In 1995, Hughes Danbury Optical Systems (now Goodrich Optical and Space Systems Division, Electro-Optical Systems) donated to Winer a 2/3-m (26.5-inch) Corning Ultra Low Expansion ULE™ lightweighted mirror. Using this donation as a basis, we entered into a project with a private, non-sectarian school to design and build a telescope for the school and one for us. After Winer contributed hundreds of hours designing the telescopes and obtaining donations of parts for the project, the project was restructured in calendar year 2000. As a result, the school purchased its telescope from a commercial telescope vendor located in Tucson, Arizona. Winer did not receive a telescope after the project restructuring. We are now looking for donations of about $500,000 to build the telescope and to purchase a camera for it.
The Hughes ULE™ mirror is a sphere, the wrong shape to produce a wide field full of crisp star pinpoints. The primary mirror needs to be refigured to a different shape and to be polished smooth. Furthermore, we need a secondary mirror with the correct magnification. We also need a mount and control system designed to hold the weight of the optics and point them in the right direction.
Once this telescope comes online, we plan to use it for our outreach
programs, for online research by students, and for programs designated by our
donors, as well as the research interests of our staff.
Also in 1995, Corning sold to us a 1.5-m (60-inch) telescope mirror blank made using the process to make the Ultra Low Expansion, or ULE™, glass. This particular blank was sold to us with the understanding we would retain possession and control of the blank for at least 10 years. That is, the telescope containing this blank must remain at our facility.
To turn this blank into a primary mirror will require an estimated $500,000
and the cost of making a telescope is estimated to be about $6 million. We
plan to use the telescope for Near Earth Object (NEO) orbital follow-up studies,
NEO characterization, and for programs designated by our donors. For more
information, please see our Web site at URL
www.projectasteroid.org.
Last modified: January 1, 2008.