Observing with liquid mirror telescopes - Evaluation of two observing seasons

Abstract

We have built a 1.2-m diameter /-4.58 liquid mirror telescope on the campus of Laval University and operated it every clear night during two months in the summer of 1987. A 1-m diameter f-4.7 LMT was operated during the summer and fall of 1986. We obtained almost 300 hours of data on film. We evaluate and discuss the quality of our data. Our best images have 2 arc seconds full width at half maximum, which is compatible with the best seeing expected at a sea-level site such as ours. The telescope performed quite satisfactorily, especially considering the extreme simplicity of the setup.

Liquid mirror telescopes as cosmological tools

“…We obtained almost 300 hours of data on photographic film. We had a scientific goal, looking for optical flashes and flares (Content et al 1988), but the main reason was to gain practical experience with the operation of a liquid mirror telescope. We evaluate and discuss the quality of our data in .…”

Design of 2-M to 6-M Liquid Mirror Containers

“…The technology of liquid mirrors has now been fully demonstrated in the laboratory (Borra et al 1992;Borra, Content & Girard 1993;Girard & Borra 1997;Tremblay & Borra 2000) and in the field (Borra et al 1988;Hickson et al 1994;Sica et al 1995;Wuerker 1997;Hickson & Mulrooney 1998) for 1-m to 4-m class systems. By making available for the first time large optical quality optics at low cost, it increases the performances in many domains of sciences.…”