A 4-meter Telescope for the US Air Force Academy

Details A 4-meter Telescope for the US Air Force Academy A 4-meter Telescope for the US Air Force Academy

May 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004aas...204.1012b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 204, #10.12; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 36, p.983

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs has obtained a 4m-diameter, lightweight telescope from the discontinued Space Based Laser project. Originally designed and constructed for space, this segmented telescope is being reconfigured for use in a ground-based facility. The current optical design is an afocal Mersenne configuration with an extremely thin (17mm) glass primary. The telescope has 312 fine figure actuators for active shaping of the primary, as well as 42 piston actuators for phasing of the segments and adaptive optics capability with a 300-actuator deformable mirror and wavefront sensor. We are recoating and redesigning the optics (with new secondary and tertiary mirrors) and constructing a new truss and an alt-az mount with two Nasmyth foci capable of both sidereal and low-Earth object tracking down to altitudes of 200km. The telescope will be located in a new facility to be built next to the current USAFA Observatory.
The primary use of the telescope will be for education by involving cadets in a wide range of Air Force experiments including active ranging, communication, and imaging and characterization of satellites. We envision, however, that substantial time will also be available for astronomy. Although the Colorado Springs site is not ideal for many astronomical uses, it does lend itself to easy access by cadets, faculty, and visitors, and is appropriate for spectroscopy and bright-object work. Compared to similar facilities around the world, we expect to have a large amount of time available for outside users.

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