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 approximately one-order-of-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.
@article{arxiv.0710.0890,
title = {APOLLO: the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation: Instrument Description and First Detections},
author = {T. W. Murphy, and E. G. Adelberger and J. B. R. Battat and L. N. Carey and C. D. Hoyle and P. LeBlanc and E. L. Michelsen and K. Nordtvedt and A. E. Orin and J. D. Strasburg and C. W. Stubbs and H. E. Swanson and E. Williams},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0710.0890},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
37 pages; 10 figures; 1 table: accepted for publication in PASP