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Telescope Projects at Steward Observatory Work in Progress Astronomical Society of New York Union College Saturday, 24 October 2009 Peter Wehinger Steward Observatory University of Arizona
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Casting a 6.5-m Mirror for San Pedro Martir Steward Observatory Mirror Lab A World Class Site: San Pedro Martir Baja California, Mexico Peter Wehinger
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Hexagonal Columns of Al 2 SiO 5 Honeycomb Structure Light-weight Spun-cast Mirrors
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Casting in Progress – 26 Aug 2009 SPM 6.5-m Mirror The Principals UNAM INAOE UC Berkeley UC Santa Cruz U Arizona
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San Pedro Martir A World Class Site Peter Wehinger Steward Observatory SOML Casting Event – 6.5-m Mirror 26 August 2009
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SPM Tucson Ensenada San Diego ~ 600 km Baja California and the Sonoran Desert 380 km
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SPM Obs Pico del Diablo Meling Ranch Airfield Road to San Pedro Martir 60 km 40 km
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Climatic & Seeing Conditions Clear Sky Statistics Photometric ~ 63% (Tapia et al) Satellite Imaging~ 73% (Erasmus et al.) Spectroscopic ~ 81% (Tapia et al.) Seeing Statistics Median Seeing ~ 0.48 arc sec Mean Seeing ~ 0.57 arc sec (FWHM) 25 th Percentile ~ 0.37 arc sec
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LBT Kitt Peak Lick Palomar MMT Lowell NIGHT SKY IN THE DESERT SPM Sky brightness B ~ 22.3 mag/sec 2 PHX LA TUC HER N San Pedro Martir
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Ensenada Yuma San Felipe San Diego Tijuana SPM Sky Brightness at San Pedro Martir Darker than B ~ 22.3 mag/sec 2 300 km N
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Night Sky Spectrum on San Pedro Martir Intensity (erg/s/cm 2 /A) (A)
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Remarks about SPM Night Sky Integrated Light of Night Airglow Green Line [OI] 5577 visible to ~10-15 deg above horizon Arcturus – steady, no scintillation (twinkling) Naked-eye limit at least ~ 7th magnitude 10-12 of brightest galaxies in Virgo Cluster - visible SPM has darkest night sky – Compared with other sites Arizona, Chile, Hawaii, Himalayas
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Possible Air Field at Vallecitos ~ 5-6 km from telescopes 2425 m 2434 m 2 km
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LBT LARGE BINOCULAR TELESCOPE Site: Mt Graham, Arizona Two 8.4-m f/1.1 Mirrors
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Steward Observatory Mirror Lab Casting Bay 6.5-m 8.4-m
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LBT Edge-to-Edge ~ 22.4 m, Equivalent Circular Aperture ~ 11.8 m 30 m
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NGC 6946 with 8.2-m Subaru
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NGC 6946 with 8.4-m LBT
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GMT GIANT MAGELLAN TELESCOPE Site: Las Campanas, Chile
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GMT seven 8.4-m Mirrors 21.5-m Circular Aperture 25.5-m Edge to Edge Graphics by Todd Mason
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GMT Partners as of Oct 2009 - Carnegie Institution of Washington University of Texas at Austin Texas A & M University University of Arizona Australian National University Astronomy Australia Ltd. Harvard University Smithsonian Institution Korea Astronomy & Space Institute + 1-2 others considering joining
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Mirror Lab Founder, Roger Angel inspects 8.4-m mirror for GMT
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GMT-1– polishing at ~ ± 0.5 Oct 2009 Final figure will be ±10-20 nm, 400x smoother
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When GMT is completed in ~ 10-12 years What will be found…? Remember Hale & Wickliffe Rose Again there will be many surprises..!
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Three Planets b, c, & d Imaged around Star HR 8799 Light from central star is suppressed Discovery Announced 14 Nov 2008 Gemini 8.2 m
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Phil Hinz et al. Steward Observatory
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LSST LARGE SYNOPTIC SURVEY TELESCOPE Site: Cerro Pachon, Chile
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Founding Partners (2003) University of Arizona Research Corporation University of Washington NOAO + 18 other institutions (as of 2008)
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Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
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LSST Optical Layout 8.36 m 6.28m 4.96 m 3.4 m 64 cm Primary f/1.25 Secondary Tertiary f/0.8 Focal Plane Design: L. Seppala, LLNL Filters Field Flattener
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Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Project Overview & Goals 10-sec exposures ~ 24 mag. 3.5 Gpix/image – 10 sq. deg 30-40 Terabytes per night Entire sky surveyed in 4 nights Search for Near-Earth Objects Survey the Kuiper Belt Probe dark matter Many Surprises Serendipitous Discoveries 64 cm
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LSST 8.4-m Primary Mirror 22 October 2008 Lifting off oven floor Weight ~ 52 tons Glass ~ 26 tons
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LSST 8.4-m Primary Mirror 22 October 2008 During move from oven to holding ring Weight ~ 103,000 lbs Glass ~ 52,000 lbs
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Ground-Layer Adaptive Optics Recent Results on MMT
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Planet found around the Nearby star Pictoris ESO 8.1-m Telescope
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The MMT multi-laser GLAO system Laser type2 x doubled YAG (15 W each) Wavelength532 nm Pulse rep rate5.2 kHz Average power30 W Launch locationBehind secondary mirror Number of beacons5, arranged like a pentagon Enclosed field of view2 arc minutes Beacon typeRayleigh scattering Range gate20-29 km, dynamic refocusing
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MMT results: M3 Open loop, K s filter, seeing 0.70” Logarithmic scale 110”
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MMT results: M3 Closed loop GLAO, K s filter, seeing 0.30” Logarithmic scale 110”
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NGC 2770 – First Light Binocular Image with LBT 11 Jan 2007 Supernova Gamma-Ray Burst
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Magellan 1 6.5-m Telescope (Baade) Las Campanas Observatory VLT UT1 8-m Telescope & FORS 1: ESO Paul Groot, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Jerome Orosz, University of Utrecht 11 Optical Images of X-ray Nova XTE J1550-564
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