Fraunhofer telescope

The Fraunhofer telescope at the Wendelstein observatory

The Fraunhofer telescope at the Wendelstein observatory or Wendelstein observatory is an optical and near-infrared reflector telescope from the Munich University Observatory with a 2 m mirror diameter in the Ritchey-Chrétien system with an f / 8 beam path , azimuthal mount and two active, automatically switchable Nasmyth focus stations.

The telescope, named after the German optician and physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer , is located at an altitude of 1,838 m on the summit of Wendelstein .

construction

The Kayser-Threde company was responsible for the optics and installation on the Wendelstein during the construction , Astelco Systems from Martinsried took over the mechanics and control. In the year 2008 the construction of began Fraunhofer telescope , the official opening with a ceremony was on May 21, 2012 . The construction costs amounted to 8.5 million euros. The first scientific recordings with the 2 m telescope were published at the end of 2013. When it is put into operation, it is technically and in terms of optical quality the most modern and next to the Alfred Jensch telescope in Thuringia as of 2013 the largest telescope in Germany .

Instruments

The new telescope is equipped with

a wide-angle camera for imaging at least 0.5 degrees of the sky ( full moon diameter ).

A so-called wide-angle camera (WWFI) is installed on the 2 m telescope to image at least 0.5 degrees of the sky (full moon diameter) and is currently providing both test data and initial scientific measurement results. The WWFI camera is based on a mosaic of 4 CCDs (4048 × 4048 pixels each) from e2v, which were integrated into a detector system by Spectral Instruments (Tucson). Up to 14 different filters can be used with these electronic detectors;

as well as a multi-channel camera (optical and near infrared).

The multi-channel camera (optical and near infrared) is still under development as of 2014;

and spectrographs for medium to high resolution.

A spectrograph for high resolution is in the laboratory test mode, a so-called field spectrograph for medium resolution is currently still on loan to the McDonald Observatory in Texas and is already producing scientific data there.