Hale Telescope
Demo Desk
Operator's Manual
Copyright © 2008 Selden Ball
All rights reserved.
This is a brief description of the
Demo Desk of the Hale Telescope simulation.
It primarily controls the visibility of various components of the simulated
telescope. No such desk exists in the real world.
To start,
click on the on/off button at the lower right corner of the desk.
That will activate the lights and switches.
The on/off button is blue when off, green when on.
Control Buttons
As with the on/off button, when a push-button is activated,
it is shown in the down position and glows green.
When a button is not active,
it is shown in the up position and glows blue.
Hide: Left-most column, top to bottom
Originally, this column only had individual buttons. When they
were activated, they would hide the specified telescope component.
Several components now have three visibility options:
-
The left-most column contains the Hide buttons. When active,
the corresponding telescopecomponent is hidden.
- The center column causes the low resolution model to be shown.
- The right-most column causes the high resolution model to be shown.
Button names:
- Dome
- Interior
- Internal components of dome: crane, windscreen, elevators, rooms, etc
- Prime Focus Cage
- Top-most section of telesope, encloses secondary mirrors, etc.
- Telescope
- The telescope's optical assembly, carrying the primary mirror.
- Yoke
- The fork-shaped structure which carries the telescope and rotates
to match the movement of the sky.
- Plinth
- The two pedestals which support the north and south ends of the Yoke.
- Base
- The lowermost level of the observatory, including the floor
that the telescope is on.
- Cassegrain Cage
- The lowermost section of the telescope, which carries various
instruments which are used at the Cassegrain focus.
- Laser Trolley
- This now controls more than just the trolley.
It controls visibility of all of the components of the
laser which creates an artifical star for the Adaptive Optics.
- Lg.Fmt.Cam.FoV
- The Field of View of the prime focus Large Format Camera.
- PHARO FoV
- The Field of View of the adaptive optics' camera at
the Cassegrain focus: the Palomar High-Angular-Resolution Observer.
Reveal: center column, top to bottom
This column of buttons makes visible various elements of the simulation
which normally are not shown.
Several of these elements have up to five different configurations.
- Light Paths -- show how light is reflected
in various configurations of the telescope's mirrors.
0: no light paths shown
- Primary light path -- reflected by the primary mirror to the prime focus.
- Cassegrain light path -- reflected back down by the Cassegrain secondary mirror.
- Cassegrain-Coude light path -- central mirror reflects Cassegrain light into the East arm of the Yoke.
- 3-Mirror Coude light path -- central mirror reflects light down the central axis of the Yoke into the Coude observing room.
- 5-Mirror Coude light path -- central mirror reflects light to the 4th
mirror in the Coude Arch, which reflects it to the 5th mirror on the axis.
this is used when the telescope points close to the North pole, so that the
primary mirror blocks the direct path to the Coude room.
- Photons -- glowing spheres travel along the light paths
0: no photons shown
- Primary light path -- reflected by the primary mirror to the prime focus.
- Cassegrain light path -- reflected back down by the Cassegrain secondary mirror.
- Cassegrain-Coude light path -- central mirror reflects Cassegrain light into the East arm of the Yoke.
- 3-Mirror Coude light path -- central mirror reflects light down the central axis of the Yoke into the Coude observing room.
(The Coude room is no longer used for observations: it houses the
laser of the laser guide star for the adaptive optics.)
- 5-Mirror Coudé light path -- central mirror reflects light to the 4th
mirror in the Coudé Arch, which reflects it to the 5th mirror on the axis.
this is used when the telescope points close to the North pole, so that the
primary mirror blocks the direct path to the Coudé room.
- PF Instruments -- Some instruments used at the Prime Focus
0: no instruments shown
- Observer -- a person is shown taking pictures with a film camera.
(This is no longer done: all observing is computer controlled and digitized.)
- Large Format Camera -- prime focus CCD camera
- Adaptive Optica Laser Launch Telescope -- sends laser light into sky
- Cass.Instr. -- some Instruments used at the Cassegrain Focus.
0: no instruments shown
- Observer -- a person is shown taking pictures with a film camera,
riding on a wheeled platform.
(This is no longer done: all observing is computer controlled and digitized.)
- Double Spec -- two armed spectrograph
- PHARO -- Shows both PHARO and PALAO
(Palomar High-Angular-Resolution Observer: the camera, and
PALomar Adaptive Optics: the variable mirror assembly)
- Triple Spec. -- low temperature spectrograph
- 4th Coudé Mirror -- bogus mirror assembly at the 5th mirror position.
(deleted from final version: this button does nothing)
- PALAO Light Path -- light path within the
PALomar Adaptive Optics.
- Laser Beam -- the beam of light used to generate an artifical star
for use by PALAO.
- Labels -- 3D names are shown adjacent to
some of the major components of the telescope and the observatory.
Control: right-most column, top to bottom