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Title: The 2.5 m Telescope of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Journal Article · · Astron.J.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/500975· OSTI ID:1847789

We describe the design, construction, and performance of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Telescope located at Apache Point Observatory. The telescope is a modified two-corrector Ritchey-Chretien design which has a 2.5-m, f/2.25 primary, a 1.08-m secondary, a Gascoigne astigmatism corrector, and one of a pair of interchangeable highly aspheric correctors near the focal focal plane, one for imaging and the other for spectroscopy. The final focal ratio is f/5. The telescope is instrumented by a wide-area, multiband CCD camera and a pair of fiber-fed double spectrographs. Novel features of the telescope include: (1) A 3 degree diameter (0.65 m) focal plane that has excellent image quality and small geometrical distortions over a wide wavelength range (3000 to 10,600 Angstroms) in the imaging mode, and good image quality combined with very small lateral and longitudinal color errors in the spectroscopic mode. The unusual requirement of very low distortion is set by the demands of time-delay-and-integrate (TDI) imaging: (2) Very high precision motion to support open loop TDI observations: and (3) A unique wind baffle/enclosure construction to maximize image quality and minimize construction costs. The telescope had first light in May 1998 and began regular survey operations in 2000.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Contributing Organization:
SDSS
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359
OSTI ID:
1847789
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-07-568-CD; arXiv:astro-ph/0602326; oai:inspirehep.net:710585
Journal Information:
Astron.J., Vol. 131
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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