April 16, 2009
Installation of the APF telescope in its dome
is proceeding this month.
The telescope will be used to find planets
circling distant stars by detecting small
repeating Doppler shift of their light.
April 21, 2009
Lotus reports that the APF is scheduled to be
installed this morning (Tuesday) starting at 7AM.
Keep an eye on the Hamcam 2 and the APF cam
for live images:
http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/hamcam/
http://mthamilton.ucolick.org/apfcam/
April 23, 2009
Hi,
As you may have seen, there were problems getting the first piece to
fit.
After they took it out and removed a bit, then it fit!
Now they have to figure out how to put the parts back together and add
the rest. So continuing tomorrow, watch the web cam. I asked Ellie to
post the daily movie from today somewhere we can look at it later! I
think she will.
Please pass on!
Thanks,
Lotus
 |
APF Dome near
completion
State Route 130 is
to the right. |
 |
The dome has 'over the top'
viewing doors allowing viewing at various angles above the horizon
with less
exposure to outside conditions. |
 |
Rather than using slip
rings the power and phone cable conduits are wrapped around the dome base
as if a flat watch spring. |
 |
In this multi frame image we
are riding on the dome.
Below is the
concrete base for the telescope.
The base is
anchored as if part of the Mountain. |
 |
The polished and figured
primary mirror.
The glass is of a type that
will not expand and contract with temperature. |
 |
Preparation of the vacuum tank.
The back of the mirror is
convex. |
 |
| First view of the
coated primary. |
 |
The largest part of the telescope,
its base, is to arrive Monday, April 20.
The plan is to park the truck
on route 130 and lift it from there into the dome. |
| |
 |
Shown is a schematic of a
smaller coater of similar design
with mechanical pumps backing an oil diffusion pump. |
 |
This coating machine was
built for coating the 120 inch mirror of the Shane telescope
and has
coated many large mirrors over the years. |