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La celda del espejo M5 del ELT ya está lista
4 de Septiembre de 2024
El diseño único de cinco espejos del Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) de ESO ha estado impulsando la innovación en óptica e ingeniería desde su creación, y hoy no es una excepción: la celda del quinto espejo del ELT, el M5, ya está lista. El M5 es el espejo inclinable más grande del mundo, y su impresionante celda de soporte podrá dirigir la luz captada por el telescopio hasta 10 veces por segundo para estabilizar las imágenes captadas por el ELT.
La celda del M5 es un mecanismo de soporte que se fijará al ELT y unirá el espejo M5 a la estructura más grande del ELT. Fue diseñada, fabricada y probada por la empresa española Sener en sus instalaciones dedicadas al área Aeroespacial y Defensa que se ubica cerca de Barcelona, España; Sener también es responsable del sistema de control y del equipo auxiliar correspondientes. El Director General de ESO, Xavier Barcons, y el Director del Programa ELT de ESO, Roberto Tamai, visitaron hoy las instalaciones de la empresa para celebrar la aceptación provisional de la celda del M5.
El reto que se planteó Sener fue desarrollar un mecanismo capaz de orientar el espejo M5 a gran velocidad y con una precisión muy elevada. Lo consiguieron al montar un actuador específico, fabricado por Cedrat Technologies en Francia, en una estructura muy rígida y al acoplar sensores de posición muy rápidos y precisos a un procesador digital potente y veloz para lograr un control extremadamente preciso de la posición del espejo.
Con 2,7 x 2,2 metros, el M5 es el más pequeño de los cinco espejos del ELT, pero sigue siendo el espejo inclinable más grande jamás construido para un telescopio. El mecanismo de inclinación de la celda ajustará el ángulo del espejo con una precisión de unas pocas decenas de milisegundos de arco hasta 10 veces por segundo, todo ello sin doblar el espejo. Estos minúsculos movimientos compensarán las perturbaciones causadas por el viento, la turbulencia atmosférica o los mecanismos del telescopio, que afectan la calidad de la imagen. Al trabajar en conjunto con el M4, el cuarto espejo en la trayectoria de la luz del ELT, forma un sistema de óptica adaptativa que estabiliza las imágenes, lo que permite al ELT tomar las imágenes más nítidas y de mayor resolución vistas hasta ahora por un telescopio óptico.
Mientras que la celda del M5 ya está lista, la empresa francesa Mersen Boostec ha terminado la fabricación del bloque del espejo M5 que ahora está siendo pulido por Safran Reosc, también con sede en Francia. Tanto el espejo como la celda se enviarán a Chile para unirse a la estructura del “ojo más grande del mundo en el cielo”, actualmente en construcción en el desierto de Atacama en Chile.
Se espera que el ELT de ESO vea su primera luz a finales de esta década, y está preparado para afrontar algunos de los mayores desafíos científicos de nuestro tiempo, explorando los confines más lejanos del cosmos y rastreando planetas similares a la Tierra alrededor de otras estrellas.
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Tel: +49 89 3200 6670
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Email: press@eso.org
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