McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope
The world's largest solar telescope;
it opened in 1962 on Kitt Peak, Arizona, and is a facility of the National
Solar Observatory. It comprises three telescopes in one – the
main, east auxiliary, and west auxiliary systems – that can be used
concurrently or independently. The main telescope is housed in an inclined
shaft, 152 m long, that runs parallel with Earth's axis. A heliostat
mounted on a 33.5-m-high tower reflects sunlight down this shaft to a 1.6-m
mirror, about 50 m below ground level, which reflects the light partway
back up the shaft to a flat mirror. From the flat mirror, the light travels
vertically down to form an image of the Sun 85 cm wide in a subterranean
observation room. The telescope is named after American solar physicists
Robert McMath (1891–1962) and A. Keith Pierce (1918–).
Related category
• OBSERVATORIES
AND TELESCOPES
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