McGraw-Hill 1.3 Meter Telescope |
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Telescope Control SystemIn 1996 I wrote a control system for the McGraw-Hill 1.3 meter telescope at Kitt peak national observatory. This telescope is operated by the Michigan-Dartmouth- MIT consortium. The telescope is not automated so the system is only informational. The program reads the encoders from the RA, Dec and Dome and displays information about the telescope's position. |
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Special thanks to Bob Barr and John Thorstensen. Related Links: MDM Observatory home page |
In 1994-1995 I wrote a control system for the Hiltner 2.4 meter telescope at Kitt peak national observatory. This telescope is operated by the Michigan-Dartmouth- MIT consortium. The control system enables an observer to point the telescope under computer control through a set of counter timer boards, a digital to analog board and a "muscle box" outside of the control computer. The computer is an DX466 66 MHZ system with 16MB ram running OS/2 warp. The software consists of 16 independent processes which control different aspects of the telescope's operation: RA and DEC paddle motion, RA and DEC auto motion, communications, dome, focus, location transformations, calculations, display, paddle, auto guilder, etc. The system was installed November 1st 1995. Planned upgrades include a communication link to allow for automatic control of the focus.
Special thanks to Bob Barr and John Thorstensen for doing a great job helping to get the system working.
I am currently planning to do the Magraw-Hill 1.3 Meter telescope next, involving reading and display of the telescope's position.
MDM Observatory home page
UM Astronomy Department
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Dartmouth Physics and Astronomy
John Thorstensen