The lower level of the SDSS telescope

This instrument room is in some sense the heart of the telescope. All telescope communication cabling passes from this room through an underground culvert to the support building. Also, almost all of the control electronics and instrumentation are here. For example, the computer equipment in the foreground controls the positioning of the telescope. Behind this equipment is the "cone room" containing the massive central axis and bearing of the telescope, on which the upper body of the telescope rotates about the azimuth.