NASA's 91-cm. airborne telescope

Details NASA's 91-cm. airborne telescope NASA's 91-cm. airborne telescope

Nov 1976

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1976s%26t....52..327c&link_type=abstract

Sky and Telescope, vol. 52, Nov. 1976, p. 327-331.

Physics

Optics

14

Airborne Equipment, Infrared Astronomy, Telescopes, C-141 Aircraft, Cassegrain Optics, Data Systems, Flight Characteristics, Nasa Programs, Target Acquisition

Scientific paper

The Gerard P. Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), commissioned in May 1975, is the result of the multi-year NASA program of infrared observations from high-flying aircraft. The KAO is a highly modified Lockheed C-141 jet transport, equipped with a 91-cm bent-Cassegrain telescope, as an international facility for research in infrared astronomy. To minimize the effects of aircraft vibration, the telescope is mounted on four pneumatic shock absorbers, and the entire assembly is balanced on the side of a spherical compressed-air bearing, containing a 0.018 mm-thick air film under a pressure of 19 atmospheres. The use of the KAO is not limited to infrared research, its total observable wavelength band extending from the near UV (3000 A) to the millimeter region. Design and technical characteristics of the telescope are discussed, including the image stabilization and target acquisition systems, as well as observational results obtained during the first year of the KAO operation.

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