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ANU 2.3 m Telescope
Australian telescope From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The ANU 2.3 metre telescope is an optical telescope situated at Siding Spring Observatory, and operated by the Australian National University's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA).[1] The telescope was constructed during the early 1980s and featured, at the time, bold features and design: an unusually thin mirror, an altazimuth mount, and a co-rotating building.[2][1]
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History
The telescope was the initiative of Don Mathewson, the then-director of the observatory. It was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, on 16 May 1984, and was regarded as an achievement in high technology for Australia.[3] In 1985, it won an award from the Institution of Engineers.[3] In early 2023 the telescope was automated, enabling it to instantly respond to alerts from other facilities. In particular, the automated telescope is well suited for studying time-varying sources such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and gravitational wave sources.[4][5]
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Mirror
The telescope's mirror is unusually thin, with a diameter-to-thickness ratio of about 20:1.[3] The light mirror and rotating design allow the telescope to be rapidly moved as observations are made.
Instruments and Programs
The telescope's current instrument in the Wide-Field Spectrograph (WiFeS), an integral field spectrograph designed and built at the RSAA, and installed on the 2.3m telescope in 2009.[6] Previous instruments have included the Cryogenic Array Spectrometer/Imager (CASPIR), the Dual-Beam Spectrograph (DBS), an echelle spectrograph, and an imaging camera.[1]
The 2.3m telescope is regularly used by students from ANU and other universities, enabling students to gain experience working with large scientific telescopes[1]. The telescope also regularly performs follow-up observations on objects of interest identified by other detectors.[4] The telescope has been involved in a number of large survey programs, including the Dark Energy Bedrock All Sky Survey (DEBass), a survey of over 500 type Ia supernovae.[7]
See also
References
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