NPT: a large-aperture telescope for high dynamic range astronomy

Robert D. Joseph; Jeff R. Kuhn; Alan T. Tokunaga; Roy Coulter; Christ Ftaclas; J. Elon Graves; Charles L. Hull; D. Jewitt; Donald L. Mickey; Gilberto Moretto; Doug Neill; Malcolm J. Northcott; Claude A. Roddier; Francois J. Roddier; Walter A. Siegmund; Tobias C. Owen

doi:10.1117/12.390156

29 June 2000 NPT: a large-aperture telescope for high dynamic range astronomy

Robert D. Joseph, Jeff R. Kuhn, Alan T. Tokunaga, Roy Coulter, Christ Ftaclas, J. Elon Graves, Charles L. Hull, D. Jewitt, Donald L. Mickey, Gilberto Moretto, Doug Neill, Malcolm J. Northcott, Claude A. Roddier, Francois J. Roddier, Walter A. Siegmund, Tobias C. Owen

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4005, Discoveries and Research Prospects from 8- to 10-Meter-Class Telescopes; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390156
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2000, Munich, Germany

Abstract

All existing night-time astronomical telescopes, regardless of aperture, are blind to an important part of the universe - the region around bright objects. Technology now exist to build an unobscured 6.5 m aperture telescope which will attain coronagraphic sensitivity heretofore unachieved. A working group hosted by the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy has developed plans for a New Planetary Telescope which will permit astronomical observations which have never before ben possible. In its narrow-field mode the off-axis optical design, combined with adaptive optics, provides superb coronagraphic capabilities, and a very low thermal IR background. These make it ideal for studies of extra-solar planets and circumstellar discs, as well as for general IR astronomy. In its wide-field mode the NPT provides a 2 degree diameter field for surveys of Kuiper Belt Objects and Near-Earth Objects, surveys central to current intellectual interests in solar system astronomy.

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Robert D. Joseph, Jeff R. Kuhn, Alan T. Tokunaga, Roy Coulter, Christ Ftaclas, J. Elon Graves, Charles L. Hull, D. Jewitt, Donald L. Mickey, Gilberto Moretto, Doug Neill, Malcolm J. Northcott, Claude A. Roddier, Francois J. Roddier, Walter A. Siegmund, and Tobias C. Owen "NPT: a large-aperture telescope for high dynamic range astronomy", Proc. SPIE 4005, Discoveries and Research Prospects from 8- to 10-Meter-Class Telescopes, (29 June 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.390156

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