Paper 13094-163
Status of the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) a decade past first light - in-situ Load Cell Re-calibration
Abstract
The Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) is a 4.3-m telescope in Arizona constructed for astronomical observations in the optical and near IR. This report looks at the mirror support load cells and steps taken to individually evaluate and re-calibrate them.
Presenter
Stephen E. Levine
Lowell Observatory (United States)
Stephen Levine is an Astronomer, the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT, previously the DCT) Scientist and Director of Education at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, and a research affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Earlier, at Lowell, he was the Commissioning Scientist for the DCT and the Deputy Director for Technology. He worked at the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional of Mexico, and the US Naval Observatory, Flagstaff Station, after receiving his education at MIT and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Research interests include instrumentation, large astrometric surveys and the numerical simulation of the dynamics of astrophysical disk systems, emphasizing understanding the structure and evolution of lopsided disk and irregular galaxies. He uses stellar occultations to study outer solar system objects.