ImmerVision’s Optical Department awarded with an optical design contract for the William Herschel Telescope by Photon etc.

Montreal, December 20, 2006: ImmerVision has been selected by Photon Etc. for the optical design of a wide-field focal reducer to be mounted at the Nasmyth focus of the William Herschel Telescope (WHT). The WHT is the largest telescope at the Canarian Observatories; in fact, it is the largest in Western Europe. The WHT has an altazimuth mount with a 4.2-meter diameter f/2.5 parabolic primary mirror. Visiting instruments can be mounted at the corrected f/2.81 prime focus, f/11 Cassegrain focus, or either of two f/11 Nasmyth foci. Total weight of the telescope is about 210 tons. The telescope is a general purpose facility, instrumented to allow a wide range of astronomical observations. The focal reducer designed by ImmerVision will be used in conjunction with the Famtomm camera developed by the University of Montreal. This project is a collaboration between the University of Montréal, WHT, and Photon Etc., a Montréal-based company.