Development of a wide field spherical aberration corrector for the Hobby Eberly Telescope

James H. Burge, S. Benjamin, M. Dubin, A. Manuel, M. Novak, C. J. Oh, M. Valente, C. Zhao, J. A. Booth, J. M. Good, Gary J. Hill, H. Lee, P. J. MacQueen, M. Rafal, R. Savage, M. P. Smith, B. Vattiat

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

A 4-mirror prime focus corrector is under development to provide seeing-limited images for the 10-m aperture Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) over a 22 arcminute wide field of view. The HET uses an 11-m fixed elevation segmented spherical primary mirror, with pointing and tracking performed by moving the prime focus instrument package (PFIP) such that it rotates about the virtual center of curvature of the spherical primary mirror. The images created by the spherical primary mirror are aberrated with 13 arcmin diameter point spread function. The University of Arizona is developing the 4-mirror wide field corrector to compensate the aberrations from the primary mirror and present seeing limited imaged to the pickoffs for the fiber-fed spectrographs. The requirements for this system pose several challenges, including optical fabrication of the aspheric mirrors, system alignment, and operational mechanical stability.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationGround-Based and Airborne Telescopes III
EditionPART 1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
EventGround-Based and Airborne Telescopes III - San Diego, CA, United States
Duration: Jun 27 2010Jul 2 2010

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
NumberPART 1
Volume7733
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Other

OtherGround-Based and Airborne Telescopes III
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego, CA
Period6/27/107/2/10

Keywords

  • Astronomical optics
  • Hobby Eberly telescope
  • Optical systems
  • Telescope

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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