This book presents a complete summary of the author's twenty five years of experience in telescope design. It provides a general introduction to every aspect of telescope design. It also discusses the theory behind telescope design in depth, which makes it a good reference book for professionals. It covers Radio, Infrared, Optical, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray wavelengths. Originally published in Chinese.
“This 630-page book provides a very comprehensive engineering and science study of telescopes used for astronomy … . The technical level of the book is for graduate engineers and astronomers … . I reviewed some of the algebra in detail and found it to be complete and understandable. … I predict that the book will find broad use among the engineering and astronomical communities for years into the future, and I recommend this book to astronomers and engineers who build astronomical telescopes and instruments.” (James B. Breckinridge, The Observatory, Vol. 130, October, 2010)
“The book offers more of an encyclopedic review of a wide range of facets on the subjects of design, construction, calibration, and operation of telescopes used in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. … A short chapter with tables of all major telescopes in the world closes the book. … The book will be most useful to readers with an understanding of … telescope, who want to obtain a feeling for how problems in other wavelength regimes have been attacked.” (Jacob W. M. Baars, The Radio Science Bulletin, Issue 335, December, 2010)
Table of Contents.- Dedication.- Contributing Authors.- Preface of English edition.- Preface of Chinese edition.- Acknowledgments.- Fundamentals of Optical Telescopes.- A brief history of optical telescopes.- General astronomical requirements.- Angular resolution.- Light collecting power.- Field-of-view and combined efficiency.- Atmospheric windows and site selection.- Fundamentals of astronomical optics.- Optical systems for astronomical telescopes.- Aberrations and their calculations.- Formulas of telescope aberrations.- Field corrector design.- Ray tracing, spot diagram, and merit function.- Modern optical theory.- Optical transfer function.- Wave aberrations and modulation transfer function.- Wavefront error and the Strehl ratio.- Image spatial frequency.- Image property of a segmented mirror system.- References.- Mirror Design of Optical Telescopes.- Specifications for optical mirror design.- Fundamental requirements for optical mirrors.- Mirror surface error and support systems.- Surface error fitting and slope error expression.- Lightweight primary mirror design.- Significance of lightweight mirrors for telescopes.- Thin mirror design.- Honeycomb mirror design.- Multi-mirror telescopes.- Segmented mirror telescopes.- Metal and lightweight mirrors.- Mirror polishing and mirror supporting.- Material properties of optical mirrors.- Optical mirror polishing.- Vacuum coating.- Mirror support mechanisms.- Mirror seeing and stray light control.- Mirror seeing effect.- Stray light control.- References.- Telescope Structures and Control System.- Telescope mounting.- Equatorial mounting.- Altitude-azimuth mounting.- Stewart platform mounting telescope.- Fixed mirror or fixed altitude mountings.- Telescope tube and other structure design.- Specifications for telescope tube design.- Telescope tube design.- Support vane design for secondary mirror.- Telescope bearing design.- Structural static analysis.- Telescope drive and control.- Specifications of telescope drive system.- Trends in drive system design.- Encoder systems for telescopes.- Pointing error corrections.- Servo control and distributed intelligence.- Star guiding.- Structural dynamic analysis.- Wind and earthquake spectrums.- Dynamic simulation of telescope structures.- Combined structural and control simulation.- Structural vibration control.- Telescope foundation design.- References.- Advanced Techniques for Optical Telescopes.- Active and adaptive optics.- Basic principles of active and adaptive optics.- Wavefront sensors.- Actuators, deformable mirrors, phase correctors, and metrology system.- Active optical system and phasing sensors.- Curvature sensors and tip-tilt devices.- Atmosphere disturbance and adaptive optics compensation.- Artificial laser guide star and adaptive optics.- Atmosphere tomography and multi-conjugate adaptive optics.- Adaptive secondary mirror design.- Optical interferometers.- Speckle interferometer technique.- Michelson interferometer.- Fizeau interferometry.- Intensity interferometry.- Amplitude interferometer.- References.- Space Telescopes and Their Development.- Orbit environmental conditions.- Orbit definition.- Orbit thermal conditions.- Other orbit conditions.- Attitude control of space telescopes.- Attitude sensors.- Attitude actuators.- Space telescope projects.- Hubble Space Telescope.- James Webb Space Telescope.- Space Interferometry Mission and other space programs.- References.- Fundamentals of Radio Telescopes.- Brief history of radio telescopes.- Scientific requirements for radio telescopes.- Atmospheric radio windows and site selection.- Parameters of radio antennas.- Radiation pattern.- Antenna gain.- Antenna temperature and noise temperature.- Antenna efficiency.- Polarization properties.- Optical arrangement of radio antennas.- Characteristics of offset antennas.- Radio telescope receivers.- References.- Radio Telescope Design.- Antenna tolerance and homologous design.- Transmission loss of electromagnetic waves.- Ante
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More About This Textbook
Overview
This book presents a complete summary of the author's twenty five years of experience in telescope design. It provides a general introduction to every aspect of telescope design. It also discusses the theory behind telescope design in depth, which makes it a good reference book for professionals. It covers Radio, Infrared, Optical, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray wavelengths. Originally published in Chinese.
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
From the reviews:“This 630-page book provides a very comprehensive engineering and science study of telescopes used for astronomy … . The technical level of the book is for graduate engineers and astronomers … . I reviewed some of the algebra in detail and found it to be complete and understandable. … I predict that the book will find broad use among the engineering and astronomical communities for years into the future, and I recommend this book to astronomers and engineers who build astronomical telescopes and instruments.” (James B. Breckinridge, The Observatory, Vol. 130, October, 2010)
“The book offers more of an encyclopedic review of a wide range of facets on the subjects of design, construction, calibration, and operation of telescopes used in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. … A short chapter with tables of all major telescopes in the world closes the book. … The book will be most useful to readers with an understanding of … telescope, who want to obtain a feeling for how problems in other wavelength regimes have been attacked.” (Jacob W. M. Baars, The Radio Science Bulletin, Issue 335, December, 2010)
Product Details
Related Subjects
Table of Contents
Table of Contents.- Dedication.- Contributing Authors.- Preface of English edition.- Preface of Chinese edition.- Acknowledgments.- Fundamentals of Optical Telescopes.- A brief history of optical telescopes.- General astronomical requirements.- Angular resolution.- Light collecting power.- Field-of-view and combined efficiency.- Atmospheric windows and site selection.- Fundamentals of astronomical optics.- Optical systems for astronomical telescopes.- Aberrations and their calculations.- Formulas of telescope aberrations.- Field corrector design.- Ray tracing, spot diagram, and merit function.- Modern optical theory.- Optical transfer function.- Wave aberrations and modulation transfer function.- Wavefront error and the Strehl ratio.- Image spatial frequency.- Image property of a segmented mirror system.- References.- Mirror Design of Optical Telescopes.- Specifications for optical mirror design.- Fundamental requirements for optical mirrors.- Mirror surface error and support systems.- Surface error fitting and slope error expression.- Lightweight primary mirror design.- Significance of lightweight mirrors for telescopes.- Thin mirror design.- Honeycomb mirror design.- Multi-mirror telescopes.- Segmented mirror telescopes.- Metal and lightweight mirrors.- Mirror polishing and mirror supporting.- Material properties of optical mirrors.- Optical mirror polishing.- Vacuum coating.- Mirror support mechanisms.- Mirror seeing and stray light control.- Mirror seeing effect.- Stray light control.- References.- Telescope Structures and Control System.- Telescope mounting.- Equatorial mounting.- Altitude-azimuth mounting.- Stewart platform mounting telescope.- Fixed mirror or fixed altitude mountings.- Telescope tube and other structure design.- Specifications for telescope tube design.- Telescope tube design.- Support vane design for secondary mirror.- Telescope bearing design.- Structural static analysis.- Telescope drive and control.- Specifications of telescope drive system.- Trends in drive system design.- Encoder systems for telescopes.- Pointing error corrections.- Servo control and distributed intelligence.- Star guiding.- Structural dynamic analysis.- Wind and earthquake spectrums.- Dynamic simulation of telescope structures.- Combined structural and control simulation.- Structural vibration control.- Telescope foundation design.- References.- Advanced Techniques for Optical Telescopes.- Active and adaptive optics.- Basic principles of active and adaptive optics.- Wavefront sensors.- Actuators, deformable mirrors, phase correctors, and metrology system.- Active optical system and phasing sensors.- Curvature sensors and tip-tilt devices.- Atmosphere disturbance and adaptive optics compensation.- Artificial laser guide star and adaptive optics.- Atmosphere tomography and multi-conjugate adaptive optics.- Adaptive secondary mirror design.- Optical interferometers.- Speckle interferometer technique.- Michelson interferometer.- Fizeau interferometry.- Intensity interferometry.- Amplitude interferometer.- References.- Space Telescopes and Their Development.- Orbit environmental conditions.- Orbit definition.- Orbit thermal conditions.- Other orbit conditions.- Attitude control of space telescopes.- Attitude sensors.- Attitude actuators.- Space telescope projects.- Hubble Space Telescope.- James Webb Space Telescope.- Space Interferometry Mission and other space programs.- References.- Fundamentals of Radio Telescopes.- Brief history of radio telescopes.- Scientific requirements for radio telescopes.- Atmospheric radio windows and site selection.- Parameters of radio antennas.- Radiation pattern.- Antenna gain.- Antenna temperature and noise temperature.- Antenna efficiency.- Polarization properties.- Optical arrangement of radio antennas.- Characteristics of offset antennas.- Radio telescope receivers.- References.- Radio Telescope Design.- Antenna tolerance and homologous design.- Transmission loss of electromagnetic waves.- Ante