ESA Optical Ground Station

The ESA Optical Ground Station (OGS Telescope or ESA Space Debris Telescope) is the European Space Agency's ground based observatory at the Teide Observatory on Tenerife, Spain, built for the observation of space debris. OGS is part of the Artemis experiment and is operated by the IAC (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias) and Ataman Science S.L.U.

ESA Optical Ground Station
The ESA Optical Ground Station (on the left)
Alternative namesOGS Telescope Edit this at Wikidata
Part ofTeide Observatory Edit this on Wikidata
Location(s)Tenerife, Atlantic Ocean, international waters
Coordinates28°18′03″N 16°30′43″W / 28.30096°N 16.51182°W / 28.30096; -16.51182
OrganizationEuropean Space Agency Edit this on Wikidata
Observatory code J04 Edit this on Wikidata
Telescope styleoptical telescope
Ritchey–Chrétien telescope Edit this on Wikidata
Diameter1 m (3 ft 3 in) Edit this at Wikidata
Focal length13.3 m (43 ft 8 in) Edit this at Wikidata
Websitewww.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Space_Optoelectronics/Optical_Ground_Station_OGS Edit this at Wikidata
ESA Optical Ground Station is located in Canary Islands
ESA Optical Ground Station
Location of ESA Optical Ground Station
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The telescope
Dome operations of the OGS

The observatory is a 1-meter Coudé telescope with a field of view of 0.7 degrees, supported by an English cross-axial mount inside a dome 12.5-meters in diameter. Its main purposes are:

  1. to be the optical ground station of the Artemis telecommunications satellite (the project from which the telescope takes its name)
  2. to survey space debris in different orbits around the Earth,
  3. to conduct surveys and follow-up observations of near-Earth objects as part of ESA's Space Situational Awareness programme, and
  4. to make scientific astronomical night observations.

It is equipped with a cryogenically cooled mosaic CCD-Camera of 4k×4k pixels. The detection threshold is between 19th and 21st magnitude, which corresponds to a capability to detect space debris objects as small as 10 cm in the geostationary ring. As a large part of the observation time is dedicated to space debris surveys, in particular the observation of space debris in the geostationary ring and in geostationary transfer orbits, the term ESA Space Debris Telescope became used very frequently. Space debris surveys are carried out every month, centered on New Moon.[citation needed]

Since 2006, the telescope has also been used as a receiver station for quantum communication experiments (such as testing Bell's inequality, quantum cryptography, and quantum teleportation), with the sender station being 143 km away in the observatory on La Palma.[1] This is possible because this telescope can be tilted to a near-horizontal position to point it at La Palma, which many large astronomical telescopes are unable to do.

List of discovered minor planets

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EAS OGS has been credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 37 minor planets.[2] These are:

(231609) 2009 RV 10 September 2009 list
(241554) 2010 FA93 23 March 2010 list
(246849) 2010 FB48 22 March 2010 list
(251626) 2010 FM53 22 March 2010 list
(257422) 2010 FR47 22 March 2010 list
(257423) 2010 FM48 22 March 2010 list
284891 Kona 13 September 2009 list
(296587) 2009 RA26 13 September 2009 list
297005 Ellirichter 22 March 2010 list
(301679) 2010 FA48 22 March 2010 list
(312714) 2010 RR3 1 September 2010 list
(321480) 2009 RZ69 10 September 2009 list
(321810) 2010 RK4 1 September 2010 list
(325476) 2009 RY 10 September 2009 list
(325791) 2010 RX4 1 September 2010 list
(330873) 2009 RQ1 10 September 2009 list
332706 Karlheidlas 13 September 2009 list
(343557) 2010 FX47 22 March 2010 list
(343577) 2010 FF88 22 March 2010 list
(347299) 2011 OA28 1 June 2011 list
(356298) 2010 FT47 22 March 2010 list
(362429) 2010 RU4 1 September 2010 list
(365291) 2009 RO26 13 September 2009 list
(368098) 2013 BP70 6 June 2010 list
(369284) 2009 RQ26 13 September 2009 list
(381725) 2009 RP5 13 September 2009 list
(386618) 2009 RD26 13 September 2009 list
(398163) 2010 FS47 22 March 2010 list
(403532) 2010 FG88 22 March 2010 list
(419562) 2010 RF5 1 September 2010 list
420779 Świdwin 11 April 2013 list
(436317) 2010 FP47 22 March 2010 list
(438881) 2009 RD28 10 September 2009 list
(457818) 2009 RB58 10 September 2009 list
(463362) 2012 TB30 15 September 2012 list
(481993) 2009 RO27 13 September 2009 list
(482129) 2010 RC5 1 September 2010 list

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "ESA observatory breaks world quantum teleportation record". ESA press release. 6 September 2012.
  2. ^ "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
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