Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 14, 2005 1:52:19 GMT -6
Milestone Reached In Construction Of Discovery Channel Telescope
From Space Daily.com:
Happy Jack AZ (SPX) Jul 13, 2005
Lowell Observatory and Discovery Communications broke ground yesterday on the versatile, 4.2-meter Discovery Channel Telescope. With a phase-one cost of $35 million, the telescope will be the fifth largest telescope in the continental United States and one of the most sophisticated ground-based telescopes of its size.
Expected to be fully operational by 2010, the Discovery Channel Telescope will enable Lowell astronomers to enter new research areas and conduct many existing programs much more efficiently. Among the telescope's numerous scientific objectives, the search for near-Earth asteroids, Kuiper Belt Objects, and planets orbiting other stars, will be substantially advanced.
In this wide-field mode, the DCT's ability to perform deep imaging surveys of the night sky will be unmatched. This versatile telescope can be quickly converted to its alternative optical configuration, allowing it, unlike other pure survey telescopes, to be highly effective during bright phases of the moon.
The camera that Lowell will design and build for the 4.2-meter telescope will have 40 2K by 4K charge-coupled devices capable of acquiring enormous amounts of data from each exposure and has a two degree field of view.
More here: www.spacedaily.com/news/telescopes-05zd.html
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This will be a cool scope...I want a peek.
