The Temperature Dependence of the Pointing Model of the Hamburg Robotic Telescope
Abstract
A first pointing model was determined during commissioning of the Hamburg Robotic Telescope in 2005 September. Pointing accuracy better than 3″ was achieved with this model in those days. However, in the course of the rest of 2005, a systematic increase of the telescope mispointing mainly in azimuth was observed having been suggested a strong dependence on ambient air temperature. We therefore checked this relation between temperature and pointing accuracy by systematic observations targeted on temperature. We made 16 pointing-model estimates during the year 2006 and correlated the model parameters with temperature. While most of the parameters are either not correlated or merely weakly correlated with temperature we find a clear temperature dependence of a misalignment of the optical axis with the telescope tube. We suggest that the M3 mounting is responsible for this.
- Publication:
-
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
- Pub Date:
- April 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1086/533478
- Bibcode:
- 2008PASP..120..425M