Mededeling

Meest nauwkeurige astronomische randsensoren en actuatoren geleverd voor ESO’s ELT

25 oktober 2024

 

Na jaren werk, en duizenden randsensoren en actuatoren later, zijn de laatste van deze hoogwaardige onderdelen voor de hoofdspiegel van ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) voltooid.

Met een middellijn van 39 meter is deze spiegel (M1) de grootste die ooit voor een optische telescoop is gemaakt. Hij is zó groot dat hij niet uit één stuk kon worden gemaakt. In plaats daarvan bestaat de spiegel uit 798 afzonderlijke segmenten. Elk zeshoekig segment heeft meerdere sensoren aan de randen en is gemonteerd op drie actuatoren. De ongeveer 4500 paren randsensoren en ruwweg 2400 actuatoren zijn nodig om alle segmenten nauwkeurig te positioneren en ze als één geheel te laten werken. Om een spiegelvorm met een volmaakt gladde kromming te verkrijgen, meten de hoeksensoren mogelijke uitlijnfouten, die vervolgens door de uiterst nauwkeurige actuatoren worden gecorrigeerd.

De sensoren voor de ELT zijn de nauwkeurigste die ooit in een telescoop zijn gebruikt. Ze zijn in staat om de relatieve posities van de segmenten tot op een paar nanometer nauwkeurig te meten. Als er een krekel op de hoek van een segment zou landen en het met een miljoenste van een millimeter verplaatsen, zouden de sensoren deze minuscule verstoring kunnen registreren. De sensoren zijn geproduceerd door het FAMES-consortium, een samenwerkingsverband van de sensorspecialisten Micro-Epsilon Messtechnik (Duitsland) en Fogale Nanotech (Frankrijk), dat speciaal voor dit doel is opgezet.

De positie-actuatoren zullen de segmenten ondersteunen en ze in drie richtingen actief aansturen. Daarbij moeten aanzienlijke gewichten worden verplaatst, omdat elk spiegelsegment 250 kilogram weegt. Deze unieke actuatoren, ontworpen en ontwikkeld door Physik Instrumente (PI, Duitsland), die het uiterste uit de technologie halen, kunnen de posities van de segmenten soepel aanpassen met een precisie van slechts een paar nanometer.

Na levering aan ESO worden de hoeksensoren en positie-actuatoren naar Chili verscheept, waar ze later zullen worden ingebouwd in respectievelijk de spiegelsegmenten en de telescoop. De ELT wordt momenteel gebouwd op de Cerro Armazones in de Atacama-woestijn in Chili. Als hij klaar is, zal hij unieke, spannende nieuwe ontdekkingen gaan doen die ons begrip van de kosmos zullen veranderen.

Contact

Bárbara Ferreira
ESO Media Manager
Garching bei München, Duitsland
Tel: +49 89 3200 6670
E-mail: press@eso.org

Over de Mededeling

Id:ann24017

Afbeeldingen

De hoofdspiegel van de ELT (artist’s impression)
De hoofdspiegel van de ELT (artist’s impression)
Randsensoren voor de segmenten van de hoofdspiegel van de ELT
Randsensoren voor de segmenten van de hoofdspiegel van de ELT
Positie-actuatoren voor de hoofdspiegelsegmenten van de ELT
Positie-actuatoren voor de hoofdspiegelsegmenten van de ELT
ESO-ingenieur bij de ELT M1-testfaciliteit op het hoofdkantoor van ESO
ESO-ingenieur bij de ELT M1-testfaciliteit op het hoofdkantoor van ESO

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