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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 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 Hexagonal Columns of Al2SiO5 Honeycomb Structure Light-weight Spun-cast Casting in Progress – 26 Aug 2009 SPM 6.5-m Mirror The Principals UNAM INAOE UC Berkeley UC Santa Cruz U Arizona San Pedro Martir A World Class Site Peter Wehinger Steward Observatory SOML Casting Event – 6.5-m Mirror 26 August 2009 Baja California and the Sonoran Desert San Diego ~ 600 km Ensenada 380 km SPM Tucson Road to San Pedro Martir SPM Obs Meling Ranch Airfield 60 km Pico del Diablo 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) • 25th Percentile ~ 0.37 arc sec NIGHT SKY IN THE DESERT N Lick Lowell LA PHX LBT TUC Palomar San Pedro Martir Kitt Peak MMT HER SPM Sky brightness B ~ 22.3 San Diego N Yuma Tijuana Ensenada San Felipe SPM Sky Brightness at San Pedro Martir Darker than B ~ 22.3 mag/sec2 300 km 300 km Intensity (erg/s/cm2/A) Night Sky Spectrum on San Pedro Martir l (A) 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 Possible Air Field at Vallecitos ~ 5-6 km from telescopes 2425 m 2 km 2434 m LBT LARGE BINOCULAR TELESCOPE Site: Mt Graham, Arizona Two 8.4-m f/1.1 Mirrors Steward Observatory Mirror Lab Casting Bay 6.5-m 8.4-m 8.4-m LBT Edge-to-Edge ~ 22.4 m, Equivalent Circular Aperture ~ 11.8 m 30 m NGC 6946 with 8.2-m Subaru NGC 6946 with 8.4-m LBT GMT GIANT MAGELLAN TELESCOPE Site: Las Campanas, Chile GMT • seven 8.4-m Mirrors • 21.5-m Circular Aperture • 25.5-m Edge to Edge Graphics by Todd Mason 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 Mirror Lab Founder, Roger Angel inspects 8.4-m mirror for GMT GMT-1– polishing at ~ ±0.5 m, 16 Oct 2009 Final figure will be ±10-20 nm, 400x smoother When GMT is completed in ~ 10-12 years • What will be found…? • Remember Hale & Wickliffe Rose • Again there will be many surprises..! 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 Phil Hinz et al. Steward Observatory LSST LARGE SYNOPTIC SURVEY TELESCOPE Site: Cerro Pachon, Chile Founding Partners (2003) • University of Arizona • Research Corporation • University of Washington • NOAO • + 18 other institutions (as of 2008) Large Synoptic Survey Telescope 3.4 m Secondary 64 cm Focal Plane Field Flattener LSST Optical Layout Tertiary f/0.8 6.28m 4.96 m Primary f/1.25 8.36 m Design: L. Seppala, LLNL Filters 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 LSST 8.4-m Primary Mirror 22 October 2008 Lifting off oven floor Weight ~ 52 tons Glass ~ 26 tons LSST 8.4-m Primary Mirror 22 October 2008 During move from oven to holding ring Weight ~ 103,000 lbs Glass ~ 52,000 lbs Ground-Layer Adaptive Optics Recent Results on MMT Planet found around the Nearby star b Pictoris ESO 8.1-m Telescope The MMT multi-laser GLAO system Laser type 2 x doubled YAG (15 W each) Wavelength 532 nm Pulse rep rate 5.2 kHz Average power 30 W Launch location Behind secondary mirror Number of beacons 5, arranged like a pentagon Enclosed field of view 2 arc minutes Beacon type Rayleigh scattering Range gate 20-29 km, dynamic MMT results: M3 110” Open loop, Ks filter, seeing 0.70” Logarithmic scale MMT results: M3 110” Closed loop GLAO, Ks filter, seeing 0.30” Logarithmic scale NGC 2770 – First Light Binocular Image with LBT Gamma-Ray Burst Supernova 11 Jan 2007 Optical Images of X-ray Nova XTE J1550-564 Magellan 1 6.5-m Telescope (Baade) Las Campanas Observatory VLT UT1 8-m Telescope & FORS 1: ESO 1 Paul Groot, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Jerome Orosz, University of Utrecht