Image stability requirement for the SOFIA telescope

Edwin F. Erickson; Edward W. Dunham

doi:10.1117/12.389101

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20 June 2000 Image stability requirement for the SOFIA telescope

Edwin F. Erickson, Edward W. Dunham

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Proceedings Volume 4014, Airborne Telescope Systems; (2000) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.389101
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2000, Munich, Germany

Abstract

The basis for the pointing stability requirement in the SOFIA telescope is described. Fundamentally, it is desirable to retain the diffraction-limited image quality of the telescope to the shortest wavelengths not dominated by shear-layer seeing effects or intrinsic optical quality of the telescope. Image motion will blur the images, and may cause loss of signal and increased noise in science instruments. The expected diffraction and seeing limited image quality contributions are discussed, an analysis of the effects of image motion on observations is given, and examples related to the specification and to currently predicted performance for the SOFIA telescope are presented.

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Edwin F. Erickson and Edward W. Dunham "Image stability requirement for the SOFIA telescope", Proc. SPIE 4014, Airborne Telescope Systems, (20 June 2000); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.389101

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