A next-generation lunar laser ranging apparatus using the 3.5 m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory in southern New Mexico has begun science operation. APOLLO (the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation) has achieved one-millimeter range precision to the moon which should lead to aproximately one-orderof-magnitude improvements in the precision of several tests of fundamental properties of gravity. We briefly motivate the scientific goals, and then give a detailed discussion of the APOLLO instrumentation.
Revised: February 29, 2008 |
Published: January 1, 2008
Citation
Murphy T., E.G. Adelberger, J. Battat, L. Carey, C.D. Hoyle, P. LeBlanc, and E. Michelsen, et al. 2008.The Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation: Instrument Description and First Detections.Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 120, no. 863:20-37.PNNL-SA-56502.