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The ANU 2.3&nbsp;metre telescope is an optical telescope situated at Siding Spring Observatory, and operated by the Australian National University's Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA). The telescope was constructed during the early 1980s and featured, at the time, bold features and design: an unusually thin mirror, an altazimuth mount, and a co-rotating building.

Mirror

The telescope's mirror is unusually thin, with a diameter-to-thickness ratio of about 20:1. The light mirror and rotating design allow the telescope to be rapidly moved as observations are made.

Instruments and Programs

The telescope's current instrument in the Wide-Field Spectrograph (WiFeS), an integral field spectrograph designed and built at the RSAA, and installed on the 2.3m telescope in 2009. Previous instruments have included the Cryogenic Array Spectrometer/Imager (CASPIR), the Dual-Beam Spectrograph (DBS), an echelle spectrograph, and an imaging camera.

See also

  • List of large optical telescopes
  • List of largest optical telescopes in the 20th century

References