Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle
First light obtained on September 26, 2000
Telescope Released for Science Observations Beginning 2003 May
A 2-m aperture optical-infrared telescope, the Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) manufactured by the EOS Technologies Inc., Tuscon, Arizona, USA is installed at IAO. The telescope is remotely operated from CREST, Hosakote, via a dedicated satellite link.
The telescope is equipped with 3 science instruments which are mounted on an instrument mount cube at the cassegrain focus of the telescope. The instrument mount cube has four side ports and an on-axis port, which makes all three instruments available mounted on the telescope. The instruments currently available are the Himalaya Faint Object Spectrograph (HFOSC), the NIR Imaging Spectrograph (TIRSPEC), and the Hanle Echelle Spectrograph (HESP).
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Telescope Specifications
Aperture |
2.01 metres |
Mirror Material |
ULE |
Optics |
Ritchey-Chretien |
Mount |
Altitude over azimuth |
Focus |
Cassegrain; provision for Nasmyth |
F-ratio |
f/1.75 primary; f/9 Cassegrain |
Image Scale |
11.5 arcsec/mm |
Field of View |
7 arcmin; 30arcmin with corrector |
Image quality (zenith) |
80% power < 0.33 arcsec dia; 90% power < 0.73 arcsec dia |
Jitter & periodic errors |
< 0.25 arcsec on each axis |
Pointing accuracy |
< 0.45 arcsec over 17 arcsec move; |