STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE REFLECTING SURFACE SYSTEM OF A LARGE ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPE

The reflecting Schmidt plate system of the large sky area multi-object fiberspectroscopic telescope (LAMOST) serves active optical correction with a reflecting surface ofsegmented mirror. An azimuth-altitude mounting is adopted with two self-aligning ball bearings foraltitude axis and hydrostatic bearings for azimuth. With static and modal analyses, finite elementmodeling of the full Schmidt plate system is discussed. Conventional seismic response spectrum hasbeen adapted for particular application for telescope engineering before a seismic response spectrumanalysis is performed, and results have confirmed that the design of the reflecting Schmidt platemanifests good performance and can survive the seismic intensity of up to 7 magnitude specified bytechnical requirements.

Research on design of adaptive connecting mechanisms for the cable-net and panels of FAST

The reflector system of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope （FAST） is designed to incorporate 4450 rigid panels supported by a flexible cable-net structure. The shapechanging operation that occurs in the process of observation will lead to a relative displacement between adjacent nodes in the cable-net. In addition, three nodes on a rigid panel are fixed with respect to each other. Thus, adaptive connecting mechanisms between panels and the cable-net are certainly needed. The present work focuses on the following aspects. Firstly, the degrees of freedom of adaptive connecting mechanisms were designed so that we can not only adapt the panel to the deformation of the cable- net, but also restrict the panel to its right place. Secondly, finite element and theoretical analyses were applied to calculate the scope of motion in adaptive connecting mechanisms during the cable-net＇s shape-changing operation, thus providing input parameters for the design size of the adaptive connecting mechanisms. In addition, the gap size between the panels is also investigated to solve the trade-off between avoiding panel collisions and increasing the observation efficiency of FAST.

Studying solutions for the fatigue of the FAST cable-net structure caused by the process of changing shape

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope （FAST） is supported by a cable-net structure, whose change in shape leads to a stress range of approximately 500 MPa. This stress range is more than twice the standard recom- mended value. The cable-net structure is thus the most critical and fragile part of the FAST reflector system. In this study, we first search for a more appropriate deforma- tion strategy that reduces the stress amplitude generated by the process of changing shape. Second, we roughly estimate the tracking trajectory of the telescope during its service life, and conduct an extensive numerical investigation to assess the require- ments for fatigue resistance. Finally, we develop a new type of steel cable system that satisfies the cable requirements for construction of FAST.

Simultaneous multicolor photometry of fast-moving objects using the 1-meter telescope at Xinglong Observatory

Simultaneous multicolor photometry of fast-moving objects is discussed in this paper. In conventional astronomical photometry, the accuracy of flux and color indices of fast-moving objects is affected by the variations of the targets and weather conditions in space and time domains.We optimize related techniques and methods of observation and data reduction, including image cal- ibration, background fitting, targets detection and location, isophotal photometry, and flux calibration by using background stars from different fields. We consider that simultaneous multicolor data acquisition and differential flux calibration are critical for improving photometric accuracy of fast-moving objects. Our results show the photometric accuracy is better than 5% based on the observations carried out by a 1-meter telescope under ordinary, non-photometric conditions.