SPECIAL CONFIGURATION OF A VERY LARGE SCHMIDT TELESCOPE FOR EXTENSIVEASTRONOMICAL SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATION

A special reflecting Schmidt telescope is used to observe celestial ob jects. The telescope has an aperture of 4 m, f ratio of 5, and a 5 deg rees field of view. Its optical axis is fixed and tilted 25 degrees to the horizontal that runs from south to north. The celestial objects w ere observed for 1.5 h as they passed through the meridian. The shape of the reflecting Schmidt plate has to be changed with each different declination delta and in the tracking process. This is achieved with a ctive optics. The sky area to be observed is -10 degrees less than or equal to delta less than or equal to +90 degrees. There are plans to p lace similar to 4000 optical fibers on the telescope focal surface tha t will lead to a dozen spectrographs. (C) 1996 Optical Society of Amer ica