astronomy

Nordic Optical Telescope

Nordic Optical Telescope is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nordic Optical Telescope rather than just read about it. In short: The Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) is an astronomical telescope located at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma in the Canary Islands. The telescope saw first light in 1988, and was officially inaugurated during September 1989.

Key takeaways

Nordic Optical Telescope belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nordic Optical Telescope to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nordic Optical Telescope from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) is an astronomical telescope located at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma in the Canary Islands. The telescope saw first light in 1988, and was officially inaugurated during September 1989. Regular observing started in 1990. It is funded by Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and (since 1997) Iceland. Access is provided directly to astronomers of the funding countries, and of all nationalities through international time allocation committees. The main mirror has a diameter of 2.56 metres (101 in). The optical forming was done at the optical laboratory at the Tuorla Observatory, on mirror blanks made of Zerodur at Schott Glaswerke in Mainz, Germany. While the NOT was designed as a passive telescope, with the mirror sufficiently thick to keep its shape even without an active feedback loop, its mirror was designed to be suspended on a pneumatic support system. The designers had planned that this and the flexibility of the mirror would allow for the implementation of a so-called active optics system, a feature that was then under development for ESO's New Technology Telescope. In 1992, such an active optics system was installed at the NOT.

Instrumentation The NOT operates three instruments that can be mounted -only one at a time- under the Cassegrain focus:

ALFOSC: a CCD camera and spectrograph. This is a versatile instrument that gets most time in the focus. It includes a polarimetry module that allows it to be used for polarimetry and spectropolarimetry. NOTCam: a near infrared camera and spectrograph. MOSCA: a 4-CCD mosaic camera, of high efficiency in the blue end of the spectra. There are two more instruments, permanently mounted on a folded-Cassegrain configuration. Retractable folding mirrors allow to switch in short time from the main instrument to either of them.

FIES: a cross-dispersed high-resolution echelle spectrograph, isolated from thermal and mechanical instability. This is the latest addition to the telescope. StanCam: a 1 Megapixel CCD camera. Less sensitive than ALFOSC, and with a smaller field of view, it works as a companion for NOTCam (providing optical photometry), or to react to "target of opportunity" programs when neither ALFOSC nor MOSCA are mounted.

Visitor Instruments The NOT has been host to a number of instruments on a "visitor" status.

TURPOL: UBVRI Photopolarimeter. TURPOL has been at the NOT since the very beginning, but it is not available as part of the general instrument set. PolCor: a combined "Lucky" imager, polarimeter, and coronagraph LuckyCam: High frame rate, low noise CCD camera for lucky imaging SOFIN: High resolution CCD spectrograph. This instrument was first used in 1991, spent many years usefully at the NOT, and was finally decommissioned during 2014.

Future A new instrument for the NOT is currently under development, under the working name of NOT Transient Explorer (NTE). This new instrument is intended to be mounted permanently at the Cassegrain focus, providing imaging and spectroscopic capabilities both in the full optical and near-infrared range.

See also List of largest optical telescopes in the 20th century

References

External links

not.iac.es - official site. Video - Video about and at the telescope.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nordic Optical Telescope

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nordic Optical Telescope claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nordic Optical Telescope before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nordic Optical Telescope ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nordic Optical Telescope

In research: Nordic Optical Telescope appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nordic Optical Telescope in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nordic Optical Telescope is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1989 establishments in Spain, Astronomical observatories in La Palma, Buildings and structures in the Canary Islands, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nordic Optical Telescope outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nordic Optical Telescope in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nordic Optical Telescope means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nordic Optical Telescope out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nordic Optical Telescope in simple terms?

Why does Nordic Optical Telescope matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nordic Optical Telescope?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nordic Optical Telescope.