SLR Telescope Level History
NSGF
In order to point the telescope accurately towards
satellites, regular observations of stars are carried out both by day and at
night. Star positions as derived from catalogues are compared to those
obtained from the telescope and the differences are used to develop a pointing
model that takes account of errors in the telescope encoders, flexure in the
telescope tube, collimation errors and tilt of the azimuth axis with respect to
the vertical.
Shown in the plot is part of the history of the level of the azimuth axis as
derived from the pointing model solutions. The mount is seen to be slowly
'falling over' towards the North, although it is not known whether the whole
pier is moving or whether it is simply the telescope settling onto the top
surface of the pier.
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