12 research outputs found
The 2.5 m Telescope of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
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.Comment: 87 pages, 27 figures. AJ (in press, April 2006
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) will provide the data to support detailed
investigations of the distribution of luminous and non- luminous matter in the
Universe: a photometrically and astrometrically calibrated digital imaging
survey of pi steradians above about Galactic latitude 30 degrees in five broad
optical bands to a depth of g' about 23 magnitudes, and a spectroscopic survey
of the approximately one million brightest galaxies and 10^5 brightest quasars
found in the photometric object catalog produced by the imaging survey. This
paper summarizes the observational parameters and data products of the SDSS,
and serves as an introduction to extensive technical on-line documentation.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, AAS Latex. To appear in AJ, Sept 200