Construction of a medium-sized schwarzschild-couder telescope as a candidate for the cherenkov telescope array: development of the optical alignment system

D. Nieto, S. Griffiths, B. Humensky, P. Kaaret, M. Limon, I. Mognet, A. Peck, A. Petrashyk, D. Ribeiro, J. Rousselle, B. Stevenson, V. Vassiliev, P. Yu

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is an international project for a next-generation groundbased gamma-ray observatory. CTA, conceived as an array of tens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, comprising small, medium and large-size telescopes, is aiming to improve on the sensitivity of current-generation experiments by an order of magnitude and provide energy coverage from 20 GeV to more than 300 TeV. The Schwarzschild-Couder (SC) medium-size candidate telescope model features a novel aplanatic two-mirror optical design capable of a wide field-of-view with significantly improved imaging resolution as compared to the traditional Davis- Cotton optics design. Achieving this imaging resolution imposes strict alignment requirements to be accomplished by a dedicated alignment system. In this contribution we present the status of the development of the SC optical alignment system, soon to be materialized in a full-scale prototype SC medium-size telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in southern Arizona.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number990
JournalProceedings of Science
Volume30-July-2015
StatePublished - 2015
Event34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2015 - The Hague, Netherlands
Duration: Jul 30 2015Aug 6 2015

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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