Hexapod control for an active secondary mirror: general concept and test results

Active control of the secondary mirror, mainly for correction of the decentering coma, is an essential tool for an active-optics telescope. The Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo is equipped with a secondary mirror supported by an hexapod mechanical structure, providing a positioning control with six degrees of freedom. The hexapod system has been built and tested to characterize its performance. The results show that the errors in the positioning of the secondary mirror lead to an aberration image well below the diffraction figure of the telescope.