Fabrication Of The Keck Ten Meter Telescope Primary Mirror

Terry S. Mast; Jerry E. Nelson

doi:10.1117/12.948162

22 October 1985 Fabrication Of The Keck Ten Meter Telescope Primary Mirror

Terry S. Mast, Jerry E. Nelson

Proceedings Volume 0542, Optical Fabrication & Testing Workshop; (1985) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.948162
Event: 1985 Albuquerque Conferences on Optics, 1985, Albuquerque, United States

Abstract

The University of California and the California Institute of Technology are collaborating to build and operate the Keck Ten Meter Telescope and Observatory. The telescope will be a ten-meter diameter, ground-based, astronomical telescope for observations at visible and infrared wavelengths. The telescope primary mirror is a mosaic of thirty-six hexagonal segments, each 1.8m in diameter. Piston and tilt in two directions of each segment are actively con-trolled by computer. The fabrication of the segments is a major challenge. The material must be stable under gravitational and ther-mal perturbations. Each segment has a surface shape that is the off-axis section of the parent hyperboloid and this surface shape is difficult to achieve with conventional polishing methods. In this paper we describe in detail the proposed segments and we describe the theoretical basis of the method proposed for achieving the segment figure, Stressed Mirror Polishing.

Citation Download Citation

Terry S. Mast and Jerry E. Nelson "Fabrication Of The Keck Ten Meter Telescope Primary Mirror", Proc. SPIE 0542, Optical Fabrication & Testing Workshop, (22 October 1985); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.948162

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