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A Brief Introduction |  |
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ObservatoryScope's 20" Tracking and Pointing Tests Tracking Tests ObservatoryScope's Hybrid Band-Worm Drive System has a maximum backlash of less than ±1.5 arcseconds, permitting virtually instant tracking after long slews and extremely good tracking during longer exposures. The drive system repeatedly exhibits sub-arcsecond periodic error throughout the extremely short 34.2 second worm cycle of the worm gear component. Additionally, ObservatoryScope's unique drive system has the unique benefit of being virtually immune damage from contaminants, a statement which cannot be made for conventional friction drives or large worm drives employed by competing instrument designs. A couple of examples of our proprietary drive system's extraordinary tracking capabilities are shown below.
Initial Pointing Tests (11-07-2002) Shown below are the results of our first light TPOINT automated mapping run (32 stars) with the 20" Folded Newtonian prototype. The mapping run covered the entire sky from the zenith down to 35º altitude. Telescope pointing is better than 10 arcseconds down to 35º altitude with RMS pointing of 3.1 arcseconds. The results of this quick initial pointing run are excellent and completely validate our engineering designs and theories. The 20" telescope has been operational since November of 2002 and has been in continuous routine operation with the Puckett Observatory Supernova Search(POSS) program.
A Recent Pointing Test (03-26-2006) After 3 Years of Continuous Operation Its been over three years since ObservatoryScope's 20" Folded Newtonian was first put into operation. This telescope images an average of 450 galaxies per night as part of Tim Puckett's POSS program and operates every clear night. ObservatoryScope deliberately has been operating the telescope for over three years without protective drive system covers in an effort to accelerate any wear within our proprietary drive system by permitting grit and other foreign matter to contaminate the drive trains. The band drive components, although visibly dirty, show no wear or damage. The worm gears, also visibly dirty, still have yet to show any signs of wear to the black anodization on the gear teeth! Last summer the telescope was soaked by pouring rains and was covered with wind blown debris from two hurricanes which ripped through the southeast. High winds and a tree branch from the first hurricane damaged the observatory's roof and ripped part of the sheeting off the observatory's fold-down flap. We hastily applied tarpaulins to the damaged observatory. Needless to say, the tarpaulins were shredded when the second hurricane ripped through the southeast a couple of weeks later. Thus when we returned four days after the second hurricane passed, we found standing water in the observatory and mold growing on the telescope! We simply washed the entire telescope off with a garden hose while wiping most of the mold off with some old rags, and then we regreased the drive gears and all bearings. Finally, we reinstalled the CCD camera and were thankful that everything still worked with the exception of one of the drive system's two power supplies. We installed a spare power supply for the one which cooked when we turned power back on to the observatory. Lesson learned — always check all outlets and power strips to be sure they are not filled with water before turning the power back on! No other work has been performed on the telescope since last summer. Shown below is a much more comprehensive pointing evaluation of 76 star fields distributed around the sky from the zenith down to an altitude of 25° (65° zenith distance). In particular, note the overlay of the telescope's pointing performance upon the disk of Jupiter which has (as shown) an average disk diameter of 50 arcseconds as viewed from Earth.
The RA and DEC pointing performances are, respectively, within ±10 arc seconds MAX and ± 20 arc seconds MAX (relative to the zenith) throughout the entire sky down to 25° altitude. Note that the DEC axis pointing errors are about twice as large as they should be. Nevertheless, the telescope still exhibits a remarkable 9.3 arcsecond RMS pointing error and a 20 arcsecond MAX pointing error up to 65° away from the zenith! Obviously we need to check for a very slightly loose or maladjusted component within the optical support systems or perhaps within the DEC worm drive system. As noted above, we have not yet fully serviced the telescope after last summer's episode with two hurricanes. In Conclusion... An ObservatoryScope is unquestionably a "best buy" for your college or institution. Our instruments provide observatory class pointing and tracking performance and feature proprietary drive systems which are virtually immune to wear and to damage from grit and other foreign contaminants. Every ObservatoryScope features very robust construction, and features thoroughly engineered designs which has been optimized to be as simple and inexpensive as possible to manufacture. Quite simply, a telescope manufactured by ObservatoryScope offers the "most bang for the buck" and provides superior performance and reliability compared to many competing designs. |
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