Nordic Optical Telescope

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Nordic Optical Telescope
Not telescope sunset 2001.jpg
The building of the Nordic Optical Telescope near the time of sunset
Alternative namesNOT OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Location(s) La Palma, Atlantic Ocean, international waters
Coordinates 28°45′26″N17°53′06″W / 28.75728°N 17.88508°W / 28.75728; -17.88508 OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Altitude2,382 m (7,815 ft) OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Diameter2.560 m (8 ft 4.8 in) OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Secondary diameter0.510 m (1 ft 8.1 in) OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Mass43 t (43,000 kg) OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Focal length 28.160 m (92 ft 4.7 in) OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website www.not.iac.es OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Canarias-loc.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Nordic Optical Telescope
  Commons-logo.svg Related media on Commons
The interior of the telescope, showing an instrument on the Cassegrain focus. Not inst 2003.jpg
The interior of the telescope, showing an instrument on the Cassegrain focus.

The Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) is an astronomical telescope located at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma in the Canary Islands. The telescope saw first light in 1988, and was officially inaugurated during September 1989. Regular observing started in 1990. It is funded by Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and (since 1997) Iceland. Access is provided directly to astronomers of the funding countries, and of all nationalities through international time allocation committees.

Contents

The main mirror has a diameter of 2.56 metres (101 in). The optical forming was done at the optical laboratory at the Tuorla Observatory, on mirror blanks made of Zerodur at Schott Glaswerke in Mainz, Germany. [1]

While the NOT was designed as a passive telescope, with the mirror sufficiently thick to keep its shape even without an active feedback loop, its mirror was designed to be suspended on a pneumatic support system. [2] The designers had planned that this and the flexibility of the mirror would allow for the implementation of a so-called active optics system, a feature that was then under development for ESO's New Technology Telescope. In 1992, such an active optics system was installed at the NOT. [3]

Instrumentation

The NOT operates three instruments that can be mounted -only one at a time- under the Cassegrain focus:

There are two more instruments, permanently mounted on a folded-Cassegrain configuration. Retractable folding mirrors allow to switch in short time from the main instrument to either of them.

Visitor Instruments

The NOT has been host to a number of instruments on a "visitor" status.

Future

A new instrument for the NOT is currently under development, under the working name of NOT Transient Explorer (NTE). [4] This new instrument is intended to be mounted permanently at the Cassegrain focus, providing imaging and spectroscopic capabilities both in the full optical and near-infrared range.

See also

List of largest optical telescopes in the 20th century

References

  1. "Nordic Optical Telescope".
  2. "Nordic Optical Telescope".
  3. Andersen, T.; Larsen, O. B.; Owner-Petersen, M.; Steenberg, K. (1992). "Active Optics on the Nordic Optical Telescope". European Southern Observatory Conference and Workshop Proceedings. 42: 311. Bibcode:1992ESOC...42..311A.
  4. "NTE (NOT Transient Explorer)" . Retrieved 15 June 2021.