Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Aug 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992tdapr.110..104l&link_type=abstract
In its The Telecommunications and Data Acquisition p 104-117 (SEE N93-19413 06-32)
Physics
Optics
Deep Space Network, Instrument Errors, Mathematical Models, Optical Tracking, Position Errors, Spacecraft Tracking, Telescopes, Background Noise, Masking, Photoelectrons, Troposphere
Scientific paper
The performance of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) Table Mountain telescope was evaluated to determine the potential of such an instrument for optical angular tracking. This telescope uses a Ronchi ruling to measure differential positions of stars at the meridian. The Ronchi technique is summarized and the operational features of the Table Mountain instrument are described. Results from an analytic model, simulations, and actual data are presented that characterize the telescope's current performance. For a star pair of visual magnitude 7, the differential uncertainty of a 5-min observation is about 50 nrad (10 marcsec), and tropospheric fluctuations are the dominant error source. At magnitude 11, the current differential uncertainty is approximately 800 nrad (approximately 170 marcsec). This magnitude is equivalent to that of a 2-W laser with a 0.4-m aperture transmitting to Earth from a spacecraft at Saturn. Photoelectron noise is the dominant error source for stars of visual magnitude 8.5 and fainter. If the photoelectron noise is reduced, ultimately tropospheric fluctuations will be the limiting source of error at an average level of 35 nrad (7 marcsec) for stars approximately 0.25 deg apart. Three near-term strategies are proposed for improving the performance of the telescope to the 10-nrad level: improving the efficiency of the optics, masking background starlight, and averaging tropospheric fluctuations over multiple observations.
Buffington Andrew
Lanyi Gabor
Purcell George
Treuhaft R.
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