The four meter DAG (Eastern Anatolia Observatory in Turkish) telescope is not only the largest telescope in Turkey but also the most promising telescope in the northern hemisphere with a large potential to offer scientific observations with its cutting edge technology. DAG is designed to be an AO telescope which will allow both infrared and visible observations with its two Nasmyth platforms dedicated to next generation focal plane instruments. In this paper, status updates from DAG telescope will be presented in terms of; (i) in house optical design of DAG, (ii) tender process of telescope, (iii) tender process of enclosure, and (iv) tender process of the observatory building. Also status updates from the focal plane instruments project and possible collaboration activities will be presented.
Eastern Anatolian Observatory (DAG), will be built in one of the well-known mountain ridges of Erzurum, Turkey, at latitude of 39°46'50, longitude of 41°13'35 and an altitude of 3.151 meters. As well as erecting the largest telescope of Turkey, the DAG project aims to establish an observatory complex both small in size and functional enough to give service to all astronomy community. In this paper, the challenge is explained in details: geological and geographical limitations, environmental and meteorological constraints, engineering and structural considerations, energy efficiency and sustainability.
DAG (Eastern Anatolia Observatory in Turkish) will be the newest and largest (4m) observatory of Turkey in both optical (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) with its robust observing site infrastructure. The telescope is designed¬ to house 2 Nasmyth platforms which will be dedicated to NIR and VIS observations. A collaboration has recently been established among four Turkish universities including FMV Işık University (for adaptive optics systems), Middle East Technical University (for measurement, test and calibration purposes), Istanbul University (for new technology instruments, e.g. MKIDs) and as the coordinator Ataturk University (for obtaining NIR and VIS instruments). In this paper the status of the recently approved FPI project and its aims are presented and possible collaboration opportunities are emphasized.
The Turkish DAG 4-m telescope is currently through the final design stage. It is to be located on a 3170 m mountain top in Eastern Anatolia. The telescope will be a state-of-the art device, alt-az mount with active primary and adjustable secondary and tertiary mirrors. Its optics design is specially aimed at being compatible with advance adaptive optics instrumentation. The ultimate performance of such a telescope results of multiple concurrent effects from many different components and active functions of the complex system.
The paper presents a comprehensive integrated (end-to-end) model of the telescope, comprising in one computational sequence all structural, electrodynamics and oactive optics performance that produce the image quality at the focal plane. The model is entirely programmed in Matlab/Simulink and comprises a finite element model of structure and mirrors, dynamics modal reduction, deformation analyses of structural and optical elements, active optics feedback control in the Zernike modal space.
This paper summarize our work on the design of a field derotator for the adaptive optics instruments Nasmyth platform of DAG (Dogu Anadolu Gozlemevi), a new 4 m telescope for astronomical observations near the city of Erzurum, Turkey. While the telescope follows an astronomical object, its pupil sees a rotation of the object around the optical axis which depends on the telescope geographic coordinate and the object sky coordinate. This effect is called the field rotation. This rotation needs to be compensated during the astronomical object data acquisition. In this report we demonstrate the feasibility of placing the derotator (a K-mirror design) in the telescope fork central hole and propose a preliminary design, considering flexures.
KEYWORDS: Observatories, Telescopes, Control systems design, Software development, Active optics, Control systems, Human-machine interfaces, Interfaces, Data storage, Computer programming
Observatory Control Software for the upcoming 4m infrared telescope of DAG (Eastern Anatolian Observatory in Turkish) is in the beginning of its lifecycle. After the process of elicitation-validation of the initial requirements, we have been focused on preparation of a rapid conceptual design not only to see the big picture of the system but also to clarify the further development methodology. The existing preliminary designs for both software (including TCS and active optics control system) and hardware shall be presented here in brief to exploit the challenges the DAG software team has been facing with. The potential benefits of an agile approach for the development will be discussed depending on the published experience of the community and on the resources available to us.
We present the details of a proposed microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) for the DAG (Eastern Anatolia Observatory in Turkish) telescope, DAG-MKID. The observatory will have a modern 4m size telescope that is currently under construction. Current plan to obtain the first light with the telescope is late 2019. The proposed MKID based instrument will enable astronomers to simultaneously detect photons in the relatively wide wavelength range of 4000 - 13500 Å with a timing accuracy of μs and spectral resolution R = ⋋/▵ ⋋ =10−25. With a planned field of view of approximately an arcminute, DAG-MKID will mostly be used for follow-up observations of transient or variable objects as well as a robust tool to measure photometric redshifts of a large number of galaxies or other extra-galactic objects.
KEYWORDS: Telescopes, Control systems, Computer programming, Optical instrument design, Active optics, Observatories, Finite element methods, Telecommunications, Error analysis, Head
Dogu Anatolu Gözlemevi (DAG-Eastern Anatolia Observatory) Project is a 4m class optical, near-infrared Telescope and suitable enclosure which will be located at an altitude of ~3.170m in Erzurum, Turkey. The DAG telescope is a project fully funded by Turkish Ministry of Development and the Atatürk University of Astrophysics Research Telescope - ATASAM. The Project is being developed by the Belgian company AMOS (project leader), which is also the optics supplier and EIE GROUP, the Telescope Main Structure supplier and responsible for the final site integration. The design of the Telescope Main Structure fits in the EIE TBO Program which aims at developing a Dome/Telescope systemic optimization process for both performances and competitive costs based on previous project commitments like NTT, VLT, VST and ASTRI. The optical Configuration of the DAG Telescope is a Ritchey-Chretien with two Nasmyth foci and a 4m primary thin mirror controlled in shape and position by an Active Optic System. The main characteristics of the Telescope Main Structure are an Altitude-Azimuth light and rigid structure system with Direct Drive Systems for both axis, AZ Hydrostatic Bearing System and Altitude standard bearing system; both axes are equipped with Tape Encoder System. An innovative Control System characterizes the telescope performance.
The continuity of the amount of data that the 4m DAG (Eastern Anatolia Observatory in Turkish) telescope will produce and transfer to Ataturk University is critical not to jeopardize the science programs. Though¬ the fiber optics and radio link infrastructures are in place, these systems are still volatile against earthquakes, and possible excavation damages. Thus the 4m DAG telescope will be equipped with a free space optical communication system to ensure the continuity of the data transfer as a backup system. In order to cope with the disturbances introduced by the atmospheric turbulence, the transceiver FSO system will be equipped with a wavefront corrector. In this paper, the Cassegrain optical design, and working principle of this system as well as expected performance analyses will be presented.
The selected site for the 4 m DAG (Eastern Anatolian Observatory in Turkish) telescope is at “Karakaya Ridge”, at 3170 m altitude (3150 m after summit management). The telescope’s optical design is performed by the DAG technical team to allow infrared observation at high angular resolution, with its adaptive optics system to be built in Turkey. In this paper; a brief introduction about DAG telescope design; planned instrumentation; the meteorological data collected from 2008, clear night counts, short-term DIMM observations; current infrastructure to hold auxiliary telescopes; auxiliary buildings to assist operations; the observatory design; and coating unit plans will be presented along with possible collaboration possibilities in terms of instrumentation and science programs.
DAG (Eastern Anatolia Observatory is read as “Doğu Anadolu Gözlemevi” in Turkish) is the newest and largest observatory of Turkey, constructed at an altitude of 3150 m in Konaklı/Erzurum provenience, with an optical and nearinfrared telescope (4 m in diameter) and its robust observing site infrastructure. This national project consists of three main phases: DAG (Telescope, Enclosure, Buildings and Infrastructures), FPI (Focal Plane Instruments and Adaptive Optics) and MCP (Mirror Coating Plant). All these three phases are supported by the Ministry of Development of Turkey and funding is awarded to Atatürk University. Telescope, enclosure and building tenders were completed in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. The final design of telescope, enclosure and building and almost all main infrastructure components of DAG site have been completed; mainly: road work, geological and atmospheric surveys, electric and fiber cabling, water line, generator system, cable car to summit. This poster explains recent developments of DAG project and talks about the future possible collaborations for various telescopes which can be constructed at the site.
The DAG (Turkish for Eastern Anatolia Observatory) 4-m telescope project has been formally launched in
2012, being fully funded by the Government of Turkey. This new observatory is to be located on a 3170 m
altitude ridge near the town of Erzurum in Eastern Anatolia. First light is scheduled for late 2017. The
DAG team’s baseline design of the telescope consists of a Ritchey-Chretien type with alt-az mount, a focal
length of 56 m and a field of view up to 30 arcmin. Multiple instruments will be located at the Nasmyth
foci. The optical specifications of the telescope are set by DAG team for diffraction limited performance
with active and adaptive optics. Modern mirror control technologies will allow defining in a most cost
effective way the figuring requirements of the optical surfaces: the low order figuring errors of the
combined optical train constituted of M1-M2-M3 are defined in terms of Zernike coefficients and referred
to the M1 surface area. The high order figuring errors are defined using the phase structure functions.
Daytime chilling of the closed enclosure volume and natural ventilation through suitable openings during
observations will be used to ensure optimal mirror and dome seeing. A design of a ground layer adaptive
optics (GLAO) subsystem is developed concurrently with the telescope. In this paper, main design aspects,
the optical design and expected performance analysis of the telescope will be presented.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.