The telescope is a 2.5-m altitude over azimuth design. The secondary truss elements are fabricated of carbon fiber reinforced plastic for high thermal stability. The Cassegrain instrument rotator is very large and covers almost all of the back of the primary support structure.
19970514 Basic telescope parameters 19980413 Design and analysis of the 2.5-m telescope instrument rotator 19990127 Rotation range for the 2.5-m Telescope 20011010 PSS access hatches: contents and rotator angles
The telescope motions are implemented with rolling element bearings and friction-coupled drives and encoding. The quality of the drive components must be measured and understood to determine if the telescope tracking performance will be such that its scientific goals can be accomplished.
19920608 Telescope Tracking Smoothness 19940919 3.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements 19940306 2.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements I: Azimuth drive disk 19941104 2.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements II 19941130 2.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements III 19950215 Measurements of 3.5-m Secondary Mirror Motions 19950608 2.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements IV: acceptance testing 19970523 2.5-m telescope tracking error budget 19970527 2.5-m telescope pointing error budget 19970912 2.5-m telescope mirror actuator resolution 19990317 Procedure for removal/installation of the SDSS 2.5m primary mirror20060111 Rotator Servo Tuning on the 2.5m Telescope
The optical fibers that transport light from the images of astronomical objects in the telescope focal plane to the spectrographs must be protected and properly positioned. The SDSS fiber system uses 640 optical fibers organized into 32 harnesses each containing 20 fibers. Each fiber is approximately 2 m long. The fibers are supported and protected by a large aluminum cartridge called a plug-plate cartridge.
19930517 Wear of a Stainless Steel Ferrule 19940311 Fiber Feed for the SDSS Spectrograph* 19950308 Ferrules and V-Groove Blocks Measurements 19960821 Slit-plate Deflection Testing 19970403 Fiber Harness Test Results 19970415 Using the SDSS Fiber Throughput Tester 19970416 Adjusting the SDSS Fiber Throughput Tester 19970730 Corrector/cartridge installation/removal procedures ... 19980203 Status of the Fiber Feed for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey* 19980815 Fiber-optic plug rotation 20020212 Cartridge Fiber Reach Limits
The 2.5-m telescope optical design produces good images over a 3 degree diameter field of view. The quality of the fabrication and support of the optics must be such that the optical design can be realized.
19940520 Primary Mirror Measurements 19950322 2.5-m Telescope Optical Prescription (old) 19960113 Mirror Cleaning Experiment: I. Interim report 19960214 Analysis of temperature measurements 19960410 2.5-m telescope imaging optical design 19960616 2.5-m telescope light baffles 19961022 2.5-m telescope spectrographic optical design 19970320 Conical baffle measurements 19970703 Primary and secondary baffle measurements 19970728 Common corrector mount measurements 19971020 SDSS 2.5m telescope focal surface scale adjustment 19980215 SDSS 2.5-m telescope: light baffles* 19980416 SDSS 2.5-meter telescope: optics* 19980421 Support and adjustment of the internal light baffles 19980713 2.5-m primary mirror transverse support system 19980805 Primary astigmatism correction: I. axial supports 19980823 Primary astigmatism correction: II. edge forces 19980903 SDSS 2.5-m telescope secondary measurements 19980908 Cleaning procedures for SDSS 2.5-m telescope optics 19981019 SDSS 2.5-m primary support system measurements 19990212 The SDSS 2.5-m Telescope Astigmatism Corrector 19990302 Moving Mirrors 19990324 The SDSS Spectrograph Guide Sensor 20011206 M1 Airflow Lab Tests 20011207 M1 Airflow Test Result Summary 20020924 M1 Measurements post-Aluminization
It is possible to obtain the spectra of a large number of astronomical objects concurrently by transporting their light via optical fibers from the focal surface of a telescope to the input of a spectrograph. One way to hold the fibers on the focal surface is by plugging them in holes previously drilled in a plate.
Number Title 19891004 Gravity and Thermal Loading of Plug Plates 19891124 Comments on Plug Board Design 19910814 Mechanical Properties of Ribbed Plastic Sleeves 19910912 Bending and Drilling Aluminum Plug Plates 19911019 Fiber Positioning System for the SDSS* 19920916 Results of the 1/92 Fermilab Drilling Tests 19930430 Results of the 3/93 Drilling Tests 19940412 Results of the 1/94 Drilling Tests 19941206 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests I: UW 19950130 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests II: Karsten 19950209 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests III: D-Velco 19960408 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests IV: UW 19960526 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests V: Karsten 19960708 Deformation of Plug-Plates to Match Focal Surface 19960805 Fitting Plug-Plates To The Surface Of Best Focus 19961230 Plug-Plate Bending in an Assembled Spectrograph Cartridge 19980127 Performance of the Fiber Positioning System ...* 19981113 Plug-plate coordinate system 19990112 Plug-plate distortion 19990622 Plug-plate hole tilt reexamined 19991012 How to measure Plug Plates
Clouds, even when thin, can severely degrade certain types of astronomical observations. Such clouds cannot be detected easily on dark nights. The infrared cloud scanner produces images of cloud distribution independent of illumination.
19910801 IR All-Sky Camera 19950517 Performance of the SDSS Cloud Scanner I: the first movie 19971102 Infrared scanner coordinate system transformation 20020222 Sensitivity and Noise in the APO Cloud Camera
Number Title 19891013 Comments on Packaging the CCD Camera Array 19891228 Large Capacity Archival Data Storage 19910126 Imaging Survey Plan 19910528 Telescope enclosure and site development 19940310 SDSS Telescope Enclosure: Flow Visualization* 19950926 Conversion Factors, Material Properties and Constants 19961009 2.5-m telescope test plan 19970220 Miller Moth Behavior in Southern New Mexico 19970822 A 20-year summary of Sacramento Peak weather 19970901 Hipparcos Tycho catalog: surface density
* Titles followed by an asterisk are adapted from engineering papers and tend to be longer and more carefully written and edited.
Number Title 19891004 Gravity and Thermal Loading of Plug Plates 19891013 Comments on Packaging the CCD Camera Array 19891124 Comments on Plug Board Design 19891228 Large Capacity Archival Data Storage 19910126 Imaging Survey Plan 19910528 Telescope enclosure and site development 19910801 IR All-Sky Camera 19910814 Mechanical Properties of Ribbed Plastic Sleeves 19910912 Bending and Drilling Aluminum Plug Plates 19911019 Fiber Positioning System for the SDSS* 19920608 Telescope Tracking Smoothness 19920916 Results of the 1/92 Fermilab Drilling Tests 19930430 Results of the 3/93 Drilling Tests 19930517 Wear of a Stainless Steel Ferrule 19940306 2.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements I 19940310 SDSS Telescope Enclosure: Flow Visualization* 19940311 Fiber Feed for the SDSS Spectrograph* 19940412 Results of the 1/94 Drilling Tests 19940520 Primary Mirror Measurements 19940919 3.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements 19941104 2.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements II 19941130 2.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements III 19941206 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests I: UW 19950130 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests II: Karsten 19950209 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests III: D-Velco 19950215 Measurements of 3.5-m Secondary Mirror Motions 19950308 Ferrules and V-Groove Blocks Measurements 19950322 2.5-m Telescope Optical Prescription 19950517 Performance of the SDSS Cloud Scanner I: the first movie 19950608 2.5-m Telescope Drive Measurements IV: acceptance testing 19950926 Conversion Factors, Material Properties and Constants 19960113 Mirror Cleaning Experiment: I. Interim report 19960214 Analysis of temperature measurements 19960408 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests IV: UW 19960410 2.5-m telescope imaging optical design 19960526 Full-scale Plug-plate Drilling Tests V: Karsten 19960616 2.5-m telescope light baffles 19960708 Deformation of Plug-Plates to Match Focal Surface 19960805 Fitting Plug-Plates To The Surface Of Best Focus 19960821 Slit-plate Deflection Testing 19961009 2.5-m telescope test plan 19961022 2.5-m telescope spectrographic optical design 19961230 Plug-Plate Bending in an Assembled Spectrograph Cartridge 19970220 Miller Moth Behavior in Southern New Mexico 19970320 Conical baffle measurements 19970403 Fiber Harness Test Results 19970415 Using the SDSS Fiber Throughput Tester 19970416 Adjusting the SDSS Fiber Throughput Tester 19970514 Basic telescope parameters 19970523 2.5-m telescope tracking error budget 19970527 2.5-m telescope pointing error budget 19970703 Primary and secondary baffle measurements 19970728 Common corrector mount measurements 19970730 Corrector/cartridge installation/removal procedures ... 19970822 A 20-year summary of Sacramento Peak weather 19970901 Hipparcos Tycho catalog: surface density 19970912 2.5-m telescope mirror actuator resolution 19971020 SDSS 2.5m telescope focal surface scale adjustment 19971102 Infrared scanner coordinate system transformation 19980127 Performance of the Fiber Positioning System ...* 19980203 Status of the Fiber Feed for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey* 19980215 SDSS 2.5-m telescope: light baffles* 19980413 Design and analysis of the 2.5-m telescope instrument rotator 19980416 SDSS 2.5-meter telescope: optics* 19980421 Support and adjustment of the internal light baffles 19980713 2.5-m primary mirror transverse support system 19980805 Primary astigmatism correction: I. axial supports 19980815 Fiber-optic plug rotation 19980823 Primary astigmatism correction: II. edge forces 19980903 SDSS 2.5-m telescope secondary measurements 19980908 Cleaning procedures for SDSS 2.5-m telescope optics 19981019 SDSS 2.5-m primary support system measurements 19981113 Plug-plate coordinate system 19990112 Plug-plate distortion 19990127 Rotation range for the 2.5-m Telescope 19990212 The SDSS 2.5-m Telescope Astigmatism Corrector 19990302 Moving Mirrors 19990317 Procedure for removal/installation of the SDSS 2.5m primary mirror 19990324 The SDSS Spectrograph Guide Sensor 19990622 Plug-plate hole tilt reexamined 19991012 How to measure Plug Plates 20011010 PSS access hatches: contents and rotator angles 20011206 M1 Airflow Lab Tests 20011207 M1 Airflow Test Result Summary 20020212 Cartridge Fiber Reach Limits
Numbering convention:
yyyymmdd-vv.v y = year m = month d = day v = version number
Use leading zeros as needed. The version number is optional, and is discouraged for document titles and file names.
Telescope Technical Notes that are not yet on this WWW server are available in Macintosh Word format.
Drawings are available in DXF format.
