A domeless, mobile 2-meter telescope

Abstract

There are many astronomical, interferometric and space situational awareness applications for single and multiple 2-meter aperture optical and infrared mobile telescopes that are low cost, can be easily transported and quickly deployed at a variety of sites. A design concept is presented for a trailermounted 2-meter telescope with a novel micro-enclosure that allows the telescope to be moved and deployed quickly for observations. The telescope is protected from adverse weather using a weatherproof telescope tube instead of a conventional dome or enclosure. It has Cassegrain, Nasmyth and coudé foci suitable for astronomical, interferometric, space situational awareness, and laser communications applications, and is designed for replication at low cost. An initial implementation is being developed to explore the performance of such a telescope using re-purposed primary and secondary mirrors and other components from the MAGNUM telescope. © COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.