Design Details

Camera Details for Discovery Channel Telescope

10/15/2003 Press Release

"...The Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) – designed exclusively for Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. – will be among the most sophisticated ground-based telescopes of its size. The four-meter telescope will have a significantly wider field of view than any currently existing telescope of its size, giving it the unprecedented ability to survey the sky at nearly eight times the capacity of the largest existing survey telescope. In this wide-field mode, the DCT’s ability to perform deep imaging surveys of the night sky will be unmatched. This versatile telescope can be quickly converted to its alternative optical configuration, allowing it, unlike other pure survey telescopes, to be highly effective during bright phases of the moon. Once operational, the DCT also will have real-time capability, allowing the images acquired by the telescope to be simultaneously broadcast to people around the world...

...Approximately 2,300 near-Earth asteroids have been discovered in the last decade. Once complete, the DCT will make it possible to identify the same number of potentially life-threatening near-Earth asteroids in just 30 days. The DCT also will make it possible to identify smaller near-Earth asteroids capable of causing regional devastation. Currently, the federally mandated search for near-Earth asteroids focuses on objects that are larger than a kilometer in diameter and capable of creating global devastation.

Similar results are expected in the search for Kuiper Belt Objects, of which only 863 have been identified and can range in size from that of large asteroids to objects comparable in size to the planet Pluto. The Kuiper Belt, the first objects of which were discovered in 1992, is a sun-centered swarm of orbiting icy bodies extending from Neptune to as yet unknown distances.

Construction is expected to begin on the DCT in fall 2004, with completion in 2008. The telescope’s innovative components are already in design and production. The DCT’s mirror blanks are being developed by Corning Incorporated in Canton, N.Y. Design currently continues on the following telescope components: optical system by Goodrich Corporation in Danbury, Conn.; facility and site design by M3 Engineering in Tucson, Ariz.; and the telescope mount by Vertex RSI in Richardson, Texas. The camera that Lowell will design and build for the four-meter telescope will have 36 2K by 4K charge-coupled devices capable of acquiring enormous amounts of data from each exposure and has a two degree field of view...."

Perhaps some of the telescope experts can compare the relative effectiveness of these three scopes. They all sound awesome to me. Clearly the DCT is not as capable as the others, but will it make up for that by being dedicated to planetoid searches during dark days?

Regards,
Mark