The Carlsberg automatic meridian circle and the plans for Anglo-Danish collaboration

The Carlsberg automatic meridian circle at Brorfelde is controlled by an HP 2100 minicomputer and incorporates an active photoelectric slit micrometer, a meteorological data reading system with rain detector, a photoelectric collimation micrometer, and a photoelectric circle reading system accurate to 0.04 arc sec which includes a standard A/D computer interface board and stepping motors. Furthermore, the telescope setting system uses a Haidenhein incremental encoder, then fine motion (with stepping motor) after clamping to do the setting within 10 seconds time to an accuracy of 2 arc sec. After testing, the telescope is to be moved to La Palma to make at least 100,000 observations per year with an m.s.e. of 0.20 arc sec, while in 10 years (in addition to fundamental work), the proper motions, accurate to 0.014 arc sec, of at least 200,000 stars to the 12th magnitude will be calibrated.