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One of ASTELCO's primary fields is the design and construction of modern alt-az telescopes. ASTELCO uses latest achievements of motion technology and motion control. Highly dynamic high-torque motors, combined with high-precision hydrostatic and sleeve bearings and high-tech encoder systems lead to telescopes of unsurpassed pointing and tracking accuracy, combined with very high slewing speeds of up to ~40°/sec. With these telescopes it is possible to observe objects in rapidly changing sequence; within a few seconds from a stand-by position every object in the sky can be reached, for example following a GRB alert. The fast slewing speed optimizes valuable observing time, especially in robotic conditions.
Alternately, for less ambitious applications like public observatories,
our conventional friction or worm gear drive systems leads to high
accuracy pointing at medium slew speeds of up to 5°/sec.
The optical systems used in ASTELCO telescopes are either classical
Cassegrain or Ritchey-Chrétien, with or without Nasmyth foci. Optical
field-of-view correctors as well as wide-field correctors are available
to enhance the effectivity of the telescope. Optimizations for
observations in special wavelengths are possible. For example, special
coatings are available that have been optimized by ASTELCO in
collaboration with outside coating facilities for IR or near-UV
observations.
ASTELCO alt-az robotic telescopes are available in the following
apertures:
0.6m |
0.8m |
1.0m |
1.4m |
2.5m |
0.7m |
0.9m |
1.2m |
2.0m |
3.0m |
Special configurations of any aperture in between are possible upon
request.