Aristarchos 2.3 m Telescope


The New Greek Telescope project of the National Observatory of Athens was funded by the European Commission and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology of the Hellenic Ministry of Development. The telescope had its first light test in 2005, and became the largest telescope in Greece when it became fully operational at the Chelmos Observatory site in 2007. The telescope has a Ritchey-Chrétien configuration with a primary mirror with a diameter of 2.3 m. The mount is of the altazimuth kind. The telescope is operated by the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the NOA.
Observations with the Aristarchos telescope have provided a measurement of the distance to the planetary nebula KjPn8.