Design considerations for a 10-m optical table telescope

Area of Science:

• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Optical Engineering

Background:

• Conventional large telescopes often exceed cost scaling laws.
• Access for maintenance and instrument upgrades can be challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate a cost-effective telescope configuration for a 10-m segmented-mirror telescope.
• To explore the benefits of applying optical table principles to telescope design.

Main Methods:

• Studied a specific telescope configuration at National Central University.
• Applied principles from optical tables to the telescope design.
• Analyzed cost implications relative to conventional scaling laws.

Main Results:

• The optical table principle leads to telescope costs well below conventional scaling.
• This configuration allows for easy primary mirror access.
• Secondary and sky baffle assemblies can be quickly replaced.

Conclusions:

• The optical table design offers a cost-effective solution for large telescopes.
• The design is suitable for specialized observations requiring frequent component changes.
• Similar configurations may be applicable to large monolithic primary mirrors.