Andrey Shugarov1*, Mikhail Sachkov1, Huijuan Wang2,3, Xiaojun Jiang2,3, Vladimir Shmagin1
1 Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Science (INASAN)
2 National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC)
3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
* Speaker, corresponding author, e-mail: shugarov@inasan.ru
A concept of a simple small-sized (10 kg) lunar astronomical UV telescope for upcoming LUNA missions.
The project of a small-sized 10 kg Lunar astronomical telescope for the UV and optical spectral ranges using proven space technical solutions is proposed for upcoming Russian LUNA missions. Such a telescope can be considered as a pathfinder for the future larger aperture lunar-based UV-Optical-IR telescope for ILRS in both scientific and technological aspects. Also such a telescope can be proposed to any Moon mission to allow continuous international observation campaign from the Moon.
The technological aspects that can be evaluated are: the effect of the Moon’s dust on astronomical optics and the efficiency of different protection methods (if implemented), stability of the Moon lander on the lunar regolith at the sub-arcsecond level, experience in conducting astronomical observations in difficult scattering light and thermal conditions.
The location of the telescope on the Moon will allow to probe new methods of astronomical observations from the Moon, that can’t be done from other orbits close to the Earth:
– synchronous observation in triangulation mode with Moon- and ground base- telescopes (Moon-Earth base) of dangerous asteroids in the near-Earth space for faster and more accurate orbit determination,
– observation of asteroids and comets close to the Sun from the Moon,
– evaluation of the efficiency of occultation observation by the Moon surface or Moon crater hill,
– observation of the Earth’s exosphere,
– targets of opportunity.
The 10 kg Lunar telescope conceptual design has a 10 cm reflective telescope on a two-axis mount. The telescope should provide diffraction-limited imaging at 115 nm on a modern CMOS detector with sub-electron readout noise and several deposited UV and optical filters.