An inexpensive turnkey 6.5-m observatory with customizing options

Abstract

A turnkey observatory with 6.5-m telescope has been developed for a broad range of science applications. The observatory includes the telescope, mount and enclosure, installed on site and ready for operation. The telescope's primary mirror is an f/1.25 honeycomb sandwich of Ohara E6 borosilicate glass, similar to that of the MMT and Magellan telescopes. The baseline optical design is for a Gregorian Nasmyth focus at f/11. A Gregorian adaptive optics secondary that provides a wide-field focus corrected for ground layer turbulence (0.25 arcsecond images over a 4 arcminute field) as well as a narrow-field diffraction-limited focus is optional. Another option is a corrected f/5 focus with a 1 degrees field. The observatory, built by partners from academia and industry with extensive experience, can be delivered within five years at a fixed price.