Euro50: Proposal for a 50 m Optical and Infrared Telescope

Ardeberg, Arne; Andersen, Torben; Rodriguez Espinosa, Jose Miguel
Bibliographical reference

Astronomische Gesellschaft Abstract Series, Vol. 18., Abstracts of Contributed Talks and Posters presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft at the Joint European and National Meeting JENAM 2001 of the European Astronomical Society and the Astronomische Gesellschaft at Munich, September 10-15, 2001, abstract #MS 06 05.

Advertised on:
0
2001
Number of authors
3
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Staff from Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Lund Observatory, Physics Department and Larmor Research Institute at Galway, and Tuorla Observatory is collaborating on studies for a 50 m optical and infrared telescope. The telescope concepts are based on the work on extremely large telescopes carried out during 1991-2000 at Lund Observatory, and on the experience from the 10.4 m segmented Grantecan telescope presently under construction. The proposed 50 m telescope is a fully adaptive Nasmyth telescope with a Ritchey Chretien configuration. It will have an aspherical, segmented primary mirror with 2 m large segments and a deformable secondary. Adaptive optics will be implemented in several steps. From the beginning, there will be single-conjugate adaptive optics for the K-band. Next, and within the first year of operation, the telescope will have single-conjugate adaptive optics for visible wavelengths. As a third step, and another year of operation, dual-conjugate adaptive optics will be made available for the K-band. The telescope will be housed in a co-rotating enclosure at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory on La Palma. Further studies are in progress aiming at preparation of a proposal during the first half of 2002.