First Test Observations and Measured Parameters of the SMTO

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Session 8 -- Radio Surveys and Techniques
Display presentation, Monday, 9, 1995, 9:20am - 6:30pm

[8.07] First Test Observations and Measured Parameters of the SMTO

J. W. M. Baars (SMTO), W. J. Altenhoff (MPIfR, Bonn), J. G. Mangum, R. N. Martin, J. P. McMullin and W. L. Peters (SMTO)

The 10m diameter Heinrich Hertz Telescope (HHT) of the Submillimeter Telescope Observatory (SMTO), located on Mount Graham, has entered the phase of astronomical testing and calibration. After having reached a reflector accuracy of about 30 microns (see accompanying poster), we have proceeded with the measurement of a number of characteristics, such as pointing parameters, tracking behavior, beam parameters and aperture efficiency. Most of these measurements were done with bolometer systems at wavelengths of 1.2 and 0.35 mm. In the poster we summarize the results of these measurements and indicate the expected performance parameters of the HHT during the first few months of astronomical observing. Particular attention will be drawn to the special features of the telescope design, which enable the telescope to attain unsurpassed performance for observations in the shortest submillimeter windows. Examples of observations will be used to illustrate the status of the facility at the end of 1994, slightly more than two years after the beginning of the mechanical assembly.

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