"It's Magic" - Who"Space - infinite expanses. The year is 2200." Do you remember that?
This is how the television series Starship Enterprise begins. However, the view into space has fascinated mankind since the beginning and not just in 2200. The sparkle in the night has such a beauty that is immediately accessible to us, even if we have no idea about astronomy. The thread specialists at Eichenberger confirm once again that they combine customer wishes and performance requirements with solutions. With impressive speed, around 4000 ball screws allow unique insights into the cosmos, which excite astronomers worldwide.
World-class conditions for the observatory and telescopes
MAGIC I and II are the two largest air Cherenkov telescopes in the world. The sister telescopes are located at an altitude of around 2300 meters on the highest mountain on the Canary Island of La Palma, at a distance of 85 meters. The rugged ridge of a huge volcanic range in the north of the island is called Roque de los Muchachos, which means "tower of the boys". And indeed, there are many things up there above the Atlantic that, according to cultivated clichés, are more fun for men. It starts with the approach, which feels like a hundred hairpin bends and along precipices over which you can already see the first burning jeeps in the next James Bond film plummeting. And this wouldn't be the first Bond film to be shot on the grounds of an astronomical observatory.
La Palma is small and quiet and yet is one of the most important places in the world. But the wonder of the island can only be seen at night: the most beautiful starry sky - proven. The Roque de los Muchachos offers almost ideal conditions for astronomical observation and research. Clouds brought by the trade winds from the north-east remain on the north-eastern flank of the mountain, where it often rains. The telescopes, on the other hand, are located in the northwest, high above the ocean. The dry and almost particle-free air layer at an altitude of 2400 meters and the low light pollution on La Palma do the rest and enable excellent images via installed cameras and telescopes.
La Palma is a UNESCO protected area that protects the quality and natural darkness of the sky.
Blue gamma-ray bursts, the most violent explosions in the universe
- Screw drives from Switzerland make them visible
Astronomers cannot see their objects of observation directly, but only the high-energy gamma radiation that is generated in their vicinity. These particles, known as gamma quanta, travel at the speed of light in a straight line through the universe. And that is what is so fascinating: When the particles, called gamma photons, reach the earth, sometimes after a journey through the cosmos lasting billions of years, scientists can draw conclusions about their place of origin and the circumstances of their creation. Researchers are also hoping to find clues about possible deviations from Einstein's theory of relativity.
The photons collide with the earth's atmosphere at a height of around eight kilometers and begin to interact with the molecules in the air. Fortunately for us, because gamma rays are high-energy and would kill us humans. But this creates a chain reaction with breathtaking consequences: a harmless shower of particles. Scientists capture these particles with the MAGIC telescopes. Because the photons are very fast, blue flashes are produced. This light is called Cherenkov light. The telescopes are named after the Soviet physicist Pavel Cherenkov, who discovered the light in the 1930s.
On La Palma, the Earth's atmosphere is transformed into a gigantic particle detector. Within a few seconds, two telescopes can be focused on any point in the firmament. The fact that the telescopes can focus so quickly on the source of the gamma-ray burst is thanks to their powerful drive solutions with screw drives and their relatively low weight. Each telescope has 947 aluminum mirror segments mounted on carrier plates, resulting in 247 m2 of mirror surface. Each of the almost one thousand 50 x 50 cm mirror plates is driven on two sides by an amazingly fast and durable Carry 12 x 2 mm ball screw drive. These cold-rolled powerhouses align the individual mirrors to a pre-adjusted laser point with enormous precision and astonishing speed.
Explosions in the cosmos. So much energy is released in just one second,
as the sun produces in its entire life span.
Insights into the cosmos, thanks to lightweight ball screws
At the heart of each of the small drive units are the cold-formed, extremely effective ball screw drives. The electrically activated Carry ball screw drives convert the rotary motion of the motors into a linear motion. The service life of the 4000 or so screw drives is significant. Eichenberger guarantees wear-free products with a high degree of efficiency that offer high value retention over a long life cycle. Space-saving design, high lead angles and low weight enable small motors. Thanks to innovative details and special manufacturing processes, the thread professional Eichenberger creates the conditions for maximum dynamics.
Gamma-ray bursts are invisible to the human eye. Targeting them from Earth is a difficult task. They can light up anywhere in the sky at any time and quickly disappear again. This is why the MAGIC telescopes rely on a fully automatic system to process satellite signals. The MAGIC constructions are indeed huge. With a diameter of 17 meters each, they are the largest telescope mirrors in the world and yet they are also the most agile. Each of the two 70-ton instruments can be rotated to any position in less than 20 seconds.
When absolute reliability is required
Why is astronomy important?
Astrophysics deals with the physical principles of the study of celestial phenomena and is a branch of astronomy. Various technological developments from these observations have found their way into our everyday lives or into other scientific fields (medicine, biology, materials research). A lot of concrete technical applications have emerged and we can be even more excited about the future. The costly MAGIC observations are therefore very worthwhile. Around 150 scientists from 24 institutions in nine European countries belong to the MAGIC collaboration. With 150 astro-researchers, the demand for observation time at MAGIC is always greater than the supply of time. The blue flashes burn up in the atmosphere after a few billionths of a second. But the MAGIC telescopes are sensitive and fast enough to observe the effect in the sky over La Palma.
Imagine it was July 2018 or January 2019 again, when two violent explosions in galaxies billions of light years away produced the brightest light in the universe. Astronomers got and more than 300 scientists investigated the ultra-high-energy light. Apparently, the light was produced during the afterglow and not during the supernova explosion itself. You may remember May 2020, when astronomers recorded a kilonova, an even more powerful burst of brightness, as two neutron stars collided. Scientists are certain that this is likely to be the spectacular birth of a magnetar (whose charged core spins at an enormous speed and therefore generates extremely strong magnetic fields according to the principle of a dynamo).
If it is not possible to react at lightning speed at such moments, unique opportunities for new, important and extremely valuable insights are lost... The reliability of the mechanical drive elements is therefore essential. The Swiss ball screw drive type Carry guarantees enormous performance (efficiency > 0.9) with maximum functional reliability and robustness. Despite the most adverse weather conditions and extreme temperature differences, the cold-rolled, heavy-duty Carry performs its task with absolute reliability.
