The UK Large Telescope project

The current status and the organization of the UK Large Telescope programme are summarized. Some scientific and design issues are discussed on the basis of work done for the SERC Large Telescope Panel report. A national Phase A programme is now underway addressing more detailed aspects of these questions. This study will culminate in a final proposal for funding in 1990.Paper presented at the Symposium on the JNLT and Related Engineering Developments, Tokyo, November 29–December 2, 1988.     

Outline of the JNLT project

The Japanese National Large Telescope (JNLT) is a 7.5 m reflector with a monolithic thin meniscus main mirror, having the candidate construction site on the northwest cone of the Mauna Kea, Hawaii.The present concept of JNLT has the characteristics of a third generation infrared telescope, which should be capable of various observations of high spatial resolution in the optical-infrared region.Although the project is still under examination from the financial and administrative point of view, a wide range of technical studies were carried out by the JNLT Working Group with the collaboration of specialists from the academic and the industrial sectors.Paper presented at the symposium on the JNLT and Related Engineering Developments, Tokyo, November 29–December 2, 1988.     

NLST: India's National Large Solar Telescope

This article introduces the new Indian 2 m telescope which has been designed by MT Mechatronics in a detailed conceptual design study for the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. We describe the background of the project and the science goals which shall be addressed with this telescope. NLST is a solar telescope with high optical throughput and will be equipped with an integrated Adaptive Optics system. It is optimized for a site with the kind of seeing and wind conditions as they are expected at a lake site in the Himalayan mountains. The telescope can also be used for certain night time applications. We also give the scientific rationale for this class of telescope (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The ESA project for a Grazing Incidence Solar Telescope (GRIST)

The Grazing Incidence Solar Telescope (GRIST) as it is being studied by the European Space Agency (ESA) is described: A soft X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) facility for solar observations with 1 arc sec spatial resolution in a wavelength range extending from 9 to beyond 100 nm. The telescope, a 35° sector of a Wolter, type-II, configuration, will have a focal length of 4 m and a collection area of 280 cm².It is planned that GRIST be flown on joint Spacelab flights with the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), a NASA facility for the wavelength range, 110 nm to 1 m, which affords a 0.1 arc sec spatial resolution. This would render possible synoptic observations of the solar atmosphere with the highest ever achieved spatial resolution at wavelengths between 9 nm and 1 m.Possible focal-plane instruments and the most important research goals are briefly described.Proceedings of the 14th ESLAB Symposium on Physics of Solar Variations, 16–19 September 1980, Scheveningen, The Netherlands.On behalf of the ESA Consultants for the Phase-A Study of GRIST: A. H. Gabriel, U. Grossmann-Doerth, M.C.E.H., M. Malinovsky-Arduini, G. Tondello, and H. F. van Beek.     

甚大面积伽马射线空间望远镜计划

高能伽马射线探测是研究极端天体物理的主要途径之一.空间高能伽马射线探测具有覆盖波段宽、时间连续性好、能量分辨率高等突出优势.在成功研发并运行我国首颗天文卫星—“悟空”号(DArk Matter Particle Explorer, DAMPE)的基础上,紫金山天文台联合国内的多家单位提议研制甚大面积伽马射线空间望远镜(Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope, VLAST),该望远镜在GeV–TeV能段接受度高达10 m2·sr,并具有强的MeV–GeV波段探测能力,其综合性能预期比费米卫星的大面积伽马望远镜(Fermi-LAT (Large Area Telescope))提升10倍之上.重点介绍了VLAST的主要科学目标,探测器的初步配置及预期性能指标.     

Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST)

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Characteristics of Mauna Kea relating to the Japan National Large Telescope

The characteristics of the Mauna Kea site are reviewed. An extensive site survey by NOAO during 1984–1985 showed that the average seeing was in the 0.4–0.6 range and thatr ₀ was approximately 30 cm. An image quality study at the UH 88-inch telescope in 1987 showed the free atmosphere seeing was 0.5 and the boundary layer contributed less than 0.25.Paper presented at the Symposium on the JNLT and Related Engineering Developments, Tokyo, November 29–December 2, 1988.     

大天区面积多目标光纤光谱望远镜(LAMOST)的跟踪运动

大天区面积多目标光纤光谱望远镜（ＬＡＭＯＳＴ），是一架反射Ｓｃｈｍｉｄｔ望远镜．它固定地斜卧在地面上，主光轴在子午面内南端高起与地面成２５°角．观测天区－１０°δ＋９０°，天体经过子午圈前后观测１．５小时．有三种跟踪运动：改正板在地平式机架上绕高度轴和方位轴的转动以及焦面的转动．这些运动都没有盲区．本文导出了全部角位移、角速度和角加速度的公式．对上述天区和观测时间作了计算，高度角的最大变化仅０．３４°，重力变化引起的变形极小，改正板方位角和焦面的转动速度小于或等于周日运动速度，且转动相当均匀．发现并证明了当中心天体的赤纬δ＝９０°－－Ａ＝＋２４．６°（Ａ为光轴倾角，为观测点的地理纬度）时，焦面的转动恒等于零．这些研究表明ＬＡＭＯＳＴ的装置在跟踪运动和重力变形方面有一系列重要的优点．     

Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope project

A Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is proposed to be built in the unique karst area of southwest China, and will act, in a sense, as a prototype for the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). It will be over twice as large as the Arecibo telescope coupled with much wider sky coverage. Some results from site surveys for such a SKA concept are briefly reported. Technically, FAST is not simply a copy of the existing Arecibo telescope but has rather a number of innovations. Firstly, the proposed main spherical reflector, by conforming to a paraboloid of revolution in real time through actuated active control, enables the realization of both wide bandwidth and full polarization capability while using standard feed design. Secondly, a feed support system which integrates optical, mechanical and electronic technologies will effectively reduce the cost of the support structure and control system. Pre-research on FAST has become a key project in the CAS. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Solar Optical Telescope of Solar-B (Hinode): The Optical Telescope Assembly

The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) aboard the Solar-B satellite (Hinode) is designed to perform high-precision photometric and polarimetric observations of the Sun in visible light spectra (388 – 668 nm) with a spatial resolution of 0.2 – 0.3 arcsec. The SOT consists of two optically separable components: the Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA), consisting of a 50-cm aperture Gregorian with a collimating lens unit and an active tip-tilt mirror, and an accompanying Focal Plane Package (FPP), housing two filtergraphs and a spectro-polarimeter. The optomechanical and optothermal performance of the OTA is crucial to attain unprecedented high-quality solar observations. We describe in detail the instrument design and expected stable diffraction-limited on-orbit performance of the OTA, the largest state-of-the-art solar telescope yet flown in space.     

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope project: A progress report

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope is a project to map the microwave background radiation at arcminute angular resolution and high sensitivity in three frequency bands over substantial sky areas. Cosmological signals driving such an experiment are reviewed, and current progress in hardware construction is summarized. Complementary astronomical observations in other wavebands are also discussed.     

The Galileo Italian National Telescope and its Instrumentation

The main features of the 3.5m Telescopio Nazionale GALILEO (TNG) have been derived from those of the ESO NTT, although with modifications in several areas, as described e.g. in Barbieri et al., 1994. The site of the TNG is the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, in the Canary Island of La Palma. Construction activities, started in 1993, are nearing completion. The telescope structure, after testing in the Ansaldo factory near Milano, has been disassembled and is gradually being transported and installed on site, in parallel with the rotating dome. The three main mirrors, figured by ZEISS, will be transported in spring '96 to the WHT plant at the Roque for aluminisation before installation on the telescope.Three major subsystems still undergo intensive activity in Italy, namely testing of the M2 and M3 units, testing of the operational version of the control hardware and software, and construction of the two Rotator Adapters (R/A) for the Nasmyth foci.First light instruments are also being built. Nasmyth Arm A is reserved for the imaging section, composed by a visual camera, a near-IR camera, plus a common adaptive optics module. On arm B, a faint object spectrograph with long slit, atmospheric dispersion corrector, multiobject and imaging capabilities, will be mounted. A fixed high resolution spectrograph with optical derotation is also being designed.Attention has already been given to the archive of the data.It is planned to have first light at the end of 1996, and to start regular scientific operations after an adequate period of debugging and commissioning.     

The interferometric mode of the European Very Large Telescope

The European Very Large Telescope program has been approved in 1987. It aims to consists of an array of four 8 m telescopes, plus two additional 2 m class auxiliary telescopes, the latter being fully dedicated to optical (infrared and visible) interferometry, with possible combination of some and, in the long term, all large telescopes. We discuss the implementation of this program in the next ten years.Paper presented at the Symposium on the JNLT and Related Engineering Developments, Tokyo, November 29–December 2, 1988.     

The Subaru Telescope High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS)

The High Dispersion Spectrograph (HDS) is the échelle spectrograph for an open‐use instrument of the Subaru Telescope. The current status of the instrument is reviewed. The new image slicers that significantly improve the efficiency of observations with very high resolving power have been installed in the past three years. Brief overview of recent science results is given on studies of early generations of stars and extra‐solar planets. An upgrade plan and future prospects of this instrument are discussed. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Interferometry with the Large Binocular Telescope

The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) will be the largest single telescope in the world when it is completed in 2005. The unique structure of the telescope incorporates two, 8.4 meter diameter primary mirrors on a 14.4 meter center-to-center mounting. This configuration provides the equivalent collecting area of a 12 meter telescope, and when combined coherently, the two optical paths offer very interesting possibilities for interferometry. Two initial interferometric instruments are planned for the LBT. A group based at the University of Arizona is constructing LBTI, a pupil-plane, nulling beam combiner operating in the thermal infrared N band. This instrument will search for and measure zodiacal light in candidate stellar systems for the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) and Darwin missions. Expansion ports can accomodate additional instruments. A second group, based in Heidelberg, Arcetri, and Köln, is building LINC-NIRVANA, a near-infrared Fizeau-mode beam combiner. This type of observation preserves phase information and allows true imagery over a wide field of view. Using state-of-the-art detector arrays, coupled with advanced adaptive optics, LINC-NIRVANA will deliver the sensitivity of a 12 m telescope and the spatial resolution of a 23 m telescope, over a field of view up to 2 arc minutes square.     

The X-Ray Telescope (XRT) for the Hinode Mission

The X-ray Telescope (XRT) of the Hinode mission provides an unprecedented combination of spatial and temporal resolution in solar coronal studies. The high sensitivity and broad dynamic range of XRT, coupled with the spacecraft’s onboard memory capacity and the planned downlink capability will permit a broad range of coronal studies over an extended period of time, for targets ranging from quiet Sun to X-flares. This paper discusses in detail the design, calibration, and measured performance of the XRT instrument up to the focal plane. The CCD camera and data handling are discussed separately in a companion paper.     

Evaluation For Drive Precision of Large Telescope

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利用费米卫星大面积望远镜对脉冲星的观测研究

费米γ射线空间望远镜(Fermi)自2008年8月观测任务开始以来,以其优越的观测性能开启了γ射线天文学研究的新纪元。其搭载的大面积望远镜(LAT)在脉冲星探测和研究方面取得了巨大的成功。除了探测到已知脉冲星的γ射线脉冲辐射信号外,LAT还能够利用γ射线数据的盲寻技术独立发现脉冲星,此外还提供了大量γ射线源进行射电脉冲搜寻。Fermi-LAT的观测带来了γ射线脉冲星数量的显著增长,确立了脉冲星是银河系内主要的γ射线源,并且探测到了毫秒脉冲星的γ射线辐射。一般来说,在长时标下脉冲星的γ射线辐射流量稳定且脉冲形状多呈现双峰结构,能谱可由具有指数截断的幂律谱描述。综述了利用Fermi-LAT数据寻找脉冲辐射信号的方法和研究γ射线脉冲星所得到的主要结果,并简要介绍了近年来在脉冲星研究方面取得的新成果。