Save our secondary: recovering a broken 1.3-m mirror

Timothy M. C. Abbott; Ronald G. Probst; Gary Poczulp; Roberto Tighe; Patricio Schurter; Andrés Montané; Joseph DeVries; Ronald C. Harris; Jonathan Elias; Manuel Martinez; Oscar Saa

doi:10.1117/12.2056636

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22 July 2014 Save our secondary: recovering a broken 1.3-m mirror

Timothy M. C. Abbott, Ronald G. Probst, Gary Poczulp, Roberto Tighe, Patricio Schurter, Andrés Montané, Joseph DeVries, Ronald C. Harris, Jonathan Elias, Manuel Martinez, Oscar Saa

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Proceedings Volume 9145, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V; 914542 (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056636
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

In an inauspicious start to the ultimately very successful installation of the Dark Energy Camera on the V. M. Blanco 4- m telescope at CTIO, the light-weighted Cer-Vit 1.3-m-diameter secondary mirror suffered an accident in which it fell onto its apex. This punched out a central plug of glass and destroyed the focus and tip/tilt mechanism. However, the mirror proved fully recoverable, without degraded performance. This paper describes the efforts through which the mirror was repaired and the tip/tilt mechanism rebuilt and upgraded. The telescope re-entered full service as a Ritchey- Chrétien platform in October of 2013.

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Timothy M. C. Abbott, Ronald G. Probst, Gary Poczulp, Roberto Tighe, Patricio Schurter, Andrés Montané, Joseph DeVries, Ronald C. Harris, Jonathan Elias, Manuel Martinez, and Oscar Saa "Save our secondary: recovering a broken 1.3-m mirror", Proc. SPIE 9145, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes V, 914542 (22 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056636

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