Telescope positioning and drive system based on magnetic bearings, technical challenges and possible applications in optical stellar interferometry

摘要

The paper describes the envisaged positioning and drive system for telescopes of the 2m class, gives some basic analysisfor power consumption and positioning performance and proposes next steps for verification of the concept. A possibleapplication could be in optical stellar interferometry where an additional delay could be spared if the positioning performanceis better than 10nm. Fast re-positioning of the telescopes should allow for multiple baselines during one observingnight giving the opportunity to obtain high spatial stellar images with high time resolution.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.