The drive system of the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescope

TL;DR

This paper details the design, implementation, and calibration of the drive system for the MAGIC gamma-ray telescope, emphasizing accuracy, rapid repositioning, and robustness for high-energy astrophysics observations.

Contribution

It introduces a drive system utilizing standard industry components for high precision, rapid response, and scalability in gamma-ray telescope operations.

Findings

Drive system achieves better than feedback accuracy.

Capable of repositioning within tens of seconds for gamma-ray bursts.

Robust and scalable design suitable for future telescope arrays.

Abstract

The MAGIC telescope is an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope, designed to observe very high energy gamma-rays while achieving a low energy threshold. One of the key science goals is fast follow-up of the enigmatic and short lived gamma-ray bursts. The drive system for the telescope has to meet two basic demands: (1) During normal observations, the 72-ton telescope has to be positioned accurately, and has to track a given sky position with high precision at a typical rotational speed in the order of one revolution per day. (2) For successfully observing GRB prompt emission and afterglows, it has to be powerful enough to position to an arbitrary point on the sky within a few ten seconds and commence normal tracking immediately thereafter. To meet these requirements, the implementation and realization of the drive system relies strongly on standard industry components to ensure robustness and reliability. In this paper, we describe the mechanical setup, the drive control and the calibration of the pointing, as well as present measurements of the accuracy of the system. We show that the drive system is mechanically able to operate the motors with an accuracy even better than the feedback values from the axes. In the context of future projects, envisaging telescope arrays comprising about 100 individual instruments, the robustness and scalability of the concept is emphasized.