82" Super Tracking

The 82" provides exceptionally accurate tracking in the range -4:00<HA<4:42. The RMS tracking error relative to the commanded rate, measured with star centroids, is about 0.1 arcsecond, and even less when winds are low. The absence of periodic motion and harmonics on the 82" makes it especially suitable for time series photometry, whereas the significant periodic motion of the 107" could be expected to contaminate power spectra and light curves.

The control system can also track along a JPL Horizons ephemeris with high accuracy, even tracking satellites like the Molniya series and other objects whose HA ground track speed R is 1<R<18 arcseconds per second, and DEC rate D is -150<D<150 arcseconds per second.

Check out the tracking accuracy of the 82" against the poor tracking of 107" telescope. These observations were made on the same star, with centroids extracted with IRAF's imcentroid task.