Living with Adaptive Secondary Mirrors 365/7/24

摘要

The Large Binocular Telescope has two adaptive secondary mirrors which are used for regular observing in both seeing-limited mode and for diffraction-limited mode unlike the adaptive secondaries at the MMT and Magellan telescopes which are swapped in for diffraction-limited observing only. The LBTO secondary mirrors have been in routine operation for ～ 4 years for the first and for ～ 2 years for the second. We review the operational history of these units and discuss the various failure modes unique to adaptive secondaries as compared with rigid secondaries for seeing-limited observing and more conventional adaptive optics systems for diffraction-limited observing.