Bibcode
Alvarez, P.; López-Tarruella, J. Castro; Rodriguez-Espinosa, J. M.
Bibliographical reference
Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes. Edited by Stepp, Larry M.. Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 6267, pp. 626708 (2006).
Advertised on:
7
2006
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
The GTC (Gran Telescopio Canarias) is a 10,4 meter segmented telescope,
whose integration is currently being completed at the ORM in La Palma,
Spain. The GTC is a partnership between Spain, Mexico and the University
of Florida. Main science drivers for the GTC are image quality,
operational efficiency and reliability. First light is planned for
late-2006. The GTC Project, initiated in 1996, is nearly complete in its
integration. Groundbreaking was done in 2000. The telescope building and
dome were finished by end 2002. The telescope structure was complete in
early 2005. Since then this structure is being completed with the rest
of the parts, i.e. M1 mirror subcells, M3 tower, main axes encoders and
motors, cables, pipes and cable-rotators, electronic cabinets, etc. The
mirrors will be installed at the telescope, just before First Light. All
the optical elements have been finished and are being prepared to be
installed. Three science instruments are being completed to be installed
as first generation instruments. Two second-generation instruments,
including one exploiting the future Adaptive Optics capabilities of the
GTC, are under development.