Tesi sul tema "Astronomical observatories"

Atmospheric turbulence has two effects in astronomy; (i) the broadening of the point spread function due to phase fluctuations limiting the resolution of imaging and (ii) producing intensity fluctuations known as scintillation. Adaptive Optics (AO) can be installed on telescopes to correct for the effect of phase, and with the push to large telescopes more complex AO systems such as Multi Conjugate AO (MCAO) and Multi Object AO (MOAO) are desired. Operation of these systems requires a detailed profile of the turbulent atmosphere in real time. In this thesis we consider two turbulence profilers, SLOpe Detection And Ranging (SLODAR) and SCIntillation Detection and Ranging (SCIDAR), two cross beam profilers that retrieve data using covariance of phase variations (SLODAR) and intensity variations (SCIDAR). We present a modification of SLODAR to allow an estimate for non resolved turbulence to be made by considering scintillation in the subapertures of a Shack Hartmann wavefront sensor. A new SCIDAR (Stereo--SCIDAR) is described, allowing dynamic re--conjugation to improve altitude resolution. Practical considerations for the implementation of a SLODAR instrument are considered, including a discussion of potential false measurements of non Kolmogorov power spectra in the ground and surface layers of turbulence. Data is presented from SLODAR observing campaigns on La Palma, and at Paranal. Evidence is presented for orographic effects on measured turbulence, including those due to man made structures.

This thesis investigates control aspects of the Hartebeeshoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) antenna. The installation of a new 22 GHz receiver has required the pointing accuracy to be improved to less than 4 mdeg. The effect of thermal conditions on the the HartRAO antenna pointing offset is investigated using a variety of modelling techniques including simple geometric modelling, neural networks and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Convincing results were obtained for the Declination pointing offset, where applying certain model predictions to observations resulted in an improvement in Declination pointing offset from 5.5 mdeg to 3.2 mdeg (≈50%). The Right Ascension pointing model was considerably less convincing with an improvement of approximately from 5.5 mdeg to 4.5 mdeg (≈20%) in the Right Ascension pointing offset. The Declination pointing offset can be modelled sufficiently well to reduce the pointing offset to less than 4 mdeg, however further investigation of the underlying causes is required for the Right Ascension pointing offset.

The unique advantages for astronomy on the Antarctic plateau are now well established. In particular, Dome C, Antarctica is potentially one of the best new sites for optical, infrared and sub-millimeter astronomy, presenting the opportunity to build unique astronomical instruments. Located high on the Antarctic plateau, Dome C offers low wind, clear skies, and negligible precipitation. This thesis addresses three additional properties of the site relevant to optical astronomy-sky brightness, atmospheric extinction and optical turbulence. The sky at an optical astronomy site must be dark, and the atmosphere very clean with minimal light extinction. At present little is known from an astronomer's perspective about the optical sky brightness and atmospheric extinction at most Antarctic sites. The high latitude of Dome C means that the Sun spends a relatively small amount of time far below the horizon, implying longer periods of astronomical twilight and less optical dark time than other sites, especially those close to the equator. We review the contributions to sky brightness at high-latitude sites, and calculate the amount of usable dark time at Dome C. We also explore the implications of the limited sky coverage of high-latitude sites, and review optical extinction data from the South Pole. A proposal to extend the amount of usable dark time through the use of polarising filters is examined, and we present the design and calibration of an instrument (called Nigel) to measure the brightness, spectrum and temporal characteristics of the twilight and night sky. The atmospheric turbulence profile above an astronomical site limits the achievable resolution and sensitivity of a telescope. The atmospheric conditions above high plateau Antarctic sites are different to temperate sites; the boundary layer of turbulence is confined very close to the surface, and the upper atmosphere turbulence very weak. We present the first winter-time turbulence profiles of the atmosphere above Dome C, and characterise the site in terms of the achievable precision for photometry and astrometry, and the isoplanatic angle and coherence time for the adaptive optics.

Mount Graham, in Southern Arizona supports valuable, ecological communities and at least one endangered species, the Mt. Graham red squirrel. The area is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Elevation, dryness, sky clarity and freedom from light pollution at Mt. Graham make it a desirable site for astronomy. The University of Arizona presented a proposal to the Forest Service for the development of a multi-telescope observatory on the mountain. This has generated much controversy due to the opposition of environmentalists who fear the potential impacts of development on the mountain. Eleven potential sites for astrophysical development have been identified, with varying impacts on the ecosystem. They are ranked according to their suitability for development, using multiple criteria decision making techniques. The results are very consistent and robust, both within and across techniques and can be useful for decision support and conflict management purposes.

This thesis outlines the design and implementation of a single channel, dual polarization pulsar timing instrument for the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO). The new timer is designed to be an improved, temporary replacement for the existing device which has been in operation for over 20 years. The existing device is no longer reliable and is di±cult to maintain. The new pulsar timer is designed to provide improved functional- ity, higher sampling speed, greater pulse resolution, more °exibility and easier maintenance over the existing device. The new device is also designed to keeping changes to the observation system to a minimum until a full de-dispersion timer can be implemented at theobservatory. The design makes use of an 8-bit Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) micro-processor with external Random Access Memory (RAM). The instrument includes an IEEE-488 subsystem for interfacing the pulsar timer to the observation computer system. The microcontroller software is written in assembler code to ensure optimal loop execution speed and deterministic code execution for the system. The design path is discussed and problems encountered during the design process are highlighted. Final testing of the new instrument indicates an improvement in the sam- pling rate of 13.6 times and a significant reduction in 60Hz interference over the existing instrument.

[Truncated abstract] Interferometric gravitational wave detectors are being built around the world with continually improving measurement sensitivities. Noise levels from sources that are intrinsic to these detectors must be reduced to a level below the gravita- tional wave signal. Seismic noise in the low frequency range, which is within the gravitational wave detection bandwidth, is a concern for earth-based detectors. This thesis presents research and development of a high performance vibration isolation system that is designed to attenuate seismic noise. The final design will be used as part of a fully working interferometer at the Australian International Gravitational Observatory (AIGO). Pendulums and springs are conventionally used for the horizontal and vertical vibration isolation components respectively. A complete system comprises of a cascade of these components, each stage dramatically improving the level of isola- tion. The residual motion at the test mass level is thus reduced but is dominated by the normal mode resonances of the chain. A simple and effective method to reduce residual motion further is to add ultra-low frequency pre-isolation stages which suspend the chain. The Roberts Linkage is a relatively new and simple geometrical structure that is implemented in the pre-isolation stages. Here we present experimental results of improving isolation based on mathematical mod- elling. The attenuation of seismic noise in the vertical direction is almost as important as that in the horizontal direction, due to cross-coupling between the two planes. To help improve the vertical performance a lightweight Euler spring that stores no static energy was implemented into the AIGO suspension system. ... Theoretical and experimental results are presented and discussed. Currently the AIGO laboratory consists of two 80 m length arms. They are aligned along the east and south directions. One of AIGO's top priorities is the installation of two complete vibration isolators in the east arm to form a Fabry-Perot cavity. Assembling two suspension systems will enable more accurate performance measurements of the tuned isolators. This would significantly reduce the measurement noise floor as well as eliminate the seismic noise spectrum due to referencing with the ground motion. The processes involved in preparing such a task is presented, including clean room preparation, tuning of each isolator stage, and local control schematics and methods. The status of the AIGO site is also presented.

The design of the flexure mount recently submitted to NASA Ames for the structural support of the primary mirror of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) is presented. The flexure system must passively accommodate the differential thermal contraction between the glass mirror and the aluminum structure of the telescope during cryogenic cooldown. Further, it must support the one meter diameter, 116 kilogram (258 pound) primary mirror during a severe launch to orbit. Procedures used to establish the required radial compliance using computer programs NASTRAN and FRINGE are discussed. The parametric design program developed to study early concepts is presented. Methods of combining modal responses resulting from a displacement response spectrum analysis are discussed, and a combination scheme called MRSS, Modified Root of Sum of Squares, is presented. Modal combination schemes using MRSS, SRSS, and ABS are compared to the results of a Modal Frequency Response analysis.

This thesis presents the research done towards the development of the final mirror suspension stage for the high power test facility at AIGO, Western Australia. One of the goals of the facility is to test advanced suspension methods that may be useful in future gravitational wave detectors. An in depth study of current mirror suspension techniques is presented and areas of possible improvement are highlighted. The extension of an existing suspension modelling toolkit written in Mathematica is also presented, where added functions allow one to include the violin modes of a suspension into their analysis. Through this tool, new suspension geometries boasting a lower number of violin modes with lower Q factors where developed. The orthogonal ribbon suspension and the thin tube suspension boast a lower number of lower Q violin modes compared to typical ribbon suspensions. For the latter, a reduction in the number of violin modes below 5kHz down to 5 and peak thermal noise amplitude by approximately 30dB is predicted. Presented also is the affect that such suspension geometries have on pendulum mode dilution factor and overall suspension thermal noise. It is seen that the violin mode improvement comes at a cost of a small increase in thermal noise above approximately 50Hz. A theoretical analysis of the AIGO cavity locking control scheme is also given. Issues of sensor noise and dynamic range are considered to produce a possible hierarchical locking method that would be compatible with advanced detectors. The resulting actuator force range requirements for AIGO at each actuation location on the vibration isolation system are given. Requirements of local controls before achieving cavity lock are also discussed. Finally, the suspension of a dummy sapphire mirror using removable modular niobium ribbons is presented. The design and performance of an electrostatic actuator and sensor for suspended mirror control is given. Initial experimental results of positioning and control of the final stage suspension through a digital interface is also included.

Infrared wavelengths contain a substantial amount of information about the origin of galax- ies and active galactic nuclei and about the evolutionary history of star formation, metal pro- duction and gravitational accretion. They present a widely complementary view with respect to more classical surveys in the optical. However, the different physical processes occurring in galaxies all leave their imprint on the global and detailed shape of the spectrum, each dominating at different wavelengths. Thus only detailed analysis of the multi-wavelength properties of a galaxy should, in principle, allow us to fully understand the nature of that ob ject. In this context, a ma jor development in the last decade has been the advent of new observing facilities and large surveys at all wavelengths of the spectrum, enabling astronomers for the first time to observe the full Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of significant samples of galaxies over a large redshift range at wavelengths from the X-rays to the Radio. In particular Spitzer and Herschel have been giving a great contribution, allowing, for the first time, the sampling of the MIR, FIR and SMM part of the spectrum at multiple wavelengths. In this work we exploited a number of multi-wavelength extragalactic surveys in fields jointly observed by Spitzer and Herschel to determine the IR galaxy luminosity function at MIR, FIR and SMM wavelengths and study the evolution of IR sources with cosmic time. We used data in areas jointly covered by Spitzer Deep & Wide Extragalactic Surveys and the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMes, Oliver et al. (2012)). These surveys include the deepest and widest observations ever carried out at these wavelengths, probing the almost unexplored IR wavelength range up to 500 µm in fields of sizes from 0.01 deg2 to 10 deg2 . Besides, over the better part of their covered areas, it was possible to exploit numerous photometric and spectroscopic surveys in order to completely cover the wavelength range from the FUV to the NIR (e.g. GALEX in the FUV/NUV, SDSS, INTWFS, CFHTLS and others in the Optical, 2MASS and UKIDSS in the NIR) and thus characterize the physical properties of detected sources in great detail. Part of the present work has been devoted to the construction and validation of the so called Spitzer-Selected Multi-Wavelength Wide-Area Data Fusion. In this database we combined Spitzer mid- and far-infrared data from the Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic (SWIRE, Lonsdale et al. (2003)) survey in six fields, the Spitzer Deep-Wide Field Survey (SDWFS) in the Bootes field, the Spitzer Extragalactic First Look Survey (XFLS) in the XFLS field, with data at UV, Optical and NIR wavelengths, covering about 70 deg2 in total. We fully exploited the power of the SDSS and INTWFS databases, as well as complementary near-infrared data from 2MASS and UKIDSS and further optical imaging obtained by the SWIRE, SDWFS and XFLS teams. We then added to this rich dataset all the spectroscopic information available from SDSS and NED. The Spitzer Data Fusion represents an ideal starting point to perform statistical studies on galaxies like detailed SED fitting analysis to estimate photometric redshifts, masses as well as the Star Formation Rates (SFRs).It has been used to validate the Herschel SDP observations within the HerMES consortium team and to produce the first release of the official SPIRE catalogues. It was developed to be VO-compliant and will be made publicly available, together with a collection of ancillary information such as the transmission curves and Vega-to-AB conversion factors of all spectral filters. The determination of the Galaxy Luminosity Function is often hampered by the difficulties of covering a wide area down to faint fluxes on one hand and determining counterparts and their redshifts for detected sources in a complete and reliable manner on the other. In this work we have thus assembled and exploited the deepest and widest Spitzer and Herschel extragalactic surveys to select IR galaxy samples in a complete and reliable manner, and the best UV/Optical/NIR ancillary data to identify them and estimate their redshifts. Thanks to Spitzer and Herschel observations we are now able, for the first time, to reliably sample the IR bolometric luminosity of sources at virtually any epoch and thus provide important insights into dust obscured star formation activity across Cosmic Time. Even with the best dataset, however, accurately constructing the Luminosity Function remains a tricky pursuit, since the presence of observational selection effects due to e.g. detection thresholds in apparent magnitude, colour, surface brightness or some combination thereof can make any given galaxy survey incomplete and thus introduce biases in the Luminosity Function estimates. Only a comparison of results coming from different Luminosity Function estimators applied on the same samples can ensure we can assess the impact of these biases in a robust manner. Armed with the Spitzer Data Fusion, we were able to describe the 0 < z < 0.5 Local Luminosity Function of sources selected in wide fields by the Spitzer MIPS and Herschel SPIRE imagers. We fully exploited the multi-wavelength information collected within the Spitzer Data Fusion to perform a complete SED fitting analysis of MIPS and SPIRE sources and thus estimate the monochromatic rest-frame luminosities at both MIPS 24/70/260 µm and SPIRE 250/350/500 µm as well as the IR bolometric luminosity integrating the SED between 8 and 1000 µm. We then implemented a number of different statistical estimators to evaluate the local luminosity functions of flux-limited samples in these bands: the classical 1/Vmax estimator Schmidt (1968) and the modified 1/Vest version by Page & Carrera (2000); a parametric maximum likelihood technique (ML) based on a bayesian approach as described in Kelly et al. (2008) and finally a semi-parametric approach introduced by Schafer (2007). We have then applied the same tools to the PACS/SPIRE dataset provided by the PEP/HerMES teams in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field, where PACS/SPIRE sensitivity and the COSMOS photometric redshift catalog allowed us to probe the evolution of Herschel sources up to z ∼ 5. Namely, we have studied the redshift-dependent FIR/SMM Monochro- matic and IR Bolometric Luminosity and the inferred Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density of SPIRE 250 µm sources. Given the uncertainties at play, two independent methods to measure the evolutionary rates of Herschel sources were applied, returning consistent results and thus strengthening our conclusions. Our results put strong constraints on modeling predictions, and their comparison with semi-analytical models for the formation of galaxies into a self-consistent cosmological context starting from first principles readily shows substantial disagreements in the observed/predicted evolutionary rates of Herschel sources at moderate-to-high redshifts.
Le lunghezze d’onda infrarosse contengono delle informazioni fondamentali per descrivere l’origine delle galassie, dei nuclei galattici attivi e, piu' in generale, la storia evolutiva della for- mazione stellare, della produzione dei metalli e dell’accrescimento gravitazionale. In sostanza quindi, rappresentano un punto di vista del tutto complementare a quello investigato dalle piu classiche survey nell’ottico. Tuttavia, i vari processi fisici che si susseguono nella formazione galattica lasciano la loro impronta sulla forma dello spettro di emissione globalmente a tutte le lunghezze d’onda, cias- cuno piu' o meno dominante nei diversi regimi di frequenza. Per questo motivo solo tramite dettagliati studi multi banda sulle propriet`a delle galassie siamo in grado di capire approfonditamente la nature di questo tipo di sorgenti. In questo contesto, un grosso passo avanti `e stato compiuto nell’ultima decade, grazie all’avvento di nuovi telescopi e di grandi survey osservative condotte a tutte le lunghezze d’onda, consentendo quindi, per la prima volta, un reale studio completo, dai raggi X al Radio, delle SED di un significativo numero di galassie. In particolare, gli osservatori spaziali Spitzer ed Herschel stanno dando un grosso contributo in questo senso, permettendo, per la prima volta, osservazioni nel medio-, lontano- infrarosso e nel regime sub-millimetrico campionando diverse lunghezze d’onda. In questo lavoro sfruttiamo diverse survey multibanda condotte in maniera congiunta da Spitzer e Herschel con il fine di studiare le funzioni di luminosita' nelle bande del medio-, lontano-infrarosso e del sub-millimetrico e determinare poi l’evoluzione delle sorgenti infrarosse. Piu' nel dettaglio abbiamo basato la nostra analisi sui dati raccolti nelle survey sia profonde che su grandi aree, e quindi meno profonde, condotte da Spitzer, e nella Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMes, Oliver et al. (2012)) condotta da Herschel. Queste campagne osservative includono le osservazioni piu' profonde e piu' vaste in area mai condotte a queste lunghezze d’onda, analizzando il per lo piu' inesplorato intervallo di lunghezze d’onda infrarosse fino a 500 µm in aree di cielo che vanno dai 0.01 gradi2 ai 10 gradi2 . Inoltre, nella maggior parte delle aree da loro coperte, e' stato possibile sfruttare un considerevole numero di campagne osservative sia fotometriche che spettroscopiche consentendo di raccogliere informazioni anche nelle restanti bande dello spettro elettromagnetico dal lontano ultravioletto al vicino infrarosso (per esempio, GALEX nel lontano e vicino UV, SDSS, INTWFS, CFHTLS e altre nell’ottico, 2MASS e UKIDSS nel vicino IR) ed essere cosı' in grado di caratterizzare dettagliatamente le propriet`a fisiche delle sorgenti rilevate. Una parte del presente lavoro e' stata dedicata alla costruzione e alla validazione del database denominato Spitzer-Selected Multi-Wavelength Wide-Area Data Fusion. In questo database abbiamo combinato i dati nel medio- e lontanto-IR raccolti da Spitzer nelle campagne osservative Spitzer Wide-area InfraRed Extragalactic (SWIRE, Lonsdale et al. (2003)) in sei aree di cielo, Spitzer Deep-Wide Field Survey (SDWFS) nell’area di Bootes, Spitzer Extra- galactic First Look Survey (XFLS) nell’area di XFLS, assieme ai dati nell’UV, nell’Ottico e nel vicino IR, campionando circa 70 gradi2 in totale. Abbiamo sfruttato al massimo l’ampiezza e la ricchezza dei dati raccolti da SDSS e INTWS nell’ottico e da 2MASS e UKIDSS nel vicino-IR, cos`ı come altre osservazioni ottiche ottenute all’interno dei progetti SWIRE, SWDFS e XFLS. Abbiamo cos`ı aggiunto a questa gi`a ricca quantit`a di dati tutte le informazioni spettroscopiche disponibili da SDSS e NED. Il Spitzer Data Fusion rappresenta un ideale punto di partenza per studi sulle propriet`a statistiche delle galassie, come lo studio dettagliato delle distribuzioni di energia spettrale (SED) per la stima dei redshift fotometrici, delle masse e del tasso di formazione stellare (SFR). E`stato usato per validare le osservazioni condotte da Herschel in SDP all’interno del consorzio HerMES e per produrre la prima versione pubblica dei cataloghi SPIRE. E`stato pensato per essere compatibile con le piattaforme rese disponibili dal VO e sar`a reso pubblico assieme ad una collezione di altre quantit`a ancillari come le curve di trasmissione e gli indici di conversione tra magnitudini Vega ed AB per tutti i filtri disponibili. Lo studio delle funzioni di luminosita' e' spesso reso piu' complicato a causa, da un lato, delle difficolta' di condurre osservazioni su grandi aree fino a bassi livelli di flusso, dall’altro delle difficolta' di associare una corretta stima del redshift alle sorgenti man mano osservate. In questo lavoro abbiamo percio' assemblato le osservazioni piu' profonde e su grandi aree di Spitzer ed Herschel con lo scopo di selezionare un campione di galassie infrarosse nel modo piu' completo e affidabile, cosı' come la migliore collezione collezione di dati ancillari UV/Ottico/NIR atti ad identificare le controparti di queste sorgenti e determinarne una stima corretta del redshift. Grazie alle osservazioni di Spitzer ed Herschel siamo infatti in grado, per la prima volta, di campionare la luminosita' bolometrica infrarossa integrata tra 8 e 1000 µm delle sorgenti ad ogni epoca cosmica e quindi consentire di studiare nel dettaglio i processi di formazione stellare oscurati dalla polvere del mezzo intergalattico in funzione del tempo cosmico. Ad ogni modo, anche avendo a disposizione la migliore collezione di dati, studiare le funzioni di luminosit`a delle galassie rimane complicato e ricco di aspetti controversi, a causa della presenza di effetti di selezione sulle osservazioni dovute, per esempio, al limite di sensibilit`a degli strumenti che rendono per lo piu' incompleti i campioni di galassie selezionati e introducono quindi dei bias nella stima corretta delle funzioni di luminosita'. E` quindi chiaro che solo tramite un confronto diretto delle stime ottenute utilizzando diversi metodi statistici sugli stessi campioni di dati che possiamo essere sicuri di quantificare l’impatto di questi effetti di selezione sui nostri risultati. Grazie alla Spitzer Data Fusion, siamo in grado di descrivere le funzioni di luminosita’ locali (0 < z < 0.5) delle sorgenti selezionate nei campioni di grande area raccolti dai fotometri MIPS e SPIRE, rispettivamente operanti su Spitzer ed Herschel. Abbiamo sfruttato ampiamente le informazioni multi banda raccolte nel database per analizzare le SED delle sorgenti rilevate da questi strumenti e quindi stimare, nel sistema di riferimento a riposo, le luminosita' monocromatiche sia nelle bande a MIPS 24/70/260 µm che in quelle a SPIRE 250/350/500 µm e la luminosit`a infrarossa bolometrica integrata tra 8 e 1000 µm per ciascuna sorgente. Successivamente abbiamo utilizzato svariato metodi statistici per stimare la funzione di luminosita' locale di campioni completi di galassie selezionate in flusso per ciascuna di queste bande: il classico metodo 1/Vmax diSchmidt (1968) e una sua incarnazione leggermente modificata detta 1/Vest introdotta da Page & Carrera (2000); un metodo parametrico di maximum likelihood basato sulla statistica Bayesiana descritto da Kelly et al. (2008) ed infine un metodo semi-parametrico introdotto da Schafer (2007). Abbiamo poi applicato gli stessi metodi ad un campione di dati raccolti dai due fotometri PACS e SPIRE, di Herschel, distribuiti dal consorzio HerMES e centrati nell’area della survey Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), osservazioni in cui la sensibilit`a di PACS e SPIRE a il catalogo di redshift fotometrici di COSMOS ci consentono di studiare l’evoluzione delle sorgenti di Herschel fino a z ∼ 5. Nello specifico abbiamo studiato, in funzione del redshift, le funzioni di luminosit`a monocromatiche, la funzione di luminosit`a bolometrica infrarossa integrata tra 8 e 1000 µm e la densita' del tasso di formazione stellare cosmica delle sorgenti rilevate da SPIRE a 250 µm. Data per assodata la presenza di incertezze nelle stime sopra citate, abbiamo applicato due metodi indipendenti per misurare il tasso evolutivo delle sorgenti, ottenendo risultati consistenti tra loro e quindi rendendo ancora piu' solide le nostre stime. I nostri risultati pongono dei vincoli stringenti sulle predizioni modellistiche dei modelli semi-analitici che descrivono la formazione della galassie sulla base di principi primi in accordo con lo scenario cosmologico standard, e dai nostri confronti emerge un sostanziale disaccordo tra i risultati osservativi da noi ottenuti e quelli predetti dai modelli nel quantificare il tasso evolutivo delle sorgenti rilevate da Herschel, soprattutto ad alto redshift.

Obtaining a very high level of precision and sophistication in automated computer control is now available inexpensively from a variety of hardware and software sources. Applying this automated technology to an astronomical telescope broadens the scope of applications of the instrument, particularly in areas such as photo electrics, CCD imaging and remote control. The ultimate design goal of the UWS telescope was that of full roboticism, giving access of the facility to off campus clients both in Australia and overseas. The first phase towards full robotic control is automation of the required optical and mechanical parameters, providing precision targeting and object tracking. This thesis describes the mechanical aspects of the UWS telescope and the procedures and equipment involved in its automation, including the drive system, electro mechanical design and associated computer hardware and software. Sample performance test data shows that using a high percentage of inexpensive proprietary robotics components, a very sophisticated and accurate measuring device can be produced.
Master of Science (Hons.)

Ng Yat Chiu Patrick.
"Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 1997-98, design report."
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-113).
Synopsis
Existing State
Background of Hong Kong --- p.2-3
Background of Astronomy --- p.4-7
Astronomy in Hong Kong --- p.8
Client Profile & Users Group --- p.9-11
Site Selection --- p.12
Site Analysis --- p.13-18
Constraints --- p.19
Opportunities --- p.20-21
Discussion of Issues --- p.22-24
Future State
Formulatoin of Program --- p.25-33
List of Activities --- p.34
Schedule of Accommodation --- p.35-36
Design Proposal
Design Philosophy --- p.37
Site Aspect --- p.38-41
Design Development --- p.42-66
Final Design
Site Approach --- p.67
Site Zoning --- p.68
Site Setting out --- p.69
Museum Sequence --- p.70
Modern Astronomy & Space Science Museum --- p.71
Star Odyssey --- p.72
Myth and Legend --- p.73
Zodiac --- p.74
Ancient Astronomical Instrument --- p.75
Cosmology and Observatory --- p.76
Reservoir and Water Edge --- p.77
"Cafeteria, Internet Cafe & Contemporary Interest Topic" --- p.78
Astronomical Observatory & Star Gazing Classroom --- p.79-80
Environmental
Use of Energy --- p.81-86
Lighting --- p.87-88
Natural Ventilation --- p.89
HVAC System --- p.90-91
Plumping & Drainage --- p.92-93
Life Safety
Means of Escape --- p.94-95
Construction
General Structure --- p.96
Special Structure --- p.97-98
Construction Sequence --- p.99-101
Cost Analysis Appendices --- p.102-103
Appendices
Precedents Studies --- p.104-111
Bibliography --- p.112-113
Acknowledgement --- p.114

Obtaining a very high level of precision and sophistication in automated computer control is now available inexpensively from a variety of hardware and software sources. Applying this automated technology to an astronomical telescope broadens the scope of applications of the instrument, particularly in areas such as photo electrics, CCD imaging and remote control. The ultimate design goal of the UWS telescope was that of full roboticism, giving access of the facility to off campus clients both in Australia and overseas. The first phase towards full robotic control is automation of the required optical and mechanical parameters, providing precision targeting and object tracking. This thesis describes the mechanical aspects of the UWS telescope and the procedures and equipment involved in its automation, including the drive system, electro mechanical design and associated computer hardware and software. Sample performance test data shows that using a high percentage of inexpensive proprietary robotics components, a very sophisticated and accurate measuring device can be produced.