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arXiv · astro-ph/9406057

Ubc/Laval 2.7-Meter Liquid Mirror Telescope

P. Hickson·E. F. Borra·R. Cabanac·R. Content·B. K. Gibson·G. A. H. Walker
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Abstract

We report the successful development and operation of a large astronomical liquid-mirror telescope. Employing a rotating 2.7-meter diameter mirror with a surface of liquid mercury, the telescope images a half-degree diameter field centered at the zenith. Located near Vancouver, British Columbia, it is equipped with a low-noise 2048x2048-pixel CCD detector, operating in TDI mode, which produces continuous imaging of a 20 arcminute-widestrip of sky with 2 minute integration time. Images with FWHM of 2 arcseconds or less are regularly obtained. This image quality is limited only by atmospheric seeing and star-trail curvature. The telescope is equipped with a series of narrow-band filters, designed to produce 40-point spectral energy distributions from 0.4 to 1.0 microns of all detected objects. These will allow classification and redshift estimation of approximately 25,000 galaxies and 1,000 quasars to a limiting magnitude of R~21.

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P. Hickson, E. F. Borra, R. Cabanac, R. Content, B. K. Gibson, G. A. H. Walker. 1994-06-21. Ubc/Laval 2.7-Meter Liquid Mirror Telescope. https://doi.org/10.1086/187667

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