Westerlund telescope
The Westerlund telescope building on top of the Ångström laboratory. View from north east.
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| Named after |
Bengt Westerlund 
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| Observatory |
Uppsala University
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| Coordinates | 59°50′15″N 17°38′52″E / 59.83747°N 17.64772°ECoordinates: 59°50′15″N 17°38′52″E / 59.83747°N 17.64772°E |
| Organization |
Uppsala Astronomical Observatory
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| Altitude | 51 m (167 ft) |
| First light | October 2003
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| Telescope style |
optical telescope, Cassegrain reflector
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| Diameter | 0.9 m (2 ft 11 in) |
| Website | www |
 Location of Westerlund telescope
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The Westerlund telescope was inaugurated in 2004. and is named after Bengt Westerlund (1921-2008). The telescope belongs to Uppsala Astronomical Observatory and serves as a training telescope. It is used in courses for undergraduates, graduates, and examination projects as well as ordinary astronomical observations by astronomers at the observatory.
The telescope is situated at the south end on top of the Ångström laboratory, the main physics building of Uppsala University. The building stands on a gravel slope, which is a part of Uppsala esker, next to the Fyris river with a main road just to the south. The central part of Uppsala and the main building is to the northwest to northeast. The horizon is free from northeast to southeast with the Uppsala plain and southeast part of the city. From southeast to south there are pine tree embedded buildings, and from south to northwest there are pine forest in front of the south and southwest part of the city. The sky is unblocked down to the lower altitude limit of the telescope.
The light pollution from the city normally introduces around 1.5 to 2 magnitudes of background light with respect to a dark site, close to zenith, and more towards north. To the southeast there is a night time glow at the horizon originating from Arlanda airport.
Winter solstice give about 17 hours of evening and night, of which 12.5 hours are astronomical night. However, the main observational season from late August to end of April generally has less than 25% clear nights, November being worst and Mars best.
The top part of the dome can be freely rotated an arbitrary number of revolutions and the slit has a lower hydraulic hatch and an upper cog driven hatch. The lower part of the dome have 15 side doors of which 12 are opened in pairs, and a large window to the upper control room, half a floor down.
Originally there were two control rooms, one next to the dome with the viewing window of the telescope, and one down in the observatory's office space. The two room are directly linked with optical fiber, but it is only the control room at the telescope which is used.
Because the building do not stand on rock, and the telescope do not have a separate support system, the instrument stands on a steel frame on a big concrete plate which is detached from the rest of the building in order to reduce vibrations. Above the concrete plate is a metal floor grid to stand on.
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Wikipedia