The New 2meter RCC Telescope of the Centre AMEI Observatory

V.Tarady and V.Godunova

International Centre for Astronomical, Medical and Ecological Investigations

tarady@mao.kiev.ua

The new 2meter Ritchey-Chretien-Coude telescope in the Northern Caucasus on the Terskol peak (near Elbrus) was put into full operation in late 1996.

The telescope is equipped with the following instrumentation: - CCD Echelle spectrograph in the Coude focus; - universal UAGS spectrograph; - photographic camera with changeable filters; - two-channel focal reductor of Max-Planck-Institute for Aeronomie (Germany). The 3-camera Echelle spectrograph was developed specially for this telescope. It's characteristics are the best among the devices of the given type. The spectral resolution of the spectrograph is 200,000.

Astronomical observations at the 2-m telescope Terskol started in 1996. Different objects such as comets, gaseous nebulae, Seyfert galaxies, artificial satellites etc. were observed. Unique materials were obtained in 1996-1997 by Prof.K.Jockers for comets Hale-Bopp and Wirtanen.

The large telescope equipped by a CCD camera allows to observe faint celestial objects, both natural and artificial ones. So it is possible to determine object's coordinates and brightness using Guide Star Catalogue. This technique was successfully applied in tracking of some geostationary satellites in 1997-1998.

All observations and tests showed that the 2-m RCC telescope Terskol is a high manufactured instrument, which due to its optical scheme, original mounting and control system gives great research possibilities for investigating the various problems of astrophysics and astrometry.

The Centre AMEI offers the use of the facilities available at the Terskol Observatory for research and joint work with the international community.