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A telescope for eliminating on axis coma due to tilt of the secondary mirror in infrared astronomy. The secondary mirror of a reflecting telescope is formed to cause field coma to always be equal and opposite at the optical axis of the telescope to tilt coma regardless of the angle through the secondary mirror is tilted with respect to the optical axis.
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a high-performance astronomical telescope system designed to operate in low-Earth orbit. It is approximately 43 feet long, with a diameter of 10 feet at the forward end and 14 feet at the aft end. Weight at launch was approximately 25,000 pounds. In principle, it is no different than the reflecting telescopes in ground-based astronomical observatories. Like ground-based telescopes, the HST was designed as a general-purpose instrument, capable of using a wide variety of scientific instruments at its focal plane. This multi-purpose characteristic allows the HST to be used as a national facility, capable of supporting the astronomical needs of an international user community. The telescope s planned useful operational lifetime is 15 years, during which it will make observations in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared portions of the spectrum. The extended operational life of the HST is possible by using the capabilities of the Space Transportation System to periodically visit the HST on-orbit to replace failed or degraded components, install instruments with improved capabilities, re-boost the HST to higher altitudes compensating for gravitational effects, and to bring the HST back to Earth when the mission is terminated. The largest ground-based observatories, such as the 200-inch aperture Hale telescope at Palomar Mountain, California, can recognize detail in individual galaxies several billion light years away. However, like all earthbound devices, the Hale telescope is limited because of the blurring effect of the Earth s atmosphere. Further, the wavelength region observable from the Earth s surface is limited by the atmosphere to the visible part of the spectrum. The very important ultraviolet portion of the spectrum is lost. The HST uses a 2.4-meter reflective optics system designed to capture data over a wavelength region that reaches far into the ultraviolet and infrared portions of the spectrum.
A technique is presented for quantitative analysis of planetary reflectance spectra as mixtures of particles on microscopic and macroscopic scales using principal components analysis. This technique allows for determination of the endmembers being mixed, their abundance, and the scale of mixing, as well as other physical parameters. Eighteen lunar telescopic reflectance spectra of the Copernicus crater region, from 600 nm to 1800 nm in wavelength, are modeled in terms of five likely endmembers: mare basalt, mature mare soil, anorthosite, mature highland soil, and clinopyroxene. These endmembers were chosen from a similar analysis of 92 lunar soil and rock samples. The models fit the data to within 2 percent rms. It is found that the goodness of fit is marginally better for intimate mixing over macroscopic mixing.
Scanning enables remote measurements perpendicular to the ground track of airborne and spaceborne lidar systems, giving us three dimensional images of atmospheric backscatter or other measurable parameters. For ground based systems, scanning allows one to record a time series of data in multiple spatial dimensions. The large size and cost of scanning systems for atmospheric lidars using conventional scanning technologies is prohibitive for space based systems. By replacing the conventional reflective telescope with a holographic optical element (HOE) in the lidar, single axis conical scanning can be achieved with a mechanically simple system. Relatively inexpensive to produce, HOES can be used to satisfy a variety of scanning lidar applications. I will introduce the concept of the HOE and describe its production and use as a scanning lidar transceiver telescope. I will describe the advantages as well as the disadvantages and limitations of HOES in this application. Optical performance test results and two lidar systems currently using HOES will be described. Examples of data taken with these systems will be presented. Current and planned future developments will be described, including scanning without mechanical motion and wide field-of-view lidar imaging.
Telescopic reflectance spectra (0.3-1.1 microns) of fresh craters are presented and classified according to the spectral features observed. These spectra are the closest lunar surface analog to laboratory spectra obtained for lunar rock powders. Mineral absorption features can be identified in these crater spectra and interpreted using returned lunar samples. Spectra of craters to 2.5 microns are required for specific mineralogical determinations from remote observation. If the currently available telescopic spectra are representative, classification of lunar telescopic spectra indicates that most (more than 80%) of the lunar surface is composed of a finite number of discrete and describable geochemical units.
Comparisons of the telescopic reflectance spectrum of a Martian bright region, in the 2.2 to 4.2 micrometers region, with recent laboratory studies of materials in this same wavelength range are consistent with: terrestrial materials which are dehydrated relative to the terrestrial environment, and terrestrial materials which exhibit spectral behavior indicative of some degree of sample crystallinity which is greater than that of amorphous palagonites. This second conclusion is in agreement with recent suggestions concerning the Martian bright regions. However, additional laboratory research is required in order to constrain: the degree of crystallinity required to result in the 2.8 to 2.9 micrometers spectral behavior seen in the terrestrial samples, and the limit of crystalline material which can be accommodated in a mixture with measured telescopic data of Mars (0.3 to 4.2 micrometers).
Cloud photographs obtained on board ATS-I SATELLITE with camera equipped with reflecting telescope show feasibility of short-lived weather systems from synchronous altitude
Optical devices for cislunar space experiments, reflecting telescopes for space astronomy, and pulsed laser tracking of passive satellites
PAGEOS 1 and Echo 1 satellites tracked and photometrically analyzed in U-B-V spectral regions, describing phototubes, filters and Cassegrain reflecting telescope
Globular cluster M13 luminosity function by reflecting telescope plates star counts, obtaining evolutionary stages lifetime and He core mass
Failure analysis of scanning spectrometer of reflecting telescope aboard OSO-4
The S-056 instrument on Skylab-ATM consists of a glancing incidence X-ray telescope with a camera, five X-ray filters, and two small proportional counters to monitor X-rays from the whole sun in the wavelength range from 2 to 18 A. The telescope reflectivity and filter transmissions limit the photographs to the wavelength ranges from 6 to 18 A and from 27 to 37 A. Hence, the instrument is most useful for the study of active regions and solar activity. Active regions usually have bright cores which often appear as linear features straddling the magnetic field neutral line. A large loop appearing on the west limb in connection with prominence activity on Aug. 13, 1973, was analyzed using proportional counter data and photographs. Crude spectral analysis indicates the loop temperature reached 6 million K and the density was enhanced to a few times that obtained from quiet coronal models. Over a hundred solar flares were photographed during the three Skylab missions. Illustrative examples are discussed for solar flares and other transient coronal phenomena.
Comet Kohoutek was observed with the 50 cm (f/15) reflecting telescope of the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile, on fourteen nights between January 16 and 30, when the heliocentric and geocentric distances of the comet were r=0.66 - 1.00 A.U. and delta=0.81 - 0.96 A.U., respectively. The 40 inch and 80 inch diaphragms were used for the photometry of the cometary head in the UBV system and with six interference filters. The atmospheric conditions were good but the accuracy of observations was low due to large extinction and twilight. The mean error of one measurement of log F in all but Na 5893 A filters can be estimated at plus or minus 0.02, whereas the accuracy through the Na filter was substantially lower.
An objective-prism stellar spectrograph of 15-cm aperture was flown on all three Skylab missions. The wavelength region from 1300 A to 5000 A was covered by a special optical system containing a combination of reflecting telescope optics, a CaF2 objective prism, and an achromatized field-corrector lens system of CaF2 and LiF. Observations of 188 star fields, each covering 4.0 x 5.0 deg of arc, were conducted at the Skylab antisolar airlock with the aid of an articulated mirror system which allowed acquisition within a 30 by 360 deg band of the sky.
A summary of the activities of the McDonald lunar laser ranging station at Fort Davis for the FY 77-78 fiscal year is presented. The lunar laser experiment uses the observatory 2.7m reflecting telescope on a thrice-per-day, 21-day-per-lunation schedule. Data are recorded on magnetic tapes and sent to the University of Texas at Austin where the data is processed. After processing, the data is distributed to interested analysis centers and later to the National Space Science Data Center where it is available for routine distribution. Detailed reports are published on the McDonald operations after every fourth lunation or approximately once every 115 days. These reports contain a day-by-day documentation of the ranging activity, detailed discussions of the equipment development efforts, and an abundance of other information as is needed to document and archive this important data type.
Remote sensing and Luna 24 sample data are used to develop a summary of the regional stratigraphy and geologic history of Mare Crisium. Laboratory spectra of Luna 24 samples, telescopic reflectance spectra in the 0.3 to 1.1 micron range and orbital X-ray data have identified three major basalt groups in the region. Group I soil is derived from iron- and magnesium-rich titaniferous basalts and was apparently emplaced over the majority of the basin, however is presently exposed as a shelf in the southwest part. Group II soils, derived from very low titanium ferrobasalts, were emplaced in two stages subsequent to Group I emplacement and now appear as part of the outer shelf and topographic annulus. Subsidence of the basin interior preceded and continued after the emplacement of the third basalt group, a soil derived from a low titanium ferrobasalt. The Luna 24 site is found to be within a patch of Group II material.
A state of the art, tunable diode laser infrared heterodyne spectrometer was designed and constructed for ground based observations throughout the 8 to 12 micron atmospheric window. The instrument was optimized for use with presently available tunable diode lasers, and was designed as a flexible field system for use with large reflecting telescopes. The instrument was aligned and calibrated using laboratory and astronomical sources. Observations of SiO fundamental (v = 1-0) and hot band (v = 2-1) absorption features were made in sunspots near 8 microns using the spectrometer. The data permit an unambiguous determination of the temperature pressure relation in the upper layers of the umbral atmosphere, and support the sunspot model suggested by Stellmacher and Wiehr.
The design and fabrication of a highly accurate large aperture infrared reflecting telescope is discussed. The structural concept is an off axis Cassegrainian design with a focal length equal to the aperture diameter. Thermal shielding, peak heat fluxes, cooling rates, active control tasks, and deployment sequence are discussed.