Azimuth Axis Design for Huge Telescopes - an Update

摘要

Alt-azimuth mounted radio telescopes use since their beginning - more then 50 years ago - the wheel-on-track principle for the realization of the azimuth axis. For the very huge telescopes (as the Lovell telescope in Jodrell Bank, UK, 1956; the Effelsberg Telescope, Germany, 1969; and the Green Bank Telescope, USA 1996), the wheel-on-track system was and is always one of the most sensitive and maintenance consuming subsystems. On the other hand, the huge optical telescopes use since Mount Palomar (and earlier) hydrostatic axes mechanisms, which need also some maintenance efforts, but are very robust and reliable. The paper gives an update of the design approaches for the new built radio telescopes LMT Mexico, and SRT Sardinia, and compares them with hydrostatic solutions for optical telescopes.