Rapid instrument exchanging system for the Cassegrain focus of the Lijiang 2.4-m Telescope

As a facility used for astronomical research, the Lijiang 2.4-m telescope of Yunnan Astronomical Observatories, requires the ability to change one auxiliary instrument with another in as short a time as possible. This arises from the need to quickly respond to scientific programs （e.g. transient observation, time domain studies） and changes in observation conditions （e.g. seeing and weather conditions）. In this paper, we describe the design, construction and test of hardware and software in the rapid instrument exchange system （RIES） for the Cassegrain focal station of this telescope, which enables instruments to be quickly changed at night without much loss of observing time. Tests in the laboratory and at the telescope show that the image quality and pointing accuracy of RIES are satisfactory. With RIES, we observed the same Landolt standard stars almost at the same time with the Princeton Instruments VersArray 1300B Camera （PICCD） and the Yunnan Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera （YFOSC）, while both were mounted at the Cassegrain focus. A quasi-simultaneous comparison shows that the image quality of the optical system inside the YFOSC is comparable with that provided by the PICCD.

The Lyman-alpha Solar Telescope(LST) for the ASO-S mission——Ⅱ. design of LST

As one of the three payloads for the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory(ASO-S)mission,the Lyman-alpha(Lyα)Solar Telescope(LST)is composed of three instruments:a Solar Corona Imager(SCI),a LyαSolar Disk Imager(SDI)and a full-disk White-light Solar Telescope(WST).When working in-orbit,LST will simultaneously perform high-resolution imaging observations of all regions from the solar disk to the inner corona up to 2.5 R⊙(R⊙stands for the mean solar radius)with a spatial resolution of 4.8′′and 1.2′′for coronal and disk observations,respectively,and a temporal resolution of 30–120 s and 1–120 s for coronal and disk observations,respectively.The maximum exposure time can be up to20 s due to precise pointing and image stabilization function.Among the three telescopes of LST,SCI is a dual-waveband coronagraph simultaneously and independently observing the inner corona in the HI Lyα(121.6±10 nm)line and white light(WL)(700±40 nm)wavebands by using a narrowband Lyαbeam splitter and has a field of view(FOV)from 1.1 to 2.5 R⊙.The stray-light suppression level can attain<10^-6 B⊙(B⊙is the mean brightness of the solar disk)at 1.1 R⊙and≤5×10^-8 B⊙at 2.5 R⊙.SDI and WST are solar disk imagers working in the Lyαline and 360.0 nm wavebands,respectively,which adopt an off-axis two-mirror reflective structure with an FOV up to 1.2 R⊙,covering the inner coronal edge area and relating to coronal imaging.We present the up-to-date design for the LST payload.

VLBI observations with the Kunming 40-meter radio telescope

The Kunming 40-meter radio telescope is situated in the yard of the Yunnan Astronomical Observatory （Longitude： 102.8° East, Latitude： 25.0° North） and saw its first light in 2006 May. The Kunming station successfully joined the VLBI tracking of China＇s first lunar probe ＂Chang＇E-1＂ together with the other Chinese telescopes： the Beijing Miyun 50-meter radio telescope, Urumqi Nanshan 25-meter radio telescope, and Shanghai Sheshan 25-meter radio telescope, and received the downlinked scientific data together with the Miyun station from October of 2007 to March of 2009. We give an introduction to the new Chinese VLBI facility and investigate its potential applications. Due to its location, the Kunming station can significantly improve the u - v coverage of the European VLBI Network （EVN）, in particular, in long baseline observations. We also report the results of the first EVN fringe-test experiment of N09SX1 with the Kunming station. The first fringes in the European telescopes were successfully detected at 2.3 GHz with the ftp-transferred data on 2009 June 17. From scheduling the observations to performing the post correlations, the Kunming station shows its good compatibility to work with the EVN. The imaging result of the extended source 1156＋295 further demonstrates that the Kunming station greatly enhances the EVN performance.

New vacuum solar telescope and observations with high resolution

The New Vacuum Solar Telescope （NVST） is a one meter vacuum solar telescope that aims to observe fine structures on the Sun. The main goals of NVST are high resolution imaging and spectral observations, including measurements of the solar magnetic field. NVST is the primary ground-based facility used by the Chinese solar research community in this solar cycle. It is located by Fuxian Lake in southwest China, where the seeing is good enough to perform high resolution observations. We first introduce the general conditions at the Fuxian Solar Observatory and the primary science cases of NVST. Then, the basic structures of this telescope and instruments are described in detail. Finally, some typical high resolution data of the solar photosphere and chromosphere are also shown.

Acceleration feedback control (AFC) enhanced by disturbance observation and compensation (DOC) for high precision tracking in telescope systems

Abstract In this paper, a cascade acceleration feedback control （AFC） enhanced by a disturbance observa- tion and compensation （DOC） method is proposed to improve the tracking precision of telescope systems. Telescope systems usually suffer some uncertain disturbances, such as wind load, nonlinear friction and other unknown disturbances. To ensure tracking precision, an acceleration feedback loop which can in- crease the stiffness of such a system is introduced. Moreover, to further improve the tracking precision, we introduce the DOC method which can accurately estimate the disturbance and compensate it. Furthermore, the analysis of tracking accuracy used by this method is proposed. Finally, a few comparative experimental results show that the proposed control method has excellent performance for reducing the tracking error of a telescope system.

A Q-band two-beam cryogenic receiver for the Tianma Radio Telescope

A Q-band two-beam cryogenic receiver for the Tianma Radio Telescope（TMRT）has been developed,and it uses the independently-developed key microwave and millimeter-wave components operating from 35 to 50 GHz with a fractional bandwidth of 35%.The Q-band receiver consists of three parts：optics,cold unit assembly and warm unit assembly,and it can receive simultaneously the lefthanded and right-handed circularly polarized waves.The cold unit assembly of each beam is composed of a feed horn,a noise injection coupler,a differential phase shifter,an orthomode transducer and two low-noise amplifiers,and it works at a temperature range near 20 K to greatly improve the detection sensitivity of the receiving system.The warm unit assembly includes four radio-frequency amplifiers,four radio-frequency high-pass filters,four waveguide biased mixers,four 4–12 GHz intermediate-frequency amplifiers and one 31–38 GHz frequency synthesizer.The measured Q-band four-channel receiver noise temperatures are roughly 30–40 K.In addition,the single-dish spectral line and international very long baseline interferometry（VLBI）observations between the TMRT and East Asia VLBI Network at the Q-band have been successfully carried out,demonstrating the advantages of the TMRT equipped with the state-of-the-art Q-band receiver.

Photometric Calibration of the Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope for Its First Six Months of Operation on the Lunar Surface

We describe the photometric calibration of the Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope（LUT）, the first robotic astronomical telescope working on the lunar surface, for its first six months of operation on the lunar surface. Two spectral datasets（set A and B） from near-ultraviolet（NUV） to the optical band were constructed with 44 International Ultraviolet Explorer（IUE） standards, because of the LUT＇s relatively wide wavelength coverage. Set A was obtained by extrapolating the IUE NUV spectra（λ 〈 3200 ） to the optical band based upon the theoretical spectra of stellar atmosphere models. Set B was composed of theoretical spectra from 2000 to 8000 extracted from the same model grid. In total, seven standards have been observed in15 observational runs until May 2014. The calibration results show that the photometric performance of LUT is highly stable in its first six months of operation. The magnitude zero points obtained from the two spectral datasets are also consistent with each other, i.e., zp = 17.54 ± 0.09 mag（set A） and zp = 17.52 ± 0.07 mag（set B）.

A Tilt-correction Adaptive Optical System for the Solar Telescope of Nanjing University

A tilt-correction adaptive optical system installed on the 430 mm Solar Telescope of Nanjing University has been put in operation. It consists of a tip-tilt mirror, a correlation tracker and an imaging CCD camera. An absolute difference algorithm is used for detecting image motion in the correlation tracker. The sampling frequency of the system is 419 Hz. We give a description of the system's configuration, an analysis of its performance and a report of our observational results. A residual jitter of 0.14 arcsec has been achieved. The error rejection bandwidth of the system can be adjusted in the range 5-28 Hz according to the beacon size and the strength of atmospheric turbulence.

Acceleration feedback of a current-following synchronized control algorithm for telescope elevation axis

This paper proposes a dual-motor configuration to enhance closed-loop performance of a telescope control system. Two identical motors are mounted on each side of a U-type frame to drive the telescope elevation axis instead of a single motor drive, which is usually used in a classical design. This new configuration and mechanism can reduce the motor to half the size used in the former design, and it also provides some other advantages. A master-slave current control mode is employed to synchronize the two motors. Acceleration feedback control is utilized to further enhance the servo performance. Extensive experiments are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm in synchronization, disturbance attenuation and low-velocity tracking.

Two suggested configurations for the Chinese space telescope

China will establish a 2-meter space-based astronomical telescope. Its main science goals are performing a sky survey for research about dark matter and dark energy, and high resolution observations. Some experts suggest that this space telescope should be installed inside the Chinese space station. In accord with this suggestion we put forward our first configuration, i.e., to adopt a coude system for this telescope. This coude system comes from the Chinese 2.16 m telescope＇s coude system, which includes a relay mirror so that excellent image quality can be obtained. In our second configuration, we suggest that the whole space telescope fly freely as an independent satellite outside the space station. When it needs servicing, for example, changing in- struments, refilling refrigerant or propellant, etc., this space telescope can fly near or even dock with the core space station. Although some space stations have had accom- panying satellites, the one we propose is a space telescope that will be much larger than other accompanying satellites in terms of weight and volume. On the basis of the second configuration, we also put forward the following idea： the space station can be composed of several large independent modules if necessary.

IPS observation system for the Miyun 50m radio telescope and its commissioning observation

Ground-based observation of Interplanetary Scintillation （IPS） is an impor- tant approach for monitoring solar wind. A ground-based IPS observation system has been newly implemented on a 50 m radio telescope at Miyun station, managed by the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This observa- tion system has been constructed for the purpose of observing solar wind speed and the associated scintillation index by using the normalized cross-spectrum of a simul- taneous dual-frequency IPS measurement. The system consists of a universal dual- frequency front-end and a dual-channel multi-function back-end specially designed for IPS. After careful calibration and testing, IPS observations on source 3C 273B and 3C 279 have been successfully carried out. The preliminary observation results show that this newly-developed observation system is capable of performing IPS observa- tion. The system＇s sensitivity for IPS observation can reach over 0.3 Jy in terms of an IPS polarization correlator with 4 MHz bandwidth and 2 s integration time.

Analyzing the capability of a radio telescope in a bistatic space debris observation system

A bistatic space debris observation system using a radio telescope as the receiving part is introduced. The detection capability of the system at different working frequencies is analyzed based on real instruments. The detection range of targets with a fixed radar cross section and the detection ability of small space debris at a fixed range are discussed. The simulations of this particular observation system at different transmitting powers are also implemented and the detection capability is discussed. The simulated results approximately match the actual experiments. The analysis in this paper provides a theoretical basis for developing a space debris observation system that can be built in China.

A general observatory control software framework design for existing small and mid-size telescopes

A general framework for observatory control software would help to improve the efficiency of observation and operation of telescopes, and would also be advantageous for remote and joint observations. We describe a general framework for observatory control software, which considers principles of flexibility and inheritance to meet the expectations from observers and technical personnel. This framework includes observation scheduling, device control and data storage. The design is based on a finite state machine that controls the whole process.

A Study on the Paul-Baker System as an Instrument for Multi-object Spectrum Observation

Paul-Baker systems with 4° flat field and 5° fiat field are studied. Their light obstructions under different f/ratios of the primary mirror are analyzed. Due to the strong f/ratio of the system, a focal length extender is designed in order to match the following fiber instrumentation, and two kinds of dispersion prism correctors are designed for correcting the atmospheric dispersion. We compare the designed Paul-Baker system with LAMOST, the national major scientific project now under construction.

Modeling the rail surface unevenness of a high-precision radio telescope

This study proposed a coarse-fine mixed model for describing the rail surface unevenness of an ultra-large fully steerable radio telescope （Qi Tai Telescope） with a diameter of 110 meters. The rail surface unevenness includes information on error arising from two different scales, i.e., the long-period- short-change and the short-period-long-change. Consequently, in this study an idea of a mixed model was proposed, in which trigonometric and fractal functions were, respectively, used to describe infor- mation on error from two scales. Key parameters were determined by using the least squares method and the wavelet transform method, and finally, a specific mathematical expression of the model was obtained by optimization. To validate the effectiveness of the new modeling method, the mixed model was then used to describe the rails of the Green Bank Telescope, the Large Millimeter Telescope, and a radio telescope in Miyun, Beijing. A comparative study revealed that the maximum error was less than 15 %, thus the result was superior to those of existing modeling methods.

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.

A Study on the Technique of Observing Interplanetary Scintillation with Simultaneous Dual-Frequency Measurements

Ground-based observation of Interplanetary Scintillation （IPS） is an important approach of monitoring solar wind speed. We describe both the principle and method of observing the solar wind speed by using the normalized cross-spectrum of simultaneous dualfrequency IPS measurement. The effects of the solar wind properties and the angular size of the scintillation source on the measurement of solar wind speed are investigated by numerical analysis. We carry out a comparison of this method with the traditional single station-single frequency method. We outline a new IPS observation system using this method now under construction at the National Astronomical Observatories, CAS （NAOC）.

A 96-antenna radioheliograph

Here we briefly present some design approaches for a multifrequency 96-antenna radioheliograph. The configuration of the array antenna, transmission lines and digital receivers is the main focus of this work. The radioheliograph is a T-shaped centrally condensed radiointerferometer operating in the frequency range 4–8 GHz.The justification for the choice of such a configuration is discussed. The signals from antennas are transmitted to a workroom by analog optical links. The dynamic range and phase errors of the microwave-over-optical signal are considered. The signals after downconverting are processed by digital receivers for delay tracking and fringe stopping. The required step of delay tracking and data rates are considered. Two 3-bit data streams（I and Q） are transmitted to a correlator with the transceivers embedded in Field Programmed Gate Array chips and with PCI Express cables.

Characteristics and Performance of the CCD Photometric System at Lulin Observatory

The Lulin One-meter Telescope at Lulin Observatory in Taiwan started open-use observations in January 2003. In order to evaluate the performance of the CCD photometric system, the characteristics and quality of the site, we obtained data of photometric standards as well as calibration data from February to November 2004. We report here the results of our analysis including the gain, readout noise, dark current and linearity of the CCD camera, and transformation coefficients, total throughputs, night sky brightnesses and limiting magnitudes for UBVRI bands.

An investigation of collisions between fiber positioning units in LAMOST

The arrangement of fiber positioning units in the LAMOST focal plane may lead to collisions during the fiber allocation process, To avoid these collisions, a software-based protection system has to abandon some targets located in the overlapping field of adjacent fiber units. In this paper, we first analyze the probability of collisions between fibers and infer their possible reasons. It is useful to solve the problem of collisions among fiber positioning units so as to improve the efficiency of LAMOST. Based on this, a collision handling system is designed by using a master-slave control structure between the micro control unit and microcomputer. Simulated experiments validate that the system can provide real-time inspection and swap information between the fiber unit controllers and the main controller.