Questions tagged [instruments]
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What are the reference signal(s) for a closed-loop space-based adaptive optical system?
Closed-loop control systems in general have the following form:
Here the controller seeks to eliminate or minimize the difference between a given signal (this can be either a constant signal of the ...
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What on-site equipment is installed with radio telescopes?
I hope this question isn't too broad.
I'd like to know something about radio telescopes, precisely what equipment they have.
When I search "radio telescope control room" in image search ...
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At the intersection of engineering and astronomy in its structure as a scientific discipline
Astronomy is the comprehensive study of what lies beyond the Earth. Modern astronomy (I relied on classifications from here and here) is divided into a large sections (astrophysics, astrogeology, ...
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Instead of a five-element corrector for arced drift trajectories, why didn't the ILMT just use CCDs fabricated w/ slightly non-cartesian pixel layout?
Phys.org's New Indian telescope identifies its first supernova links to the recent arXiv Follow-up strategy of ILMT discovered supernovae. The International Liquid Mirror Telescope is no ordinary ...
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Why is plasma used to deposit aluminum on the VLT's four large mirrors?
In Tim Scott's October 2, 2023 video "The largest telescope that will ever be built*" (note the asterisk, link below) there is a discussion of the "re-silvering" of the four main ...
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Formation of spacecraft instrumentation [closed]
List of spacecraft instruments are selected to meet a mission's science goals.
Let's take New Horizons as an example and study the composition of Pluto's atmosphere, the shape and geological ...
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Did they ever figure out why Parker's WISPR cameras were able to see the surface of Venus? Mischaracterized filter, or unexpected atmospheric window?
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Laboratory/Guillermo Stenborg and Brendan Gallagher
Also refer to the technical material cited in the Space Exploration SE question
How brightly does ...
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Ritchey–Chrétien telescope with a short back focus
I have an observing project that requires a 30 -- 40 cm (12 -- 16 inch) diameter primary and no refractive/transmissive elements (i.e. lenses).
Telescopes like this Ritchey–Chrétien has a back focus ...
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Is "monochromatic source" different than "monochromator" in astronomical instrumentation?
I got a comment to replace "monochromator" by "monochromatic source" for a paper on an astronomical instrument. The latter seems less specific for no reason.
Is there an agreement ...
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SKA 101: How will it "perform the most precise tests of Einstein's theories" and Australia & South Africa arrays be "made to work seamlessly together"
The BBC's December 7, 2022 SKA: Construction to begin on world's biggest telescope includes the following:
It will perform the most precise tests of Einstein's theories
and
The first major ...
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How do astronomical spectrometers measure spectra from single stars separately, without contamination from all of the nearby stars?
I am currently looking into light spectrometers, and I noticed that the ones I found had a similar problem; when the light reaches the spectrometer, it mixes giving a broad range of light wavelengths.
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Different types of line broadening in stellar and galactic spectra
When analyzing stellar and galactic spectra with spectrographs, the spectral lines get broadened from the instrument. Why do the spectral lines get broadened after the light moves through the ...
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Do circa 1 THz radio telescope front end amplifiers actually down convert before amplifying? At what frequency does amplification become untenable?
A discussion of how astronomers view where "radio" ends and "infrared" begins under What does the celestial sphere look like in thermal IR? led me to wonder just how high of a ...
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How exactly did JWST take a "selfie" of its own primary mirror, and what is the real purpose of this capability?
CNN's Webb telescope's first test images include an unexpected 'selfie' says only:
The mirror selfie was captured by a special lens inside NIRCam that can image the primary mirror rather than what ...
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How does IXPE measure polarization, and why does it have three identical X-ray telescopes?
From The Observatory:
Anyone who missed any of the AAS 239 press conferences can see them on the AAS Press Office's YouTube channel! Here's the full program.
From there I found the Monday, January ...
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