Telescope performance at the Large Binocular Telescope

John M. Hill; Barry Rothberg; Julian C. Christou; Kellee R. Summers; Douglas M. Summers

doi:10.1117/12.2234466

27 July 2016 Telescope performance at the Large Binocular Telescope

John M. Hill, Barry Rothberg, Julian C. Christou, Kellee R. Summers, Douglas M. Summers

Proceedings Volume 9906, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VI; 99064L (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2234466
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

The Large Binocular Telescope Observatory is a collaboration between institutions in Arizona, Germany, Italy, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia. The telescope uses two 8.4-m diameter primary mirrors mounted sideby- side on the same AZ-EL mount to produce a collecting area equivalent to an 11.8-meter aperture. Adaptive optics loops are routinely closed with natural stars on both sides for sided and combined beam observations. Rayleigh laser guide stars provide GLAO seeing improvement. With the telescope now in operation for 10 years, we report on various statistics of telescope performance and seeing-limited image quality. Statistics of telescope performance are reported in the areas of off-axis guiding, open-loop mount tracking, active optics and vibration. Delivered image quality is reported as measured by the DIMM and several guide cameras as a function of other parameters such as temperature and wind velocity. Projects to improve image quality and dome seeing are underway.

Citation Download Citation

John M. Hill, Barry Rothberg, Julian C. Christou, Kellee R. Summers, and Douglas M. Summers "Telescope performance at the Large Binocular Telescope", Proc. SPIE 9906, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VI, 99064L (27 July 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2234466

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