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General information
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Home > Information for Researchers > SOFIA Telescope > Key Characteristics

Observatory Facts Optical Qualities Spatial Resolution
Key Characteristics Photometric Sensitivity Spectral Resolution

 

 

SOFIA Telescope

 


Key Characteristics of the SOFIA telescope:

Weight of telescope including science instrument: circa 20,000 kg
Configuration: Cassegrain-telescope with Nasmyth focus, permanent access to science instrument from cabin
Structural layout: CFRP-structure in dumbbell shape with trusswork metering tube
Rotation isolation system: Hydrostatic bearing with 2 ring segments, 1.2 m diameter, 10-30 bars pressure
Rotation drive system: Coarse drive for elevation and fine drive (brushless DC spherical segment motors) for elevation, cross-elevation and line-of-sight (L.O.S.)
Vibraton isolation system: 12 springs/dampers around the hydrostatic bearing in longitudinal and tangential directions
Primary mirror (PM): 2.7 m diameter, 2.5 m effective aperture, lightweighted ZERODUR structure on 18-point whiffle-tree support, PM ratio f/1.28, aluminum coated
Secondary mirror (SM): SiC material, 352 mm diameter, aluminum coated
SM functions: Focus, alignment, chopping (2-axis in arbitrary directions, offset, three point, stationary)
Tertiary mirror (TM): 2 flat exchangeable mirrors, dichroic (gold coated) and non-dichroic (aluminum coated)
System focal ratio: f/19.6
Wavelength range: 0.3 um to 1,600 um
Unvignetted field of view: 8 arcmin
Ranges of motions: Elevation 15-70 degrees (20-60 degrees unvignetted), cross-elevation and L.O.S. ± 3.0 degrees
Diffraction limited wavelengths: Greater or equal to 15 microns
Image stability (goal): 0.2 arcsec rms for focal plane tracking
Total emisivity of telescope: 15% at 10 microns with dichroic tertiary
10% at 10 microns with aluminized tertiary
Temperature of telescope: 240K

Page Last Updated: March 10, 2004

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