Astro Systems Holland

This project involved the design and construction of a new main mirror support for the 40 cm mirror of the Dr. A. F. Philips observatory in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

 

The main mirror was only supported on the edges, furthermore the mirror was not free floating in its cell, which caused pinched optics. Therefore the observatory decided to contact ASH to design a new construction for this mirror.

 

At first the existing situation was evaluated to allow for a the new design. One of the first things that had to be done is the determination of the amount of points on which the mirror had to be supported. Luckily we have the program PLOP for this. A 6 point mirror support was more than sufficient for this.

 

The challenge was to design this 6 point mirror support inside the existing space of the optical tube assembly. One the drawing on the left you see this designed construction. The many pictures show the construction of the mirror support.

 

To reach the telescope in the observatory you need to ascend 3 stairs. The main mirror with mirror support construction is very heavy so a special ​"stair-walking"-trolley was rented by the gentlemen of the observatory.

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Finally, after reaching the telescope, the main-mirror could be installed back in the optical tube. After that the the telescope could be rebalanced and collimated.