Eyelid system for telescope protection

Abstract

By the end of the XXth century, the development of new technologies, such as segmented mirrors and adaptive optics, allowed an increase in the maximum feasible diameter of telescopes with diffraction limited resolution. The technological limit for the diameter of new generation telescopes is not clear yet and several feasibility studies have been carried out. In Europe, after some previous studies performed by the ESO (OWL) and the University of Lund in Sweden (EURO50), the design study for the European Extremely Large Telescope has been launched supported by the European Community (Framework Programme 6, ELT Design Study, contract No 011863). In the context of this design study, the IAC (Instituto Astrofisico de Canarias) as responsible for the design of the enclosure of the giant telescope, organized a call for ideas in order to find a third alternative for this system (to the two previously developed EURO50 and OWL), in which enterprises and individuals were invited to participate. This paper presents the enclosure concept presented to the contest by IDOM, the Eyelid System for Telescope Protection, which was one of the two ideas selected by the jury. The system basically consists of two structures that can be kept apart during observation - providing the required aperture for light gathering - and closed (joined) when the observation is finished.