Design considerations for a 10-m optical table telescope

A study of a telescope configuration for a 10-m segmented-mirror telescope done at National Central University, Chung-li, Taiwan, indicates that the application of the principle employed in optical tables can result in a telescope cost lying well below the scaling law for conventional telescopes. The optical table provides easy access to the primary mirror and quick replacement of secondary and sky baffle assemblies, as might be desirable for specialized observations. A similar design configuration could be used for a large monolithic primary mirror. The optical table geometry is relevant only to altazimuth mountings where the gravity vector remains in a vertical plane through the structure.