A 10-Meter Telescope for Millimeter and Sub-Millimeter Astronomy
Creators: name: Leighton, Robert B.
Publisher: name: California Institute of Technology
Year: 1977

description: The design and construction of a prototype 10.4 meter, f/0.4 telescope
intended for millimeter- and submillimeter-wave astronomy is described,
with particular emphasis on design features, fabrication techniques, and
error sources. The surface accuracy attained on a prototype dish was about
50 µm rms; on the first of four "production" dishes, about 25 µm rms; the goal
for at least one of the four dishes is to be 10 µm rms or less. The reflecting
surface is sheet aluminum cemented to accurately machined honeycomb panels.
The 84 demountable panels are supported on a tubular steel- framework which is
itself disassemblable into a few easily transportable pieces. A notable feature
is that the dish may be disassembled and reassembled without significant loss
of accuracy and without need for later readjustment, although the means for readjustment
are provided. The mount is of the altazimuth fork type and has an
initial absolute pointing accuracy of 6 - 10" and a tracking accuracy of
1 - 2" in the absence of strong wind gusts, which degrade the tracking accuracy
somewhat. The telescope, operated in an f/4.2 cassegrain mode at 230 GHz, has
a system effeciency greater than 50 percent. Three such telescopes are to be
installed at Owens Valley Radio Observatory and used as a millimeter-wave
aperture synthesis radio interferometer. A fourth telescope, of especially
high dish accuracy, is to be built and tested at OVRO and later moved to a
high, dry mountain site for submillimeter infrared and radio astronomy.
description: Any complex technical enterprise, even a relatively modest one like this,
requires the substantial participation of many skilled persons and might not
succeed at all without the essential contributions of a special few. Extending
as it did over several years from concept to completion, the present project
involved so many persons directly or indirectly, that it would be most difficult
to acknowledge all the individuals who contributed significantly to it. The
following partial list recognizes some of those who made special contributions.
Professional:
Engineering and Design:
Bruce Rule:
Victor Ehrgott:
Robert Lyon:
Walter Schaal:
Dish and mounting design concepts
Mount design layout
Fabrication concepts and initial tooling
Detail design
Mechanical and Fabrication:
David Vail:
Walter Schaal:
Dish fabrication and technical supervision
Mount fabrication
Computer Hardware and Software:
Martin Ewing:
H. Wayne Hammond:
Barbara Zimmerman:
Technical:
Joseph Lyvers:
Larry Van Stone:
Jeffrey Clark:
OVRO Staff:
Computer system concepts
Computer operating system software
FORTH Language software
Prototype dish fabrication
Prototype dish fabrication
DISH 1 fabrication and surface measurements
Telescope Assembly, Wiring, and Adjustment:
O. Wayne Hutton:
Chick O. Lackore:
Ronald E. Allen:
Mechanical and supervision
Mechanical and assembly
Electrical layout and wiring
Student Technicians:
John Bean:
Raymond Waldo:
Michael Norman:
Donald Macglashen:
Eric Tollestrup:
Kurt Tollestrup:
Robert Calvet:
Isabella Lewis:
Norman Murray:

3-meter dish and early 10-meter prototype parts
Prototype dish fabrication
Prototype dish fabrication
Prototype dish fabrication
DISH 1 fabrication
DISH 1 fabrication
DISH 1 and DISH 2 fabrication
DISH 2 fabrication
DISH 2 fabrication
Faculty and Research Investigators:
Co-investigators
Alan Moffet:
Gerry Neugebauer:
Research Investigators:
Thomas Phillips:
Peter Wannier:
Electrical system design
Infrared instrumentation
(Bell Laboratories) Receiver design and 1 millimeter
measurements
Receiver design and fabrication
description: Submitted - Leighton_Robert-AST_73-04908.pdf