ENGINEERING REPORT ON THE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY 2-METER AUTOMATIC SPECTROSCOPIC TELESCOPE Joel A. Eaton Project Manager
Tennessee State University decided to design and build its 2m automatic telescope after finding no acceptable telescope contractors to build such a telescope within the budget available. This report describes the process of developing the telescope and its instrumentation. We hope it will be useful to anybody else contemplating or managing such a project, which we have found well within the abilities of a moderately small university. Initially this report contained a description of the analysis of the telescope structure conducted by TSU before and during the design of the telescope mount and on construction of the mount. We have since been adding pictures of the telescope and its dedicated spectrograph as they develop, as well as reports and information about the telescope control system. Eventually we will provide the complete plans for the telescope mount, its basic control system, and its instrumentation for copying over the Internet. For a list of stars we are observing, click here.
This report consists of the following parts:
Press photos for Nashville AAS talk 3.01 and text of papers for Glasgow SPIE conference (June 2004) and Orlando SPIE Conference (2006).
Description of the philosophy behind the telescope mount.
A list of the technical consultants used on the project.
A finite-element-analysis of the telescope mount.
A report on the azimuth bearings used in the telescope.
A pictorial record of site development, including relocating the telescope to Arizona.
A pictorial record of construction of the telescope.
Reports on the control system for the telescope.
Trips to Arizona for testing and perfecting the telescope, July 2000 -- 2001.
Description of the echelle spectrograph.
Maintenance documents for the telescope, including parts lists for the telescope and spectrograph.
Monthly progress reports and other documents from our days as a NASA project.
A recent picture of the telescope, and some pictures of Messier objects we took at prime focus in March, 2001: (M13), (M51), (M94), and (M104).
