The company ASTELCO Systems is a

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

s, telescope control systems, domes/enclosures and related technology for professional

astronomical Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest include ...

research or public use. ASTELCO is located in Sauerlach near

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and was founded in 2004. The company built the telescope and mount of the

TRAPPIST The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

Telescopes, famous for the discovery of the

TRAPPIST-1 , - ! style="background-color: #FFFFC0; text-align: center;" colspan="2", Characteristics , - style="vertical-align:top" ! style="text-align:left" , Evolutionary stage , Main sequence , - style="vertical-align:top" ! style="text-ali ...

system, a

red dwarf A red dwarf is the smallest kind of star on the main sequence. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of fusing star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighborhood of the Sun. However, due to their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs are ...

with seven

terrestrial planet A terrestrial planet, tellurian planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet, is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate, rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets accepted by the IAU are the inner planets closest to ...

s. The company also built the telescopes and mounts for the SPECULOOS Southern and Northern Observatory, which are searching for terrestrial planets around ultracool dwarfs and

brown dwarf Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that have more mass than the biggest gas giant planets, but less than the least massive main sequence, main-sequence stars. Their mass is approximately 13 to 80 Jupiter mass, times that of Jupiter ()not big en ...

s in the

habitable zone In astronomy and astrobiology, the habitable zone (HZ), or more precisely the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), is the range of orbits around a star within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressu ...

. Other projects include the 60 cm Robotic Telescope BOOTES-5 in Mexico, the COATLI robotic 50 cm telescope in Sierra San Pedro Mártir and the prototype for ESO VLT Laser Guide Star Telescope. The company builds classical Cassegrain and Ritchey-Chrétien telescope designs. The company also builds entire

observatories An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

, like the 0.8 m robotic telescope and 8m Lotus dome on top of the Mary Library (Turkmenistan) that is available for public use.

References

{{Reflist Instrument-making corporations Telescope manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Munich