The AZT-24 telescope at Campo Imperatore

The AZT-24 is a 108 cm-aperture telescope located in the East dome of the Campo Imperatore Observatory.

Built by LOMO optical workshops for Pulkovo Observatory (St. Petersburg, Russia), it has been moved to Italy on 1995 and installed in its current location on 1997, in the framework of the SWIRT Project

The telescope is equipped with the near-infrared camera SWIRCAM (1.1 - 2.5 μm ), provided by Teramo Astronomical Observatory.

It is mainly devoted to the search for extragalactic Supernovae in the near-infrared ( SWIRT Project ): other projects concern stellar variability, galaxy luminosity, active galactic nuclei and minor bodies of the Solar System.

The AZT-24 is currently the only telescope on the italian ground to be equipped with near-infrared instrumentation.






Technical data

Optical design Ritchey-Chrétien with optional corrector
Flat focal plane field size 20' = 46 mm     ( 84' = 195 mm with corrector )
Primary mirror diameter
focal length		 1100 mm
4553 mm
Primary mirror weight net
in the cell		 280 Kg
1820 Kg
Secondary mirror diameter 590 mm (Cassegrain focus)
Distance from primary mirror 2605.5 mm     (2611.0 mm with corrector)
Cassegrain equivalent focal length
7971 mm     (7965 mm with corrector)
Telescope frame type equatorial (German)
Psf parameters @632.8 nm on axis 74% total
66% total		 light energy in 0''.52 circle
in 0''.31 circle
off axis 46% total
39% total		 in 0''.52 circle
in 0''.31 circle
These figures correspond to FWHM about 0''.25 on axis and 0''.30 at the field edge
Mirror roughness λ/30 rms
Focal plane offset from the instrumental flange
60.2 mm     (61.2 mm with corrector)
Telescope movements DC motors
Pointing equipment absolute encoders
resolution: about 10'' (mechanical precision only)
speed: rough guidance 75' per second
exact guidance 15''-16'' per second
Total telescope weight 32 tons (moving part 24 tons)

Note: In order to use the infrared camera, a 45° tertiary plane mirror ( M3) is currently installed which deflects at right angle the optical beam toward the detector.



The Station

The station is a remote site of Rome Astronomical Observatory located in the heart of the Appennino, in the Middle Italy, 2120 m above the sea level. Clic here to see how to reach it.

The weather conditions are good but not excellent: on average, the 50 % of the nights is clear. However it should be noticed that this Observatory was built in the 1950s, when the site testing was not yet a science.

The darkness of the sky is very good, especially when the thermal inversion level lies below 2000 m a.s.l.: in this case, the clouds layer shields the Observatory from unwanted light coming from the valleys around. However, "darkness" is a relative concept in the near-infrared: indeed, the sky brightness is related primarily to the water vapour content of the atmosphere, rather than to the scatter of light by atmospheric aerosols. The typical sky brightness at Campo Imperatore amounts to 15.5, 14.5 and 11.5 mag/arcsec2 in the J, H and K band, respectively.

Measurements of the photometric conditions over long periods are shown in the figures.
They are stable within 0.06 mag for the J band (left), 0.1 mag for the H band (center) and 0.2 mag for the K band (right).


The measured FWHM is reported for a typical night (left diagram) a for a period of one year (central diagram). The FWHM lies typically between 2 and 3 arcsec: the seeing is less stable during the spring (around 120 days after the 1st of October).
The right diagram shows the distribution of the measured FWHMs.



Image gallery



Observation time request

Any proposal must include people from at least one of the following institutions:

Teramo Astronomical Observatory

Rome Astronomical Observatory

Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory

To get more information about procedures and deadlines, please visit the WEB Page of Campo Imperatore Observatory or contact Enzo Brocato at Teramo Astronomical Observatory.

Last update Dec 11, 2002

Mauro Dolci, INAF - OACT