The JKT has a 1.0 metre diameter parabolic primary mirror with a focal ratio of f/4.6. The telescope is equatorially mounted on a cross-axis mount east of pier. There are two Cassegrain optical configurations. However, the most commonly used configuration is the hyperbolic secondary mirror, which gives a conventional Cassegrain optical system with a focal ratio of f/15.0, and a curved focal surface 34 arcmin in diameter. This focal station can be used with a number of instruments, but presently it is used for direct CCD imaging, where the field curvature over the size of the current CCD is not a problem.

The current CCD is the SITe2 chip. For more information on this chip see the SITe2 parameters.

The telescope positional limits are as follows:

• Maximum zenith distance is 84 degrees
• Hour angle ranges between -6h and 18h (for the telescope east of pier)
• There are no explicit declination limits
• The fully lowered windshield will add further limits

The telescope speed and accuracy limits are as follows:

• Maximum hour angle and declination motor speed is 1.0 degree/s
• Maximum dome rotation speed is 1.5 degree/s
• The RMS error in the pointing of the telescope should be less than 20 arcsec
• The unguided tracking accuracy is ~1 arcsec in 3 minutes
• The guided tracking accuracy is ~0.3 arcsec
• Maximum error for offsetting the telescope is 0.3 arcsec for every 10 armin