The 2.1 meter Telescope
at Kitt Peak

Again, I am doing spectroscopy, not imaging. The set-up of the telescope (i.e., the instrument package) is different depending on what you do.

The view from afar  
This is in the same building as the Coudé Feed, in fact the 2.1 meter scope can be connected to the Feed for good spectroscopy-ness. So, I got to change telescopes, not buildings.

A little closer...  
Every night we have to go out on this catwalk to open the two doors (180 degrees apart). It's just grating underneath so if you're afraid of heights, I hear it's not too cool. But I can shake my little tush on the catwalk, on the catwalk ;)

Inside, one can see the telescope and it really is quite large...

     

This telescope is a reflecting telescope where the mirror is housed at my feet in the first picture and right above Ginny's head in the second. It is 2.1 meters across (that's about 7 feet).
The secondary mirror is in that black cylinder at the top of the scope. That is what bounces the light from the big primary mirror back down to the instruments.
That funky pyramidal thing is the mirror cover for the primary.

Speaking of instruments, here is the instrument package...


Yeah, it's big, but I have to point out that all the stuff that was in that huge room at the Coude Feed is housed all in this setup. Oh, it's called 'Goldcam' because it's gold. There used to be a 'Whitecam' apparently... Yeah, astronomers are often highly original :)
Here are a couple of labeled pictures. I have descriptions of many of the terms in the Coudé description
     

This telescope has a platform because sometimes it has instrument packages that are bigger then the one we're using and so need all the clearance they can get. Therefore, there is a platform that can be moved around (as one still needs to be able to access the instruments and fill the dewar).

We have to also check some cables in the innards of the scope and around it.

Next up is how to operate the 2.1 meter (at least in our configuration).

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