The 10 m submillimeter telescope (SMT)

The SMT is a highly accurate telescope of 10 m diameter with a reflector quality of 15 μm rms and a pointing/tracking accuracy of 1 arcsec. It provides excellent performance at 350 μm, the shortest wavelength submillimeter atmospheric window. The SMT will be located on Mt. Graham, Arizona at an altitude of 3200 m. The performance of the SMT is attained through extensive use of carbon fiber reinforced plastic in the structure, allowing unimpaired use of the instrument under various environmental conditions. Both the site and the telescope design allow submillimeter observations during the day as well as the night. We summarize here the technical features of the telescope. The project organisation and the site characteristics have been described in the proceedings of the Kona Symposium (Baars, Krügel and Martin, 1989).