Telescope coalignment system for the Multiple Mirror Telescope /MMT/

Details Telescope coalignment system for the Multiple Mirror Telescope /MMT/ Telescope coalignment system for the Multiple Mirror Telescope /MMT/

Jan 1980

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1980spie..251..154m&link_type=abstract

In: Optical alignment; Proceedings of the Seminar, San Diego, CA, July 29-31, 1980. (A81-39578 18-74) Bellingham, WA, Society of

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Alignment, Helium-Neon Lasers, Mirrors, Reflecting Telescopes, Focal Plane Devices, Focusing, Image Motion Compensation, Optical Paths, Optical Transfer Function

Scientific paper

This paper describes the coalignment system for the six 1.8 m astronomical telescopes of the Multiple Mirror Telescope. Emphasis is on individual component alignment and the achievement and maintenance of particular image configurations. The system employs a He-Ne laser as an artificial star with its light collimated by a 0.7 m guide telescope and transferred to the 1.8 m telescopes via periscopes and retroreflectors. Silicon detectors sense laser image position deviations due to mirror tilts or displacements, and generate signals to actively correct pointing errors via 3 axis motion of the telescopes' cassegrain secondaries. Procedures are given for aligning the laser beamsplitters, collimating the beams, and aligning the detectors sequentially to arrive at a desired configuration. Keys to the operation are the use of a pinhole in the guide telescope's focal plane as a defining point for the laser source, the active stabilization of the guide telescope's focus, the stability of the periscopes, and the use of remotely-controlled thin wedge prisms to change each laser beam's position when reconfiguring any one telescope. Tests of star tracking show typical coalignment to less than 1.0 arc second RMS. A discussion of problems encountered is included.

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