper we describe some of the final design decisions arising from the prototyping phase of the instrument design and provide an update on the current manufacturing status of the fibre positioner system.

  7. Low-Energy Microfocus X-Ray Source for Enhanced Testing Capability in the Stray Light Facility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaskin, Jessica; O'Dell, Stephen; Kolodziejczak, Jeff

    2015-01-01

    Research toward high-resolution, soft x-ray optics (mirrors and gratings) necessary for the next generation large x-ray observatories requires x-ray testing using a low-energy x-ray source with fine angular size (energy microfocus (approximately 0.1 mm spot) x-ray source from TruFocus Corporation that mates directly to the Stray Light Facility (SLF). MSFC X-ray Astronomy team members are internationally recognized for their expertise in the development, fabrication, and testing of grazing-incidence optics for x-ray telescopes. One of the key MSFC facilities for testing novel x-ray instrumentation is the SLF. This facility is an approximately 100-m-long beam line equipped with multiple x-ray sources and detectors. This new source adds to the already robust compliment of instrumentation, allowing MSFC to support additional internal and community x-ray testing needs.

  8. Telescope Innovations Improve Speed, Accuracy of Eye Surgery

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    One of the main components of NASA's vision for the future of space exploration will actually have a keen eye for the past. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to launch in 2018, will have spectacular sight, after it reaches orbit, one of its main goals is to observe the first galaxies that formed in the early universe. "JWST offers new capabilities in the infrared well beyond what we can see from current telescopes, either on the ground or in space. It will let us explore the early universe, extrasolar planets, and really, all branches of astrophysics," says Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for the JWST at Goddard Space Flight Center. Building such a keen space telescope is an astronomic task. Because JWST will gaze over such incredible distances, it requires very large mirrors. In fact, the primary mirror will be more than two stories in diameter and consists of 18 separate segments. Each segment must be perfectly smooth, flat, and scratch-free in order to deliver a view 13 billion light years away. Construction of the 18 mirror segments involved measuring, grinding, polishing, and testing - and more measuring, grinding, polishing, and testing - and more measuring, grinding, polishing, and testing (you get the idea). One of the most time consuming steps of the mirror development process, the grinding phase, can take years.

  9. The Telescoping Phenomenon: Origins in Gender Bias and Implications for Contemporary Scientific Inquiry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marks, Katherine R; Clark, Claire D

    2018-05-12

    In an article published in International Journal of the Addictions in 1989, Nick Piazza and his coauthors described "telescoping," an accelerated progression through "landmark symptoms" of alcoholism, among a sample of recovering women. The aim of this critical analysis is to apply a feminist philosophy of science to examine the origins of the framework of telescoping research and its implications for contemporary scientific inquiry. A feminist philosophy of science framework is outlined and applied to key source publications of telescoping literature drawn from international and United States-based peer-reviewed journals published beginning in 1952. A feminist philosophy of science framework identifies gender bias in telescoping research in three ways. First, gender bias was present in the early conventions that laid the groundwork for telescoping research. Second, a "masculine" framework was present in the methodology guiding telescoping research. Third, gender bias was present in the interpretation of results as evidenced by biased comparative language. Telescoping research contributed to early evidence of critical sex and gender differences helping to usher in women's substance abuse research more broadly. However, it also utilized a "masculine" framework that perpetuated gender bias and limited generative, novel research that can arise from women-focused research and practice. A feminist philosophy of science identifies gender bias in telescoping research and provides an alternative, more productive approach for substance abuse researchers and clinicians.

  10. MT_RAYOR: a versatile raytracing tool for x-ray telescopes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Westergaard, Niels Jørgen Stenfeldt

    2011-01-01

    The prediction of the properties of X-ray telescopes is important for the planning of observations and the interpretation of data. The mirror quality in terms of micro-roughness scattering and deformations relative to the idealized shape plays a crucial role for the sensitivity of the telescope...

  11. A Scientific Revolution: The Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gardner, Jonathan P.

    2010-01-01

    Astronomy is going through a scientific revolution, responding to a flood of data from the Hubble Space Telescope, other space missions, and large telescopes on the ground. In this talk, I will discuss some of the important discoveries of the last decade, from dwarf planets in the outer Solar System to the mysterious dark energy that overcomes gravity to accelerate the expansion of the Universe. The next decade will be equally bright with the newly refurbished Hubble and the promise of its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. An infrared-optimized 6.5m space telescope, Webb is designed to find the first galaxies that formed in the early universe and to peer into the dusty gas clouds where stars and planets are born. With MEMS technology, a deployed primary mirror and a tennis-court sized sunshield, the mission presents many technical challenges. I will describe Webb's scientific goals, its design and recent progress in constructing the observatory. Webb is scheduled for launch in 2014.

  12. SNAP Telescope Latest Developments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lampton, M.; SNAP Collaboration

    2004-12-01

    The coming era of precision cosmology imposes new demands on space telescopes with regard to spectrophotometric accuracy and image stability. To meet these requirements for SNAP we have developed an all reflecting two-meter-class space telescope of the three-mirror anastigmat type. Our design features a large flat annular field (1.5 degrees = 580mm diameter) and a telephoto advantage of 6, delivering a 22m focal length within an optical package length of only 3.5 meters. The use of highly stable materials (Corning ULE glass and carbon-fiber reinforced cyanate ester resin for the metering structure) combined with agressive distributed thermal control and an L2 orbit location will lead to unmatched figure stability. Owing to our choice of rigid structure with nondeployable solar panels, finite-element models show no structural resonances below 10Hz. An exhaustive stray light study has been completed. Beginning in 2005, two industry studies will develop plans for fabrication, integration and test, bringing SNAP to a highly realistic level of definition. SNAP is supported by the Office of Science, US DoE, under contract DE-AC03-76SF00098.

  13. Design of an x-ray telescope optics for XEUS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graue, Roland; Kampf, Dirk; Wallace, Kotska; Lumb, David; Bavdaz, Marcos; Freyberg, Michael

    2017-11-01

    The X-ray telescope concept for XEUS is based on an innovative high performance and light weight Silicon Pore Optics technology. The XEUS telescope is segmented into 16 radial, thermostable petals providing the rigid optical bench structure of the stand alone XRay High Precision Tandem Optics. A fully representative Form Fit Function (FFF) Model of one petal is currently under development to demonstrate the outstanding lightweight telescope capabilities with high optically effective area. Starting from the envisaged system performance the related tolerance budgets were derived. These petals are made from ceramics, i.e. CeSiC. The structural and thermal performance of the petal shall be reported. The stepwise alignment and integration procedure on petal level shall be described. The functional performance and environmental test verification plan of the Form Fit Function Model and the test set ups are described in this paper. In parallel to the running development activities the programmatic and technical issues wrt. the FM telescope MAIT with currently 1488 Tandem Optics are under investigation. Remote controlled robot supported assembly, simultaneous active alignment and verification testing and decentralised time effective integration procedures shall be illustrated.

  14. The optical system of the proposed Chinese 12-m optical/infrared telescope

    Science.gov (United States)

    Su, Ding-qiang; Liang, Ming; Yuan, Xiangyan; Bai, Hua; Cui, Xiangqun

    2017-08-01

    The lack of a large-aperture optical/infrared telescope has seriously affected the development of astronomy in China. In 2016, the authors published their concept study and suggestions for a 12-m telescope optical system. This article presents the authors' further research and some new results. Considering that this telescope should be a general-purpose telescope for a wide range of scientific goals and could be used for frontier scientific research in the future, the authors studied and designed a variety of 12-m telescope optical systems for comparison and final decision-making. In general, we still adopt our previous configuration, but the Nasmyth and prime-focus corrector systems have been greatly improved. In this article, the adaptive optics is given special attention. Ground-layer adaptive optics (GLAO) is adopted. It has a 14-arcmin field of view. The secondary mirror is used as the adaptive optical deformable mirror. Obviously, not all the optical systems in this telescope configuration will be used or constructed at the same stage. Some will be for the future and some are meant for research rather than for construction.

  15. Telescoping phenomenon in pathological gambling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grant, Jon E; Odlaug, Brian Lawrence; Mooney, Marc E

    2012-01-01

    The course of pathological gambling (PG) in women has been described as having a later age of initiation but a shorter time to problematic gambling ("telescoped"). This study examined evidence for telescoping and its relationship with comorbidities. Seventy-one treatment-seeking individuals with PG...... underwent a diagnostic interview to examine gambling behaviors, age at initiation of gambling, and time from initiation to meeting criteria for PG. The women had a higher mean age at gambling initiation compared with that of the men (mean [SD] age, 31.3 [13.0] years, compared with 22.4 [7.9] years; p = 0.......0003) and a significantly shorter time from initiation of gambling to meeting the criteria for PG (8.33 [8.7] years compared with 11.97 [9.1] years; p = 0.0476) after controlling for demographic and clinical variables. This study presents evidence for a gender-specific course of PG unrelated to psychiatric comorbidities...

  16. ANTARES: An Undersea Neutrino telescope

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    The ANTARES (Astronomy with a Neutrino Telescope and ${Abyss}$ environmental RESearch) deep-sea neutrino telescope is designed to search for neutrinos of astrophysical origin. Neutrinos are unique probes of the high energy universe; being neutral they are not deflected by magnetic fields and interacting weakly they can readily escape from the densest regions of the universe. Potential sources of neutrino are galactic (e.g supernova remnants, micro-quasars) and extra-galactic (e.g active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursters). Annihilation of dark matter particles in the Sun or Galactic Centre is another well motivated potential source of extra terrestrial neutrinos. The ANTARES detector is located 40 km off the coast of Toulon (France) at a depth of 2475m in the Mediterranean Sea. Being located in the Northern hemisphere it studies the Southern sky and in particular has the Galactic Centre in its field of view. Since 2006, the detector has operated continuously in a partial configuration. The detector was compl...

  17. MeerLICHT and BlackGEM: custom-built telescopes to detect faint optical transients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloemen, Steven; Groot, Paul; Woudt, Patrick; Klein Wolt, Marc; McBride, Vanessa; Nelemans, Gijs; Körding, Elmar; Pretorius, Margaretha L.; Roelfsema, Ronald; Bettonvil, Felix; Balster, Harry; Bakker, Roy; Dolron, Peter; van Elteren, Arjen; Elswijk, Eddy; Engels, Arno; Fender, Rob; Fokker, Marc; de Haan, Menno; Hagoort, Klaas; de Hoog, Jasper; ter Horst, Rik; van der Kevie, Giel; Kozłowski, Stanisław; Kragt, Jan; Lech, Grzegorz; Le Poole, Rudolf; Lesman, Dirk; Morren, Johan; Navarro, Ramon; Paalberends, Willem-Jelle; Paterson, Kerry; Pawłaszek, Rafal; Pessemier, Wim; Raskin, Gert; Rutten, Harrie; Scheers, Bart; Schuil, Menno; Sybilski, Piotr W.

    2016-07-01

    We present the MeerLICHT and BlackGEM telescopes, which are wide-field optical telescopes that are currently being built to study transient phenomena, gravitational wave counterparts and variable stars. The telescopes have 65 cm primary mirrors and a 2.7 square degree field-of-view. The MeerLICHT and BlackGEM projects have different science goals, but will use identical telescopes. The first telescope, MeerLICHT, will be commissioned at Sutherland (South Africa) in the first quarter of 2017. It will co-point with MeerKAT to collect optical data commensurate with the radio observations. After careful analysis of MeerLICHT's performance, three telescopes of the same type will be commissioned in La Silla (Chile) in 2018 to form phase I of the BlackGEM array. BlackGEM aims at detecting and characterizing optical counterparts of gravitational wave events detected by Advanced LIGO and Virgo. In this contribution we present an overview of the science goals, the design and the status of the two projects.

  18. Engineering and science highlights of the KAT-7 radio telescope

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Foley, A. R.; Alberts, T.; Armstrong, R. P.; Barta, A.; Bauermeister, E. F.; Bester, H.; Blose, S.; Booth, R. S.; Botha, D. H.; Buchner, S. J.; Carignan, C.; Cheetham, T.; Cloete, K.; Coreejes, G.; Crida, R. C.; Cross, S. D.; Curtolo, F.; Dikgale, A.; de Villiers, M. S.; du Toit, L. J.; Esterhuyse, S. W. P.; Fanaroff, B.; Fender, R. P.; Fijalkowski, M.; Fourie, D.; Frank, B.; George, D.; Gibbs, P.; Goedhart, S.; Grobbelaar, J.; Gumede, S. C.; Herselman, P.; Hess, K. M.; Hoek, N.; Horrell, J.; Jonas, J. L.; Jordaan, J. D. B.; Julie, R.; Kapp, F.; Kotzé, P.; Kusel, T.; Langman, A.; Lehmensiek, R.; Liebenberg, D.; Liebenberg, I. J. V.; Loots, A.; Lord, R. T.; Lucero, D. M.; Ludick, J.; Macfarlane, P.; Madlavana, M.; Magnus, L.; Magozore, C.; Malan, J. A.; Manley, J. R.; Marais, L.; Marais, N.; Marais, S. J.; Maree, M.; Martens, A.; Mokone, O.; Moss, V.; Mthembu, S.; New, W.; Nicholson, G. D.; van Niekerk, P. C.; Oozeer, N.; Passmoor, S. S.; Peens-Hough, A.; Pińska, A. B.; Prozesky, P.; Rajan, S.; Ratcliffe, S.; Renil, R.; Richter, L. L.; Rosekrans, D.; Rust, A.; Schröder, A. C.; Schwardt, L. C.; Seranyane, S.; Serylak, M.; Shepherd, D. S.; Siebrits, R.; Sofeya, L.; Spann, R.; Springbok, R.; Swart, P. S.; Thondikulam, Venkatasubramani L.; Theron, I. P.; Tiplady, A.; Toruvanda, O.; Tshongweni, S.; van den Heever, L.; van der Merwe, C.; van Rooyen, R.; Wakhaba, S.; Walker, A. L.; Welz, M.; Williams, L.; Wolleben, M.; Woudt, P. A.; Young, N. J.; Zwart, J. T. L.

    2016-01-01

    The construction of the seven-dish Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7) array in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape in South Africa was intended primarily as an engineering prototype for technologies and techniques applicable to the MeerKAT telescope. This paper looks at the main engineering and

  19. The GLAST Large Area Telescope Detector Performance Monitoring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borgland, A.W.; Charles, E.; SLAC

    2007-01-01

    The Large Area Telescope (LAT) is one of two instruments on board the Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST), the next generation high energy gamma-ray space telescope. The LAT contains sixteen identical towers in a four-by-four grid. Each tower contains a silicon-strip tracker and a CsI calorimeter that together will give the incident direction and energy of the pair-converting photon in the energy range 20 MeV - 300 GeV. In addition, the instrument is covered by a finely segmented Anti-Coincidence Detector (ACD) to reject charged particle background. Altogether, the LAT contains more than 864k channels in the trackers, 1536 CsI crystals and 97 ACD plastic scintillator tiles and ribbons. Here we detail some of the strategies and methods for how we are planning to monitor the instrument performance on orbit. It builds on the extensive experience gained from Integration and Test and Commissioning of the instrument on ground

  20. Measuring Visual Double Stars with Robotic Telescopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyce, Pat; Boyce, Grady; Genet, Russell M.; Faisal Al-Zaben, Dewei Li, Yongyao Li, Aren Dennis, Zhixin Cao, Junyao Li, Steven Qu, Jeff Li, Michael Fene, Allen Priest, Stephen Priest, Rex Qiu, , and, Bill Riley

    2016-06-01

    The Astronomy Research Seminars introduce students to scientific research by carrying out the entire process: planning a scientific research project, writing a research proposal, gathering and analyzing observational data, drawing conclusions, and presenting the research results in a published paper and presentation.In 2015 Cuesta College and Russell Genet sponsored a new hybrid format for the seminar enabling distance learning. Boyce Research Initiatives and Education Foundation (BRIEF) conducted the course at The Army and Navy Academy (ANA) in Carlsbad, California, in the spring and fall of 2015.The course objective is to complete the research and publish the paper within one semester. Our program schedule called for observations to be performed within a two week period. Measurement of visual binary stars was chosen because sufficient observations could be made in just two evenings of good weather. We quickly learned that our location by the ocean did not provide reliable weather to use local telescopes.The iTelescope network of robotic telescopes located in Australia, Spain and the U.S. solved the problem. Reservations for these systems are booked online and include date, time, exposure and filters. The high quality telescopes range from 4" to 27" in size with excellent cameras. By watching the weather forecasts for the sites, we were able to schedule our observations within the two week time frame required.Timely and reliable data reduction was the next hurdle. The students were using widely varying equipment (PCs, MACs, tablets, smart phones) with incompatible software. After wasting time trying to be computer technicians, we settled a on standard set of software relying on Mirametrics' Mira Pro x64. We installed the software on an old laptop, downloaded the iTelescope data files, gave the students remote access using GoToMyPC.These efficiencies enabled us to meet the demanding one semester schedule and assure a better learning experience. We have been able to