Line-of-sight jitter of the Hubble Space Telescope

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
We report on the results of a dedicated on-orbit test which we have performed to measure the line-of-sight jitter of the Hubble Space Telescope. The test, which made use of one of the science instruments on board the spacecraft, had a very high sensitivity (a fraction of a milliarcsecond) and covered all frequencies up to 500 Hz. As was previously known from gyroscope data analysis, the bulk of the line-of-sight jitter occurs at frequencies lower than 5 Hz and is caused by motion of the spacecraft body reacting against the oscillation of its appendages. However, the test indicates that there are also minor contributions by various modes of the telescope structure in the 15 - 30 Hz range and the vibration of the primary mirror at 61 Hz when it is excited by thermally induced shocks or the running of the tape recorder. There are also traces of a component around 300 Hz induced by the tape recorder.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: