The USNO Instrument Shop

The Instrument Shop at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington D.C., is a state-of-the-art shop with the latest in Computer Numerical Control Machines and Inspection Equipment. The shop can design and manufacture instruments with precisions in the micron range with a wide variety of materials. The instrument shop supports the mission of the Naval Observatory by maintaining existing precision optical and mechanical tools of the astronomer, designing new equipment for both classical and modern projects and constructing and testing precision instrumentation. Much of the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer design and construction has been done in the instrument shop.

Some views of the instrument shop:

Numerically controlled lathe
Optical comparator
Coordinate measuring machine
Loading the CCD Astrograph for shipment to Cerro Tololo, Chile.

Some of the current projects:

The Millenium Time Ball
Avalanche Photodiode for the Optical Interferometer
Vacuum Box for Optical Interferometer
Elevator can seal lid for the Optical Interferometer
Elevator can assembly for the Optical Interferometer
Pop-up mirror mounts for the Optical Interferometer
Siderostat for the NPOI
Beam Compressor for the NPOI

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