A means for improving telescope derives

In seeking to minimize local seeing, some large telescopes are being planned with less wind protection than has been traditional and some sites with very good seeing appear to suffer significantly from ground-transmitted vibration. A great care is needed in designing new telescopes to ensure that vibration does not become a dominant cause of image degradation. A supplementary drive system is proposed which could improve on past tracking performances even in such adverse conditions. The system may also reduce the costs of very large telescopes by easing the demands on the stiffness and accuracy of their mountings and drives.Paper presented at the Symposium on JNLT and Related Engineering Developments, Tokyo, November 29–December 2, 1988.