QUESTION:
What kind of telescopes do you use?

ANSWER from Allan Meyer on May 5:
The KAO telescope is a reflector telescope of the Cassegrain 
type.  A reflector telescope uses mirrors instead of lenses.
Reflector telescopes are the preferred choice at all astronomy
observatories built since about 50 years ago.  A reflector 
telescope is especially necessary for our observations of 
infrared (heat), since there is no type of glass lens or other
material that is transparent to both visible light and infrared
heat radiation.

The KAO telescope is has an aperture (front opening) 3 feet 
across, and it is about 6 feet long.  However, the special optics
make it equivalent to a simple telescope about 50 feet long !
Of course it would not be possible to fit a 50-foot long 
telescope into any airplane, so the special optics are used to
squeeze its length down to 6 feet. That's about as big as it can
be and fit in the airplane we use.