HECTOMETRIC OPTICAL TELESCOPES ESO'S 100-M OWL TELESCOPE CONCEPT

Abstract

The quest for larger telescopes is a never-ending story. Astronomers having very few other ways to perform experimentation, this quest has closely followed the path of technology development, and even promoted it more than once. Traditional design approaches, and above all technology limitations, have limited gains in size to a mere factor 2 between successive generations. We argue that such limitations have recently shifted from the realm of poorly reliable glassmaking and opto-mechanical alignment to that of predictable control systems and large-scale mechanical structures. Novel design approaches taking full benefit of such evolution will, therefore, enable the design, construction and operation of facilities hugely more powerful than currently available. A crucial assumption is that giant telescopes could take full benefit of adaptive optics, a technique currently under rapid development. We elaborate on the design of ESO's concept for a 100-m class, diffraction-limited telescope.