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 |