0.8-m Telescope

One of the 0.8-meter Telescope's greatest advantages is its field of view. The telescope can observe a patch on the sky that is three-quarters of one degree across (the full moon is about one-half of a degree across). With this capability, the 0.8-meter Telescope is ideal for large search and survey projects.

The system is a hybrid, designed for local (in the dome), remote (via a network), and autonomous (robotic) operation.  It uses a distributed motion control system, including high-precision servo motors, absolute optical encoders, and multi-axis digital motion controllers on the RA/HA and DEC axis.  Both axes are steel-on-steel friction drives, utilizing a servo drive equipped with a hardened steel drive capstan, which directly engages a hardened steel drive roller.  This is a zero-backlash drive design, capable of precision motion accurate to within 50nm.  The maximum slew rate is 24-radians/sec. (1375-degrees per second).

The telescope control system (TCS) is based on an open-systems solution, known as Talon.  Talon is written in C and a scripting module system used to integrate motion control devices.  The TCS supports full dome auto (the dome is encoded), planetarium-based, multi-catalog pointing (based on the open-systems XEphemeris), and uses a mesh-grid, high-precision pointing model that is continuously refined and extensible.

Telescope Parameters
 

Optical
Primary Mirror
Diameter 76.7 cm (30.2")
Focal length 2.29 m (90")
F-ratio 3.0
Prime Focus Corrector (PFC)
Focal length 2.272 m
F-ratio 2.98
Field of view 46.2 x 46.2 arcmin
Plate scale 1.3553 arcsec/CCD pixel

 

Mechanical
Primary Mirror
Weight 118 kg (260 lbs)
Thickness 12.7 cm (5")
Material fused silica
Telescope Tube
Diameter 89.4 cm (35.2")
Length 2.29 m (90")
Dome
Diameter 6.1 m (20')

 

Historical
Construction
Completed 1970
PFC commissioned 1993
Contractor
Telescope Boller and Chivens Division, the Perkin-Elmer Co.
Dome Ash-Domes

Instruments

f/3.0 focus

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