Configurable Slit Unit for Canary telescope

Electronics Mechanics
Mikroniek 3 2008 by Norbert Meijs and Maurice Teuwen 30 December 2008

On the Canary Island of La Palma, the world’s largest reflecting telescope is being built, the ‘Grand Telescopio de Canarias’ (GTC) with a diameter of 10.4 metres. Janssen Precision Engineering is involved in the development of instrumentation for the GTC. For the past four years, work has been done on the development of a specific and extremely compact drive and measuring system for cryogenic and vacuum applications. This has finally led to the realisation of a demonstration model of the Configurable Slit Unit for the GTC infrared instrument.


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