|
ASTROPHYSICS DEPARTMENT TELESCOPES
Princeton University, as part of the Astrophysical Research Corporation, is a partner in two major telescopes at Apache Point Observatory in the Sacramento Mountains in Southeastern New Mexico.
We have roughly a 15% share in the Apache Point 3.5m telescope. Instrumentation includes a Double Imaging Spectrograph, a near-infrared imaging camera, an echelle spectrograph, and an imaging camera. Over the next few years, we will have a near-infrared spectrograph, a much-improved near-infrared imaging camera, and an optical imaging camera capable of doing simultaneous photometry in many bands at once.
This telescope has been used by Princeton astronomers to discover the most distant quasars known, to use gravitational lenses to determine the size of the universe, study the properties of failed stars, to study the nature of the gas between galaxies, and many other projects.
100 meters from the 3.5m telescope is the telescope of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This 2.5m telescope is dedicated to carrying out a massive imaging and spectroscopic survey of the Northern sky. It has already gathered data on tens of millions of objects over 3000 square degrees, and has thus far finished roughly 1/3 of its goal of one quarter of the Celestial Sphere. The massive imaging camera for this telescope, still the largest in the world of its type, was built at Princeton, where much of the imaging and spectroscopic software which analyzes the data was written. Important Princeton discoveries from the data set include determining the epoch when the universe was ionized by hot stars, mapping out the distribution of asteroids in the Solar System, and using clusters of galaxies to constrain cosmological parameters.
Astronomers in the Physics and Astrophysical Sciences Departments in Princeton were heavily involved in the construction, and now are heavily involved in the analysis of data, from the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP), a dedicated satellite which is mapping the fluctuations from the Cosmic Microwave Background left over from the Big Bang. The satellite launched in Summer 2001, and has been collecting data for over a year. Results will be announced in January 2003 (and no, they are not letting those of us not involved in the project peek at the data yet!).
Local Telescopes
| 36-inch reflector: |
located in the Fitzrandolph Observatory,
this telescope is currently being used to carry out a search of
nearby stars for optical flashes from an extraterrestrial
civilization. |
| 14" Mead reflector: |
located in the smaller dome of Peyton Hall,
this telescope is regularly used for public observations. |
| 9" refractor: |
by Alvin Clark & Sons;
located in the bigger dome of Peyton Hall, this telescope is a prime
tool for public observations |
| 6" reflector: |
located in the closet of
Peyton Hall, this telescope is occasionally pulled outside for
major observing events |
Composed by Michael Strauss
|
