The Principles of Astronomical Telescope Design - (Astrophysics and Space Science Library) by Jingquan Cheng (Hardcover)

About the Book

As a complete summary of the author's twenty five years of experience in telescope design, this book provides a general introduction as well as discussing the theory in depth, and covering Radio, Infrared, Optical, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray wavelengths.

Book Synopsis

This book presents a complete summary of the author's twenty five years of experience in telescope design. It provides a general introduction to every aspect of telescope design. It also discusses the theory behind telescope design in depth, which makes it a good reference book for professionals. It covers Radio, Infrared, Optical, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray wavelengths. Originally published in Chinese.

From the Back Cover

This volume presents a complete summary of the author's twenty five years of experience in telescope design. It provides a general introduction to every aspect of telescope design and discusses the theory behind telescope design in depth. Telescope component design is also covered. The book pays particular attention to technologies such as active and adaptive optics, aperture synthesis, holographic surface measurement, infrared signal modulation, wavefront, curvature, and phasing sensors, as well as x-ray and gamma ray imaging. The principles behind these technologies are also discussed with an eye towards their practical applications, resulting in a book that bridges practical telescope engineering and advanced physics theory.

Originally published in Chinese, The Principles of Astronomical Telescope Design is highly regarded by the Chinese astronomical community. This English language version is intended for postgraduate students, engineers and scientists in the fields of astronomy, optics, particle physics, space science and related fields.

Review Quotes

From the reviews:

"This 630-page book provides a very comprehensive engineering and science study of telescopes used for astronomy ... . The technical level of the book is for graduate engineers and astronomers ... . I reviewed some of the algebra in detail and found it to be complete and understandable. ... I predict that the book will find broad use among the engineering and astronomical communities for years into the future, and I recommend this book to astronomers and engineers who build astronomical telescopes and instruments." (James B. Breckinridge, The Observatory, Vol. 130, October, 2010)

"The book offers more of an encyclopedic review of a wide range of facets on the subjects of design, construction, calibration, and operation of telescopes used in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. ... A short chapter with tables of all major telescopes in the world closes the book. ... The book will be most useful to readers with an understanding of ... telescope, who want to obtain a feeling for how problems in other wavelength regimes have been attacked." (Jacob W. M. Baars, The Radio Science Bulletin, Issue 335, December, 2010)