Through the Telescope

Source Telescope Source Telescope

A convenient telescope performance metric for imaging through turbulence

This paper provides an overview of the various image quality metrics used in astronomical imaging and explains in details a new metric, the Normalized Point Source Sensitivity. It is based on the Equivalent Noise Area concept, an extension of the EE80% metric and is intuitively linked to the required science integration time. As it was proved in recent studies, the PSSN metric properly accounts...

three models of engineering design process through a case study: hubble space telescope

design process is one of the main processes practiced in engineering. in this paper, after demonstrating the place of engineering among the topics discussed about technology, design process is studied from the perspective of three different models. the first model, vincenti’s model, provides an abstract explanation of the design process; the second model, bucciarelli’s model, has a sociological...

The Cat Imaging Telescope

The VHE gamma-ray imaging telescope CAT started taking data in October 1996. Located at the Themis solar site in southern France (2E, 42N, 1650 m a.s.l), it features a 17.7 m2 Davies-Cotton mirror equipped with a 600 PMT camera at the focal plane. The mechanics and optics, the PMTs and the electronics are presented. The performance, based on the first 7 months of operation, is described. INTROD...

The Karoo Array Telescope

The Karoo Array Telescope (KAT) will be a “1% demonstrator” for the SKA, located in a radio quiet reserve in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Besides developing technologies for the SKA project, the KAT will perform wide-field surveys that will be precursors to the eventual SKA products. The nominal specification for the KAT are listed, and the proposed science th...