PROMPT: Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reichart, D.; Nysewander, M.; Moran, J.; Bartelme, J.; Bayliss, M.; Foster, A.; Clemens, J. C.; Price, P.; Evans, C.; Salmonson, J.; Trammell, S.; Carney, B.; Keohane, J.; Gotwals, R.

2005-07-01

Funded by .2M in grants and donations, we are now building PROMPT at CTIO. When completed in late 2005, PROMPT will consist of six 0.41-meter diameter Ritchey-Chrétien telescopes on rapidly slewing mounts that respond to GRB alerts within seconds, when the afterglow is potentially extremely bright. Each mirror and camera coating is being optimized for a different wavelength range and function, including a NIR imager, two red-optimized imagers, a blue-optimized imager, an UV-optimized imager, and an optical polarimeter. PROMPT will be able to identify high-redshift events by dropout and distinguish these events from the similar signatures of extinction. In this way, PROMPT will act as a distance-finder scope for spectroscopic follow up on the larger 4.1-meter diameter SOAR telescope, which is also located at CTIO. When not chasing GRBs, PROMPT serves broader educational objectives across the state of North Carolina. Enclosure construction and the first two telescopes are now complete and functioning: PROMPT observed Swift's first GRB in December 2004. We upgrade from two to four telescope in February 2005 and from four to six telescopes in mid-2005.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Hα and [NII] survey in local 11 Mpc (Kennicutt+, 2008)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kennicutt, R. C. Jr; Lee, J. C.; Funes, J. G.; Sakai, S.; Akiyama, S.

2009-11-01

Most of the Hα and R imaging reported in this paper was obtained in 2001-2004 using CCD direct imagers on the Steward Observatory Bok 2.3m telescope on Kitt Peak (Bok), the Lennon 1.8m Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), and the 0.9m telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO). (3 data files).

SMARTS 1.3-m Telescope | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments telescope before SMARTS took over its operation. A permanently-mounted, dual-channel, optical-IR imager Consortium) with the optical detector since the 1998B semester. The IR array was installed in July 1999

NEWFIRM Software--System Integration Using OPC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daly, P. N.

2004-07-01

The NOAO Extremely Wide-Field Infra-Red Mosaic (NEWFIRM) camera is being built to satisfy the survey science requirements on the KPNO Mayall and CTIO Blanco 4m telescopes in an era of 8m+ aperture telescopes. Rather than re-invent the wheel, the software system to control the instrument has taken existing software packages and re-used what is appropriate. The result is an end-to-end observation control system using technology components from DRAMA, ORAC, observing tools, GWC, existing in-house motor controllers and new developments like the MONSOON pixel server.

Dark Energy Camera (DECam) | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

DECam SAM 0.9-m CCD Goodman SOI Optical Spectrographs CHIRON COSMOS Goodman Filters Telescopes Blanco 4 affecting mainly short exposures taken with bluer filters in dark conditions. 2015 Dec. A new filter, N964 the SDSS filters, has been successfully installed. Images are still being evaluated, but looks good

Optical and Infrared Photometry of SN 2005df

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krisciunas, Kevin; Suntzeff, Nicholas B.; Espinoza, Juan; Gonzalez, David; Miranda, Alberto; Sanhueza, Pedro

2017-12-01

We present optical BVRI and near-infrared YJHK_s photometry of the normal Type Ia supernova 2005df, obtained with the CTIO 1.3-m and 0.9-m telescopes. The B- and V-band photometry, S-corrected to the filter prescriptions of Bessell(1990), matches the corresponding photometry from the ANU published by Milne et al. (2010). The R-band photometry from CTIO and ANU matches well without any corrections. A combination of V-band and near-IR photometry shows that SN 2005df is unreddened in its host galaxy. Spectropolarimetry of this supernova was obtained with the VLT, and the distance to the host galaxy is being determined from observations of Cepheids using the Hubble Space Telescope.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Galactic outer disk: a field toward Tombaugh 1 (Carraro+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carraro, G.; Sales Silva, J. V.; Moni Bidin, C.; Vazquez, R. A.

2018-04-01

The region of interest has been observed with the Y4KCAM camera attached to the 1.0 m telescope operated by the SMARTS consortium (http://www.astro.yale.edu/smarts/) and located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). This camera is equipped with an STA 4064x4064 CCD with 15 μm pixels, yielding a scale of 0.289"/pixel and a field of view (FOV) of 20'x20' at the Cassegrain focus of the CTIO 1.0 m telescope. The observational data were acquired on the night of 2008 January 30. We observed Landolt's SA 98 UBV(RI)KC standard star area (Landolt 1992AJ....104..372L) to tie our UBVRI instrumental system to the standard system. The average seeing was 1.0". During the nights of 2010 January 5, 6, 9, and 10, we observed 40 stars of the field toward the open cluster Tombaugh 1 (10 stars from boxes A and B, 11 stars from box C, and 9 stars from box D) on Cerro Manqui at the Las Campanas Observatory using the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera & Spectrograph (IMACS; Dressler et al. 2006SPIE.6269E..0FD), attached to the 6.5 m Magellan Telescope. (7 data files).

Searching for Black Holes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garcia, M.

1998-01-01

Our UV/VIS work concentrates on black hole X-ray nova. These objects consist of two stars in close orbit, one of which we believe is a black hole - our goal is to SHOW that one is a black hole. In order to reach this goal we carry out observations in the Optical, UV, IR and X-ray bands, and compare the observations to theoretical models. In the past year, our UV/VIS grant has provided partial support (mainly travel funds and page charges) for work we have done on X-ray nova containing black holes and neutron stars. We have been very successful in obtaining telescope time to support our project - we have completed approximately a dozen separate observing runs averaging 3 days each, using the MMT (5M), Lick 3M, KPNO 2.1M, CTIO 4M, CTIO 1.5M, and the SAO/WO 1.2M telescopes. These observations have allowed the identification of one new black hole (Nova Oph 1977), and allowed the mass of another to be measured (GS2000+25). Perhaps our most exciting new result is the evidence we have gathered for the existence of 'event horizons' in black hole X-ray nova.

Save our secondary: recovering a broken 1.3-m mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbott, Timothy M. C.; Probst, Ronald G.; Poczulp, Gary; Tighe, Roberto; Schurter, Patricio; Montané, Andrés.; DeVries, Joseph; Harris, Ronald C.; Elias, Jonathan; Martinez, Manuel; Saa, Oscar

2014-07-01

In an inauspicious start to the ultimately very successful installation of the Dark Energy Camera on the V. M. Blanco 4- m telescope at CTIO, the light-weighted Cer-Vit 1.3-m-diameter secondary mirror suffered an accident in which it fell onto its apex. This punched out a central plug of glass and destroyed the focus and tip/tilt mechanism. However, the mirror proved fully recoverable, without degraded performance. This paper describes the efforts through which the mirror was repaired and the tip/tilt mechanism rebuilt and upgraded. The telescope re-entered full service as a Ritchey- Chrétien platform in October of 2013.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: CTIO/DECam photometry of RR Lyrae stars in M5 (Vivas+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vivas, A. K.; Saha, A.; Olsen, K.; Blum, R.; Olszewski, E. W.; Claver, J.; Valdes, F.; Axelrod, T.; Kaleida, C.; Kunder, A.; Narayan, G.; Matheson, T.; Walker, A.

2017-11-01

Observations were obtained during 2013 (2013 Jun 7-9, and 2013 Jun 21) and 2014 (2014 Mar 7-9) with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) imager on the 4m Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Chile. Repeated DECam images of a field centered on M5 (R.A.=15:18:33.2, decl.=+02:04:51.7, J2000.0) were obtained using the u,g,r,i, and z filters. The large field of view (FOV) of DECam (2.2°) easily covers the whole globular cluster with only the central CCDs of the camera. A total of 66 RR Lyrae stars and 1 SX Phe were recognized in the field of M5. The individual measurements for the periodic variable stars are provided in Table2. In Table3, we present the list of periodic variable stars. (3 data files).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Solar neighborhood. XXXIII. 45 M dwarfs (Riedel+, 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riedel, A. R.; Finch, C. T.; Henry, T. J.; Subasavage, J. P.; Jao, W.-C.; Malo, L.; Rodriguez, D. R.; White, R. J.; Gies, D. R.; Dieterich, S. B.; Winters, J. G.; Davison, C. L.; Nelan, E. P.; Blunt, S. C.; Cruz, K. L.; Rice, E. L.; Ianna, P. A.

2015-01-01

The sample of 45 star systems in this paper was drawn from the hundreds of targets in the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Parallax Investigation (CTIOPI) target list. This is the 13th paper publishing parallax results from the ongoing CTIOPI program (Jao et al., 2003AJ....125..332J; Jao et al., 2005AJ....129.1954J; Costa et al., 2005AJ....130..337C; Costa et al, 2006AJ....132.1234C; Henry et al., 2006AJ....132.2360H; Subasavage et al., 2009AJ....137.4547S; Riedel et al., 2010AJ....140..897R; Jao et al., 2011AJ....141..117J; Boyd et al. 2001, cat. J/AJ/142/10) at the CTIO 0.9m telescope. The targets in this paper are all nearby bright M dwarfs Among the 45 systems considered here, we have individual photometry and astrometry of 51 components, because six of our star systems contain binaries with separations more than 1''. All CTIOPI photometry is conducted with the CTIO 0.9m telescope, initially (1999-2003) under the NOAO Survey Programs grant; later (2003-present) via the SMARTS Consortium. Photometry is conducted in three filters (Tektronix 2 VRI), utilizing only the central quarter (6.8*6.8' FOV, 401mas/pixel) of the Tektronics 2046*2046 CCD. These values are then transformed to standard Johnson/Kron-Cousins VJRKCIKC (the central wavelengths for VJ, RKC, and IKC are 5475, 6425, and 8075Å, respectively) photometry. The resulting photometry can be found in Table 2. Further details of the observation and reduction procedures can be found in Jao et al. (2005AJ....129.1954J) and Winters et al. 2011 (cat. J/AJ/141/21). CTIOPI astrometry is carried out using the same telescope and camera configuration as that used for photometry but uses only one filter for each object. Between 2005 March and 2009 September, a different V-band filter was used for astrometric and photometric observations. Additional details of CTIOPI observing procedures can be found in Jao et al. (2005AJ....129.1954J; Paper XIII), Henry et al. (2006AJ....132.2360H; Paper XVII), and other papers in this series. Four of the objects in this paper (BD-21°1074BC, SCR 0613-2742AB, L 449-1AB, and SCR 2010-2801AB) were selected for their X-ray brightness and observed with the Hubble Space Telescope's (HST's) Fine Guidance Sensors (FGSs) in Cycle 16B, in proposal 11943/11944 ("Binaries at the Extremes of the H-R Diagram") using the F583W filter (the bandpass of the F583W filter is shown here: http://www.stsci.edu/hst/fgs/design/filters, checked 2013 June 4) with no pupil. Spectroscopic observations of all the resolved objects in this paper (except SCR 0613-2742AB) were carried out between 2003-2006 and 2009-2011 using the CTIO 1.5m telescope under the aegis of the SMARTS Consortium. The CTIO 1.5m Richey-Chretien Spectrograph (RCSpec) was used with the 32/I grating setting, covering 6000-9600Å at a resolution of 8Å. We obtained spectra of SCR 0613-2742AB with the CTIO 4.0m telescope's RCSpec on 2008 September 18 and 2008 September 19 using the KPGLF-1 (632g/mm) grating, which covers 4900-8050Å at a resolution of 1.9Å/pixel. One spectrum of SCR 0613-2742AB was taken with the FEROS spectrograph on the MPG 2.2m telescope at La Silla Observatory on 2013 February 18 as part of ESO program 090.C-0200(A). FEROS is an echelle spectrograph fed by two 2.0'' fibers and provides R~48000 spectra over a wavelength range of 3500-9200Å. SCR 1425-4113AB was observed on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) with the ESPaDOnS. ESPaDONs was used in the "star+sky" mode, to get a resolving power of R=68000 covering 3700-10500Å over 40 grating orders. (11 data files).

HUBBLE'S PANORAMIC PICTURE OF COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY 9

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Infrared image shows bright spot, aftermath of the impact of the first fragment of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on the planet Jupiter. The image was made using an infrared camera built by Ohio State University and the 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO) at La Serena, Chile. Credit: John Spencer (Lowell Observatory), Darren Depoy (Ohio State University), CTIO.

New Observations of Candidate Herbig Ae/Be Stars in the LMC and SMC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bjorkman, K. S.; Wisniewski, J. P.; Bjorkman, J. E.; Hesselbach, E. N.

2005-12-01

Based on analysis of the EROS microlensing data set, Lamers, Beaulieu, & de Wit (1999) and de Wit, Beaulieu, & Lamers (2002) identified 21 candidate Herbig Ae/Be (HAeBe) stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). They based the selection of candidates on the irregular photometric variability exhibited by these stars, which bore some resemblance to the variability exhibited by known Galactic HAeBe stars. The candidate stars identified were designated as EROS LMC HAeBe Candidates, or ELHCs. A smaller number (7) of candidate stars identified in the SMC (Beaulieu et al. 2001; de Wit et al. 2003) were similarly designated ESHCs. Using the CTIO 0.9m telescope and imaging camera, we obtained B, V, R, and Hα photometry of 2 fields in the LMC encompassing 12 of the ELHCs. We used the CTIO 4m Blanco telescope with the Hydra multi-object spectrograph to obtain optical spectroscopy of all the ELHC stars as well as the ESHC stars. Further observations included JHK photometry of both the ELHC and ESHC fields using the CTIO 4m plus the ISPI infrared imager. We will discuss the results from our observations, and comment on the implications for the tentative identification of these stars as candidate HAeBe stars. We will also compare our results with the recent findings of de Wit et al. (2005). This work has been supported in part by NASA LTSA grant (KSB) NAG5-8054 and NASA GSRP Fellowship (JPW) NGT5-5069 to the University of Toledo. We thank the NOAO TAC for providing observing time for this project, and for providing travel support for JPW.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: NIR spectroscopy of Galactic WR stars. III (Kanarek+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanarek, G.; Shara, M.; Faherty, J.; Zurek, D.; Moffat, A.

2016-02-01

This survey was previously described in Paper I (Shara et al., 2009AJ....138..402S). More than 88000 exposures were taken of the Galactic plane on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 1.5-m telescope over approximately 200 nights during 2005-2006. IRTF: at the 3m NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), we obtained NIR spectra of 150 candidate WR stars, selected using the criteria above, with the SpeX spectrograph. MDM 2011: during a run of excellent weather over the seven nights in 2011 June, we obtained 113 NIR spectra of candidate stars using TIFKAM in spectroscopic mode on the 2.4m Hiltner telescope at MDM Observatory. MDM 2012: during early 2012, the original survey data were reduced again, using different methods to produce better images. (10 data files).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: UBVI CCD photometry of Carina region stars (Molina-Lera+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molina-Lera, J. A.; Baume, G.; Gamen, R.; Costa, E.; Carraro, G.

2016-08-01

Photometric parameters for 62730 stars in the carina region covering 6 stellar clusters (NGC 3752, Trumpler 18, NGC 3590, Hogg 10, 11 and 12) and the surrounding field. The photometry was secured in March 2006 and March 2009 with the Y4KCAM camera attached to the Cerro Tololo Inter American Observatory (CTIO, Chile) 1.0-m telescope. (1 data file).

The ESSENCE Supernova Survey: Survey Optimization, Observations, and Supernova Photometry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miknaitis, Gajus; Pignata, G.; Rest, A.

We describe the implementation and optimization of the ESSENCE supernova survey, which we have undertaken to measure the equation of state parameter of the dark energy. We present a method for optimizing the survey exposure times and cadence to maximize our sensitivity to the dark energy equation of state parameter w = P/{rho}c{sup 2} for a given fixed amount of telescope time. For our survey on the CTIO 4m telescope, measuring the luminosity distances and redshifts for supernovae at modest redshifts (z {approx} 0.5 {+-} 0.2) is optimal for determining w. We describe the data analysis pipeline based on usingmore » reliable and robust image subtraction to find supernovae automatically and in near real-time. Since making cosmological inferences with supernovae relies crucially on accurate measurement of their brightnesses, we describe our efforts to establish a thorough calibration of the CTIO 4m natural photometric system. In its first four years, ESSENCE has discovered and spectroscopically confirmed 102 type Ia SNe, at redshifts from 0.10 to 0.78, identified through an impartial, effective methodology for spectroscopic classification and redshift determination. We present the resulting light curves for the all type Ia supernovae found by ESSENCE and used in our measurement of w, presented in Wood-Vasey et al. (2007).« less

Photometric Studies of GEO Debris

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seitzer, Patrick; Cowardin, Heather M.; Barker, Edwin; Abercromby, Kira J.; Foreman, Gary; Horstman, Matt

2009-01-01

The photometric signature of a debris object can be useful in determining what the physical characteristics of a piece of debris are. We report on optical observations in multiple filters of debris at geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). Our sample is taken from GEO objects discovered in a survey with the University of Michigan's 0.6-m aperture Schmidt telescope MODEST (for Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope), and then followed up in real-time with the SMARTS (Small and Medium Aperture Research Telescope System) 0.9-m at CTIO for orbits and photometry. Our goal is to determine 6 parameter orbits and measure colors for all objects fainter than R = 15 th magnitude that are discovered in the MODEST survey. At this magnitude the distribution of observed angular rates changes significantly from that of brighter objects. There are two objectives: 1. Estimate the orbital distribution of objects selected on the basis of two observational criteria: brightness (magnitude) and angular rates. 2. Obtain magnitudes and colors in standard astronomical filters (BVRI) for comparison with reflectance spectra of likely spacecraft materials. What is the faint debris likely to be? In this paper we report on the photometric results. For a sample of 50 objects, more than 90 calibrated sequences of R-B-V-I-R magnitudes have been obtained with the CTIO 0.9-m. For objects that do not show large brightness variations, the colors are largely redder than solar in both B-R and R-I. The width of the color distribution may be intrinsic to the nature of the surfaces, but also could be that we are seeing irregularly shaped objects and measuring the colors at different times with just one telescope. For a smaller sample of objects we have observed with synchronized CCD cameras on the two telescopes. The CTIO 0.9-m observes in B, and MODEST in R. The CCD cameras are electronically linked together so that the start time and duration of observations are the same to better than 50 milliseconds. Thus the B-R color is a true measure of the surface of the debris piece facing the telescopes for that observation. Any change in color reflects a real change in the debris surface.

A Microlensing Analysis of the Central Engine in the Lensed Quasar WFI J2033-4723

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hyer, Gregory Edward; Morgan, Christopher; Bonvin, Vivien; Courbin, Fredric; Kochanek, Christopher; Falco, Emilio

2018-01-01

We report a detection of uncorrelated variability in 12 season optical light curves of the gravitationally lensed quasar WFI J2033-4723 from the 1.3m SMARTS telescope at CTIO and the 1.5m EULER telescope in La Silla. We analyzed this variability using the Monte Carlo technique of Kochanek (2004) to yield the first measurement of the size of this quasar’s accretion disk.

First SN Discoveries from the Dark Energy Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbott, T.; Abdalla, F.; Achitouv, I.; Ahn, E.; Aldering, G.; Allam, S.; Alonso, D.; Amara, A.; Annis, J.; Antonik, M.; Aragon-Salamanca, A.; Armstrong, R.; Ashall, C.; Asorey, J.; Bacon, D.; Balbinot, E.; Banerji, M.; Barbary, K.; Barkhouse, W.; Baruah, L.; Bauer, A.; Bechtol, K.; Becker, M.; Bender, R.; Benoist, C.; Benoit-Levy, A.; Bernardi, M.; Bernstein, G.; Bernstein, J. P.; Bernstein, R.; Bertin, E.; Beynon, E.; Bhattacharya, S.; Biesiadzinski, T.; Biswas, R.; Blake, C.; Bloom, J. S.; Bocquet, S.; Brandt, C.; Bridle, S.; Brooks, D.; Brown, P. J.; Brunner, R.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Burke, D.; Burkert, A.; Busha, M.; Campa, J.; Campbell, H.; Cane, R.; Capozzi, D.; Carlstrom, J.; Carnero Rosell, A.; Carollo, M.; Carrasco-Kind, M.; Carretero, J.; Carter, M.; Casas, R.; Castander, F. J.; Chen, Y.; Chiu, I.; Chue, C.; Clampitt, J.; Clerkin, L.; Cohn, J.; Colless, M.; Copeland, E.; Covarrubias, R. A.; Crittenden, R.; Crocce, M.; Cunha, C.; da Costa, L.; d'Andrea, C.; Das, S.; Das, R.; Davis, T. M.; Deb, S.; DePoy, D.; Derylo, G.; Desai, S.; de Simoni, F.; Devlin, M.; Diehl, H. T.; Dietrich, J.; Dodelson, S.; Doel, P.; Dolag, K.; Efstathiou, G.; Eifler, T.; Erickson, B.; Eriksen, M.; Estrada, J.; Etherington, J.; Evrard, A.; Farrens, S.; Fausti Neto, A.; Fernandez, E.; Ferreira, P. C.; Finley, D.; Fischer, J. A.; Flaugher, B.; Fosalba, P.; Frieman, J.; Furlanetto, C.; Garcia-Bellido, J.; Gaztanaga, E.; Gelman, M.; Gerdes, D.; Giannantonio, T.; Gilhool, S.; Gill, M.; Gladders, M.; Gladney, L.; Glazebrook, K.; Gray, M.; Gruen, D.; Gruendl, R.; Gupta, R.; Gutierrez, G.; Habib, S.; Hall, E.; Hansen, S.; Hao, J.; Heitmann, K.; Helsby, J.; Henderson, R.; Hennig, C.; High, W.; Hirsch, M.; Hoffmann, K.; Holhjem, K.; Honscheid, K.; Host, O.; Hoyle, B.; Hu, W.; Huff, E.; Huterer, D.; Jain, B.; James, D.; Jarvis, M.; Jarvis, M. J.; Jeltema, T.; Johnson, M.; Jouvel, S.; Kacprzak, T.; Karliner, I.; Katsaros, J.; Kent, S.; Kessler, R.; Kim, A.; Kim-Vy, T.; King, L.; Kirk, D.; Kochanek, C.; Kopp, M.; Koppenhoefer, J.; Kovacs, E.; Krause, E.; Kravtsov, A.; Kron, R.; Kuehn, K.; Kuemmel, M.; Kuhlmann, S.; Kunder, A.; Kuropatkin, N.; Kwan, J.; Lahav, O.; Leistedt, B.; Levi, M.; Lewis, P.; Liddle, A.; Lidman, C.; Lilly, S.; Lin, H.; Liu, J.; Lopez-Arenillas, C.; Lorenzon, W.; LoVerde, M.; Ma, Z.; Maartens, R.; Maccrann, N.; Macri, L.; Maia, M.; Makler, M.; Manera, M.; Maraston, C.; March, M.; Markovic, K.; Marriner, J.; Marshall, J.; Marshall, S.; Martini, P.; Marti Sanahuja, P.; Mayers, J.; McKay, T.; McMahon, R.; Melchior, P.; Merritt, K. W.; Merson, A.; Miller, C.; Miquel, R.; Mohr, J.; Moore, T.; Mortonson, M.; Mosher, J.; Mould, J.; Mukherjee, P.; Neilsen, E.; Ngeow, C.; Nichol, R.; Nidever, D.; Nord, B.; Nugent, P.; Ogando, R.; Old, L.; Olsen, J.; Ostrovski, F.; Paech, K.; Papadopoulos, A.; Papovich, C.; Patton, K.; Peacock, J.; Pellegrini, P. S. S.; Peoples, J.; Percival, W.; Perlmutter, S.; Petravick, D.; Plazas, A.; Ponce, R.; Poole, G.; Pope, A.; Refregier, A.; Reyes, R.; Ricker, P.; Roe, N.; Romer, K.; Roodman, A.; Rooney, P.; Ross, A.; Rowe, B.; Rozo, E.; Rykoff, E.; Sabiu, C.; Saglia, R.; Sako, M.; Sanchez, A.; Sanchez, C.; Sanchez, E.; Sanchez, J.; Santiago, B.; Saro, A.; Scarpine, V.; Schindler, R.; Schmidt, B. P.; Schmitt, R. L.; Schubnell, M.; Seitz, S.; Senger, R.; Sevilla, I.; Sharp, R.; Sheldon, E.; Sheth, R.; Smith, R. C.; Smith, M.; Snigula, J.; Soares-Santos, M.; Sobreira, F.; Song, J.; Soumagnac, M.; Spinka, H.; Stebbins, A.; Stoughton, C.; Suchyta, E.; Suhada, R.; Sullivan, M.; Sun, F.; Suntzeff, N.; Sutherland, W.; Swanson, M. E. C.; Sypniewski, A. J.; Szepietowski, R.; Talaga, R.; Tarle, G.; Tarrant, E.; Balan, S. Thaithara; Thaler, J.; Thomas, D.; Thomas, R. C.; Tucker, D.; Uddin, S. A.; Ural, S.; Vikram, V.; Voigt, L.; Walker, A. R.; Walker, T.; Wechsler, R.; Weinberg, D.; Weller, J.; Wester, W.; Wetzstein, M.; White, M.; Wilcox, H.; Wilman, D.; Yanny, B.; Young, J.; Zablocki, A.; Zenteno, A.; Zhang, Y.; Zuntz, J.

2012-12-01

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) report the discovery of the first set of supernovae (SN) from the project. Images were observed as part of the DES Science Verification phase using the newly-installed 570-Megapixel Dark Energy Camera on the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope by observers J. Annis, E. Buckley-Geer, and H. Lin. SN observations are planned throughout the observing campaign on a regular cadence of 4-6 days in each of the ten 3-deg2 fields in the DES griz filters.

About CTIO | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) along with Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Tucson Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), which also operates the Space Telescope Science Institute and

Photometric Studies of GEO Orbital Debris

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seitzer, Patrick; Rodriquez-Cowardin, Heather M.; Barker, Ed; Abercromby, Kira J.; Foreman, Gary; Horstman, Matt

2009-01-01

The photometric signature of a debris object can be useful in determining what the physical characteristics of a piece of debris are. We report on optical observations in multiple filters of debris at geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). Our sample is taken from GEO objects discovered in a survey with the University of Michigan's 0.6-m aperture Schmidt telescope MODEST (for Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope), and then followed up in real-time with the Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory (CTIO) 0.9-m for orbits and photometry. Our goal is to determine 6 parameter orbits and measure colors for all objects fainter than R=15th magnitude that are discovered in the MODEST survey. At this magnitude the distribution of observed angular rates changes significantly from that of brighter objects. There are two objectives: 1. Estimate the orbital distribution of objects selected on the basis of two observational criteria: brightness (magnitude) and angular rates. 2. Obtain magnitudes and colors in standard astronomical filters (BVRI) for comparison with reflectance spectra of likely spacecraft materials. What is the faint debris likely to be? More than 90 calibrated sequences of R-B-V-I-R magnitudes for a sample of 50 objects have been obtained with the CTIO 0.9-m. For objects that do not show large brightness variations, the colors are largely redder than solar in both B-R and R-I. The width of the color distribution may be intrinsic to the nature of the surfaces, but also could be that we are seeing irregularly shaped objects and measuring the colors at different times with just one telescope. For a smaller sample of objects we have observed with synchronized CCD cameras on the two telescopes. The CTIO 0.9-m observes in B, and MODEST in R. The CCD cameras are electronically linked together so that the start time and duration of observations are the same to better than 50 milliseconds. Thus the B-R color is a true measure of the surface of the debris piece facing the telescopes for that observation. Any change in color reflects a real change in the debris surface. We will compare our observations with models and laboratory measurements of selected surfaces.

Knowing Our Neighbors: Two In and One Out

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartlett, Jennifer L.; Lurie, John C.; Ianna, Philip A.; Riedel, Adric R.; Winters, Jennifer G.; Finch, Charlie T.; Jao, Wei-Chun; Subasavage, John P.; Henry, Todd J.

2016-01-01

Obtaining a well-understood, volume-limited (and ultimately volume-complete) sample of nearby stars is necessary for determining a host of interesting astrophysical quantities, including the stellar luminosity and mass functions, the distribution of stellar velocities, and the stellar multiplicity fraction. Furthermore, such a sample provides insight into the local star formation history. Towards that end, the Research Consortium on Nearby Stars (RECONS) team measures trigonometric parallaxes to establish which systems truly lie within the Solar Neighborhood, emphasizing those within 25 pc. Less accurate photometric and spectroscopic estimates previously suggested LP 991-84, LHS 6167AB, and LHS 2880 as possible members of the 10-pc sample, which made them desirable candidates.Recent measurements with the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9-m telescope place LP 991-84 and LHS 6167AB at 8.6 ± 0.1 and 9.68 ± 0.09 pc, respectively, which is consistent with earlier estimates of their distances. However, the final parallax for LHS 2880 places it beyond 25 pc, at a distance of 31 ± 1 pc, despite its previous identification as a member of the 10-pc sample. The proper motions of these systems are 0.2589 ± 0.0004, 0.4394 ± 0.0003, and 0.7113 ± 0.0009 arcsec yr-1, respectively.To characterize these systems more fully, the RECONS team obtained VRI photometry for each; they range from 13.8-14.5 mag. in V. LHS 6167AB also shows signs of long-term variability in V, including a possible flare. In addition, CTIO 1.5-m spectroscopy identifies LP 991-84 and LHS 6167AB as M4.5 V systems.Even as we aspire to identify all the stars within 25 pc, we find that the 10-pc volume still holds some surprises.NSF grants AST 05-07711 and AST 09-08402, NASA-SIM, Georgia State University, the University of Virginia, Hampden-Sydney College, and the Levinson Fund of the Peninsula Community Foundation supported this research. CTIOPI was an NOAO Survey Program and continues as part of the SMARTS Consortium. We thank the SMARTS Consortium and the CTIO staff, who enable the small telescope operations at CTIO.

Two-site Photometry and Spectroscopy of the Rapidly Pulsating sdB Star EC 22221-3152

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barlow, B. N.; Kilkenny, D.; Geier, S.; Dunlap, B. H.; Reichart, D. E.; LaCluyze, A. P.; Ivarsen, K. M.; Haislip, J. B.; Nysewander, M. C.

2017-05-01

We present follow-up photometry and spectroscopy of the rapidly pulsating subdwarf B star EC 22221-3152. Using the SAAO 1.0-m telescope and the 0.4-m Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescopes (PROMPT) at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), we monitored the star photometrically for one week. By combining data from both telescopes, we were able to resolve 18 significant periodicities in the light curve. Seven of these signals consist of combination frequencies, a first harmonic, and possible rotational splittings that would be indicative of an 8.2-d rotation period. The remaining 11 periodicities appear to represent independent oscillation modes, including three not originally detected in the discovery work. Time series spectroscopy obtained with the Goodman spectrograph on the 4.1-m SOAR telescope reveals possible velocity variations corresponding to two of the observed pulsation modes. From atmospheric model fits to the spectra, we derive {T}{eff}=35600+/- 600 K, log g = 5.86 ± 0.15, and log N(He)/N(H) = -1.4 ± 0.3 and confirm the star’s status as one of the hottest sdBV r stars currently known. Based on observations at the SOAR telescope, a collaboration between CPNq-Brazil, NOAO, UNC, and MSU.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Accurate astrometry & RVs of 4 multiple systems (Tokovinin+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tokovinin, A.; Latham, D. W.

2017-10-01

The outer subsystems are classical visual binaries. Historic micrometric measurements and modern speckle interferometric data have been obtained from the WDS database on our request. Additionally, we secured new speckle astrometry and relative photometry of two systems at the 4.1m SOAR telescope. Published radial velocities (RVs) are used here together with the new data. The RVs were measured with the CfA Digital Speedometers, initially using the 1.5m Wyeth Reflector at the Oak Ridge Observatory in the town of Harvard, Massachusetts, and subsequently with the 1.5m Tillinghast Reflector at the Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins, Arizona. Starting in 2009, the new fiber-fed Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph (TRES) was used. The spectral resolution was 44000 for all three spectrographs. Two objects, HIP 101955 and 103987, were observed in 2015 with the CHIRON echelle spectrograph at the 1.5m telescope at CTIO with a spectral resolution of 80000. (4 data files).

Mosaic3: a red-sensitive upgrade for the prime focus camera at the Mayall 4m telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dey, Arjun; Rabinowitz, David; Karcher, Armin; Bebek, Chris; Baltay, Charles; Sprayberry, David; Valdes, Frank; Stupak, Bob; Donaldson, John; Emmet, Will; Hurteau, Tom; Abareshi, Behzad; Marshall, Bob; Lang, Dustin; Fitzpatrick, Mike; Daly, Phil; Joyce, Dick; Schlegel, David; Schweiker, Heidi; Allen, Lori; Blum, Bob; Levi, Michael

2016-08-01

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is under construction and will be used to measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) technique and the growth of structure using redshift-space distortions (RSD). The spectra of 30 million galaxies over 14000 sq deg will be measured over the course of the experiment. In order to provide spectroscopic targets for the DESI survey, we are carrying out a three-band (g,r,z ) imaging survey of the sky using the NOAO 4-m telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) and the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO). At KPNO, we will use an upgraded version of the Mayall 4m telescope prime focus camera, Mosaic3, to carry out a z-band survey of the Northern Galactic Cap at declinations δ>=+30 degrees. By equipping an existing Dewar with four 4kx4k fully depleted CCDs manufactured by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), we increased the z-band throughput of the system by a factor of 1.6. These devices have the thickest active area fielded at a telescope. The Mosaic3 z-band survey will be complemented by g-band and r-band observations using the Bok telescope and 90 Prime imager on Kitt Peak. We describe the upgrade and performance of the Mosaic3 instrument and the scope of the northern survey.

ISPI | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments ‹› You are here CTIO Home » Astronomers » Instruments » IR Instruments » ISPI ISPI The CTIO matched to f/8 IR image quality of ~0.6 arcsec 10.25 x 10.25 arcmin field of view, broad band J,H and Ks

Photometric Studies of Orbital Debris at GEO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seitzer, Patrick; Abercromby, Kira J.; Rodriguez-Cowardin, Heather M.; Barker, Ed; Foreman, Gary; Horstman, Matt

2009-01-01

We report on optical observations of debris at geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) using two telescopes simultaneously at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. The University of Michigan s 0.6/0.9-m Schmidt telescope MODEST (for Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope) was used in survey mode to find objects that potentially could be at GEO. Because GEO objects only appear in this telescope s field of view for an average of 5 minutes, a full six-parameter orbit can not be determined. Interrupting the survey for follow-up observations leads to incompleteness in the survey results. Instead, as objects are detected with MODEST, initial predictions assuming a circular orbit are done for where the object will be for the next hour, and the objects are reacquired as quickly as possible on the CTIO 0.9-m telescope. This second telescope follows-up during the first night and, if possible, over several more nights to obtain the maximum time arc possible, and the best six parameter orbit. Our goal is to obtain an initial orbit and calibrated colors for all detected objects fainter than R = 15th in order to estimate the orbital distribution of objects selected on the basis of two observational criteria: magnitude and angular rate. One objective is to estimate what fraction of objects selected on the basis of angular rate are not at GEO. A second objective is to obtain magnitudes and colors in standard astronomical filters (BVRI) for comparison with reflectance spectra of likely spacecraft materials.

Optical Monitoring Observations of AQL X-1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guver, Tolga; Kunder, Andrea; Ozel, Feryal

2010-09-01

AQL X-1 has been in a bright outburst in the X-rays and optical since September 1st and 7th (Atel #2850, #2871). We report on our observations of the source on September 26th UTC with the 4m CTIO BLANCO Telescope. Using MOSAIC II detector we obtained 3 R band images with exposure times of 200 seconds. We converted instrumental magnitudes to the standard system using several nearby stars and the USNO B1.0 catalog (Monet et al.

ARCoIRIS | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments ‹› You are here CTIO Home » Astronomers » Instruments » IR Instruments » ARCoIRIS ARCoIRIS

VizieR Online Data Catalog: i filter photometry for HATS-25 through HATS-30 (Espinoza+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Espinoza, N.; Bayliss, D.; Hartman, J. D.; Bakos, G. A.; Jordan, A.; Zhou, G.; Mancini, L.; Brahm, R.; Ciceri, S.; Bhatti, W.; Csubry, Z.; Rabus, M.; Penev, K.; Bento, J.; de Val-Borro, M.; Henning, T.; Schmidt, B.; Suc, V.; Wright, D. J.; Tinney, C. G.; Tan, T. G.; Noyes, R.

2017-05-01

The photometric detection data of the six exoplanets come from the three HATSouth sites, namely, the site at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile (LCO, whose stations are designated HS-1 and HS-2), the site at of the High Energy Spectroscopic Survey (HESS) in Namibia (whose stations are designated HS-3 and HS-4) and the site at the Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) in Australia whose stations are designated HS-5 and HS-6). HATS-25 was observed with an r SDSS filter on 2011 Mar-2011 Aug using HS-2.1, on 2011 Jul-2011 Aug using HS-4.1, and on 2011 May with HS-6.1. HATS-26 was observed with an r SDSS filter on 2012 Feb-2012 Jun using HS-2.3, HS-4.3, and HS-6.3. HATS-27 was observed with an r SDSS filter on 2011 Apr-2012 Jul using HS-2.1, on 2011 Jul-2012 Jul using HS-4.1, and on 2011 May-2012 Jul using HS-6.1. HATS-28 was observed with an r SDSS filter on 2013 Mar-2013 Oct using HS-1.2, on 2013 Sep-2013 Oct using HS-2.2, on 2013 Apr-2013 Nov using HS-3.2, on 2013 Sep-2013 Nov using HS-4.2 and HS-6.2, and 2013 Mar-2013 Nov using HS-5.2. HATS-29 was observed with an r SDSS filter on 2013 Apr-2013 May using HS-1.1, on 2013 Sep-2013 Oct using HS-2.1, on 2013 Apr-2013 Nov using HS-3.1, on 2013 Sep-2013 Nov using HS-4.1 and HS-6.1, and on 2013 Mar-2013 Nov using HS-5.1. HATS-30 was observed using an r SDSS filter on 2012 Sep-2012 Dec using HS-2.3, HS-6.3 and HS-2.4, on 2012 Sep-2013 Jan using HS-4.4, on 2012 Sep-2012 Dec using HS-6.4, and on 2011 Jul-2012 Oct using HS-1.1, HS-3.1 and HS-5.1. Photometric follow-up for the six systems was obtained mainly from 1m-class telescopes at different sites of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) network, using the i filter. In particular, one partial transit and a full transit was observed for HATS-25b on 2015 February 23 at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) and 2015 March 16 at SSO, respectively; three partial transits were observed for HATS-26b on 2015 April 19 and 2015 May 21 at CTIO, and 2015 June 04 at SSO; one full transit was observed for HATS-27b on 2015 April 09 at SSO; two partial transits were observed for HATS-28b on 2015 August 31 and 2015 September 03 at CTIO; one full transit and a partial transit were observed for HATS-29b on 2015 and 2014 June, respectively, at CTIO; and two partial transits were observed for HATS-30b on 2014 October 19 at South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) and on 2014 Oct 23 at CTIO. In addition, one full transit of HATS-27b was observed using the 0.3m Perth Exoplanet Survey Telescope (PEST) on 2015 March 12 using a RC filter. The reconnaissance spectroscopy of our candidates was made using the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS), located on the Australian National University (ANU) 2.3m telescope. The observing strategy usually consists of taking data with two resolutions: R=λ/Δλ=7000 (medium) and R=3000 (low). For HATS-25, four medium resolution spectra (2014 Jun-Aug) and one low resolution spectrum (2014 Aug 5) were obtained. For HATS-26, two medium resolution spectra (2014 Jun 3-5) and one low resolution spectrum (2014 Jun 4) were obtained. For HATS-27, three medium resolution (2014 Jun 3-5) and one low resolution (2014 Jun 2) spectra were obtained. For HATS-28, only one low resolution spectrum (2015 Jun 1) was obtained. For HATS-29, four medium resolution spectra (2014 Dec-2015 Mar) and one low resolution spectrum (2015 Mar 2) were obtained. For HATS-30, three medium resolution spectra (2014 Oct 4-10) and one low resolution spectrum (2014 Oct 4) were obtained. High-precision spectroscopy was obtained for our targets with different instruments. Several R=115000 spectra were taken with the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) on the ESO 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory (LSO) between 2015 February and 2016 March in order to obtain high-precision radial velocities for HATS-25, HATS-26, HATS-27, and HATS-29. Spectra with R=48000 were also taken with the Fiber-fed Extended Range Optical Spectrograph (FEROS) mounted on the Max Planck Gesellschaft (MPG) 2.2m telescope at La Silla Observatory (LSO) between 2014 July and 2015 July in order to both extract precise spectroscopic parameters of the host stars and obtain precise radial velocities for all of our targets. In addition, R=60000 spectra were also taken with the CORALIE spectrograph mounted on the 1.2m Euler telescope at LSO between 2014 June and November for HATS-26, HATS-27, HATS-29, and HATS-30. Finally, eight R=70000 spectra were obtained for HATS-29 on 2015 May to measure radial velocities, using the CYCLOPS2 fiber feed with the University College London Echelle Spectrograph (UCLES) on the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT). (3 data files).

Optical Photometric Observations of GEO Debris

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seitzer, Patrick; Rodriquez-Cowardin, Heather M.; Barker, Edwin S.; Abercromby, Kira J.; Kelecy, Thomas M.; Horstman, Matt

2010-01-01

We report on a continuing program of optical photometric measurements of faint orbital debris at geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO). These observations can be compared with laboratory studies of actual spacecraft materials in an effort to determine what the faint debris at GEO may be. We have optical observations from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile of two samples of debris: 1. GEO objects discovered in a survey with the University of Michigan's 0.6-m aperture Curtis-Schmidt telescope MODEST (for Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope), and then followed up in real-time with the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9-m for orbits and photometry. Our goal is to determine 6 parameter orbits and measure colors for all objects fainter than R = 15 t11 magnitude that are discovered in the MODEST survey. 2. A smaller sample of high area to mass ratio (AMR) objects discovered independently, and acquired using predictions from orbits derived from independent tracking data collected days prior to the observations. Our optical observations in standard astronomical BVRI filters are done with either telescope, and with the telescope tracking the debris object at the object's angular rate. Observations in different filters are obtained sequentially. We have obtained 71 calibrated sequences of R-B-V-I-R magnitudes. A total of 66 of these sequences have 3 or more good measurements in all filters (not contaminated by star streaks or in Earth's shadow). Most of these sequences show brightness variations, but a small subset has observed brightness variations consistent with that expected from observational errors alone. The majority of these stable objects are redder than a solar color in both B-R and R-I. There is no dependence on color with brightness. For a smaller sample of objects we have observed with synchronized CCD cameras on the two telescopes. The CTIO 0.9-m observes in B, and MODEST in R. The CCD cameras are electronically linked together so that the start time and duration of observations are the same to better than 50 milliseconds. Thus, the B-R color is a true measure of the surface of the debris piece facing the telescopes for that observation. Any change in color reflects a real change in the debris surface. We will compare our observations with models and laboratory measurements of selected surfaces.

Simultaneous Multi-Filter Optical Photometry of GEO Debris

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seitzer, Patrick; Cowardin, Heather; Barker, Edwin S.; Abercromby, Kira; Kelecy, Thomas

2011-01-01

Information on the physical characteristics of unresolved pieces of debris comes from an object's brightness, and how it changes with time and wavelength. True colors of tumbling, irregularly shaped objects can be accurately determined only if the intensity at all wavelengths is measured at the same time. In this paper we report on simultaneous photometric observations of objects at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) using two telescopes at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). The CTIO/SMARTS 0.9-m observes in a Johnson B filter, while the 0.6-m MODEST (Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope) observes in a Cousins R filter. The two CCD cameras are electronically synchronized so that the exposure start time and duration are the same for both telescopes. Thus we obtain the brightness as a function of time in two passbands simultaneously, and can determine the true color of the object at any time. We will report here on such calibrated measurements made on a sample of GEO objects and what is the distribution of the observed B-R colors. In addition, using this data set, we will show what colors would be observed if the observations in different filters were obtained sequentially, as would be the case for conventional imaging observations with a single detector on a single telescope. Finally, we will compare our calibrated colors of GEO debris with colors determined in the laboratory of selected materials actually used in spacecraft construction.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: ESSENCE 6yr spectroscopic follow-up (Narayan+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Narayan, G.; Rest, A.; Tucker, B. E.; Foley, R. J.; Wood-Vasey, W. M.; Challis, P.; Stubbs, C.; Kirshner, R. P.; Aguilera, C.; Becker, A. C.; Blondin, S.; Clocchiatti, A.; Covarrubias, R.; Damke, G.; Davis, T. M.; Filippenko, A. V.; Ganeshalingam, M.; Garg, A.; Garnavich, P. M.; Hicken, M.; Jha, S. W.; Krisciunas, K.; Leibundgut, B.; Li, W.; Matheson, T.; Miknaitis, G.; Pignata, G.; Prieto, J. L.; Riess, A. G.; Schmidt, B. P.; Silverman, J. M.; Smith, R. C.; Sollerman, J.; Spyromilio, J.; Suntzeff, N. B.; Tonry, J. L.; Zenteno, A.

2016-10-01

The SN Ia search was carried out on the CTIO 4m Blanco telescope over 197 half-nights in dark and graytime between September and January from 2002 to 2008. Science images were obtained using the MOSAIC II camera through two primary filters (denoted R and I) similar to Cousins RC and IC. The field of view of the system is 0.36deg2 on the sky. See section 2 for further details and subdirectory "lcs" available on the FTP. We obtained spectroscopic follow up for the selected ESSENCE objects using a range of facilities including the Blue Channel spectrograph on the MMT; IMACS on Baade and LDSS2 and LDSS3 on Clay at the Las Campanas Observatory; GMOS on Gemini North and South; FORS1 on the 8m Very Large Telescope (VLT); and LRIS, ESI and DEIMOS at the W. M. Keck Observatory. (2 data files).

The discovery of DLT17cd/AT 2017fzw with PROMPT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tartaglia, L.; Sand, D.; Wyatt, S.; Valenti, S.; Bostroem, K. A.; Reichart, D. E.; Haislip, J. B.; Kouprianov, V.

2017-08-01

We report the discovery of DLT17cd/AT 2017fzw. The object was discovered on 2017 08 09.36 UT at R 17.17 mag, during the ongoing D < 40 Mpc (DLT40) one day cadence supernova search, using data from the PROMPT 5 0.41m telescope located at CTIO.

Discovery of DLT18i/AT 2018yu with PROMPT and the DLT40 Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sand, D.; Valenti, S.; Wyatt, S.; Bostroem, K. A.; Reichart, D. E.; Haislip, J. B.; Kouprianov, V.

2018-03-01

We report the discovery of DLT18i/AT 2018yu, which was found on 2018 March 1.0 (UT) at r 17.6 mag during the ongoing D < 40 Mpc (DLT40) supernova search, using data from the PROMPT5 0.41m telescope located at CTIO.

Visitor's Computer Guidelines | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments Logs Tololo Kaxis Webcam NOAO Newsletters NOAO Data Archive Astronomical Links Visitor's Computer ‹› You are here CTIO Home » Astronomers » Visitor's Computer Guidelines Visitor's Computer

Programs & Related Items | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Telescope (University of Michigan Astronomy) GONG (Global Oscillation Network Group) LCOGT (Las Cumbres Telescopes) SARA (Southeastern Research Association for Research in Astronomy) SSI Airglow WHAM (Wisconsin H

Transport and installation of the Dark Energy Survey CCD imager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derylo, Greg; Chi, Edward; Diehl, H. Thomas; Estrada, Juan; Flaugher, Brenna; Schultz, Ken

2012-09-01

The Dark Energy Survey CCD imager was constructed at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and delivered to the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile for installation onto the Blanco 4m telescope. Several efforts are described relating to preparation of the instrument for transport, development and testing of a shipping crate designed to minimize transportation loads transmitted to the camera, and inspection of the imager upon arrival at the observatory. Transportation loads were monitored and are described. For installation of the imager at the telescope prime focus, where it mates with its previously-installed optical corrector, specialized tooling was developed to safely lift, support, and position the vessel. The installation and removal processes were tested on the Telescope Simulator mockup at FNAL, thus minimizing technical and schedule risk for the work performed at CTIO. Final installation of the imager is scheduled for August 2012.

The Turn of the Millennium, CTIO and AURA-O, 1993-2007

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, M. G.

2015-05-01

The decade 1993-2003 was a particularly exciting time to be at Cerro Tololo - for most staff members. Tough times at the beginning involved significant staff reductions - the worst moment of my professional career. In return, the observatory was granted a period of stability in which it was possible to rebuild morale, which in turn helped the research climate to recover rapidly. Emphasis was given to improving the image quality at the Blanco 4m (led by Jack Baldwin), while quietly supporting efficient operation of the smaller telescopes (led locally by Alistair Walker) via the development of the SMARTs consortium. In 1998 came the high point - the announcement of the discovery of Dark Energy that showed us all how much we still have to learn about the universe; this work depended crucially on the work of staff members at CTIO and staff and students from Chilean and Argentinian universities (as described elsewhere at this conference). The Inter-American nature of CTIO also laid the crucial groundwork (in which Joao Steiner was a key player) for Brazil's involvement in SOAR and Gemini. Work during the period to minimize the advance of light pollution over Cerro Tololo (and the rest of northern Chile) helped create a credible case for siting the LSST on Cerro Pachón.

ANDICAM | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments ‹› You are here CTIO Home » Astronomers » Instruments » IR Instruments » ANDICAM ANDICAM the 1998B semester. The IR array was installed in July 1999, enabling simultaneous optical and

Discovery of DLT18v/AT2018beg with PROMPT and the DLT40 Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sand, D.; Valenti, S.; Wyatt, S.; Yang, S.; Reichart, D. E.; Haislip, J. B.; Kouprianov, V.

2018-05-01

We report the discovery of DLT18v/AT 2018beg, which was first imaged by the PROMPT5 0.41m telescope located at CTIO on 2018 May 03.35 (UT) at r 17.9 mag during the ongoing D < 40 Mpc (DLT40) sub-day cadence supernova search.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Photometry for HATS-31 through HATS-35 (de Val-Borro+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Val-Borro, M.; Bakos, G. A.; Brahm, R.; Hartman, J. D.; Espinoza, N.; Penev, K.; Ciceri, S.; Jordan, A.; Bhatti, W.; Csubry, Z.; Bayliss, D.; Bento, J.; Zhou, G.; Rabus, M.; Mancini, L.; Henning, T.; Schmidt, B.; Tan, T. G.; Tinney, C. G.; Wright, D. J.; Kedziora-Chudczer, L.; Bailey, J.; Suc, V.; Durkan, S.; Lazar, J.; Papp, I.; Sari, P.

2017-05-01

The HATSouth survey is a global network of homogeneous, completely automated wide-field telescopes located at three sites in the Southern Hemisphere: HS-1 and -2 are located at Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) in Chile, HS-3 and -4 are located at the High Energy Stereoscopic Survey (H.E.S.S.) site in Namibia, and HS-5 and -6 are located at Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) in Australia. Observations are performed using a Sloan-r filter with four-minute exposures. The HATSouth network was commissioned in 2009 and since then has proved to be a robust system for the monitoring of time-variable phenomena. Each HATSouth unit consists of four Takahashi E180 astrographs with an aperture of 18cm and an f/2.8 focal ratio on a common mount, equipped with Apogee 4096*4096 U16M ALTA cameras. HATS-31 was observed with the HS-1.4/G565 on 2012 Dec-2013 Jun, with the HS-3.4/G565 on 2012 Dec-2013 Jul, and with the HS-5.4/G565 on 2012 Dec-2013 Jul. HATS-32 was observed with the HS-2.3/G586 on 2010 Aug-2011 Nov, with the HS-4.3/G586 on 2010 Aug-2011 Nov, and with the HS-6.3/G586 on 2010 Aug-2011 Nov. HATS-33 was observed with the HS-1.4/G747 on 2013 Mar-2013 Oct, with the HS-2.4/G747 on 2013 Sep-2013 Oct, with the HS-3.4/G747 on 2013 Apr-2013 Nov, with the HS-4.4/G747 on 2013 Sep-2013 Nov, with the HS-5.4/G747 on 2013 Mar-2013 Nov, and with the HS-6.4/G747 on 2013 Sep-2013 Nov. HATS-34 was observed with the HS-2.4/G754 on 2012 Sep-2012 Dec, with the HS-4.4/G754 on 2012 Sep-2013 Jan, and with the HS-6.4/G754 on 2012 Sep-2012 Dec. HATS-35 was observed with the HS-2.4/G778 on 2011 May-2012 Nov, with the HS-4.4/G778 on 2011 Jul-2012 Nov, with the HS-6.4/G778 on 2011 Apr-2012 Oct. The egress of HATS-31b was observed on 2015 February 28 and 2015 April 02 with the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) 1m+Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) telescope network and the Swope 1m telescopes, respectively. Additionally, an almost full transit of HATS-31b was observed with LCOGT 1m+South African Astronomical Observatory/Santa Barbara Instrument Group (LCOGT 1 m+SAAO/SBIG) on 2015 March 6. Another three partial transits of HATS-32b were observed with the Perth Exoplanet Survey Telescope (PEST) 0.3m, DK 1.54m, and the Swope 1m telescopes on 2014 Jul 09, 2014 Nov 04, and 2015 May 28, respectively. The egress of HATS-33 was measured with the 1m LCOGT at CTIO on 2015 May 20. Both ingress and egress of HATS-34b were observed by the PEST 0.3m on 2014 Oct 26 and by the Danish Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (DFOSC) on the DK 1.54m telescope on 2014 Nov 03. HATS-34b was also observed using Anglo-Australian Telescope 3.9m/InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph 2 (AAT 3.9m/IRIS2) on 2015 Sep 25 but This light curve covers a predicted secondary eclipse event, it is not included in the analysis carried out to determine the system parameters for HATS-34 (however, it is included in the analysis carried out to exclude blend scenarios). Finally, five partial transit events of HATS-35b were obtained between 2015 June 12 and 2015 July 24 using the LCOGT network at CTIO on 2015 Jun 12, 2015 Jul 15 and 2015 Jul 24, at SAAO on 2015 Jul 14, and at SSO on 2015 Jul 18. Reconnaissance spectroscopy was carried out using the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) on the Australian National University (ANU) 2.3m telescope at SSO on 2014 Dec 30-31 and 2015 Jan 1 for HATS-31, on 2014 Jun 3-5 and 2014 Jun 4 for HATS-32, on 2014 Dec-2015 Mar and 2015 Mar 4 for HATS-33, on 2014 Oct 4 and 2014 Oct 4-10 for HATS-34, and on 2014 Oct 5 and 2014 Oct 11 for HATS-35. Medium-resolution WiFeS observations spectral resolution was R=λ/Δλ=7000. We obtained 11 spectra using CYCLOPS2+University College London Echelle Spectrograph (CYCLOPS2+UCLES; Δλ/λ/1000=70) at the 3.9m AAT on 2015 May 7-13 for HATS-33, 11 spectra using the High-Accuracy Radial velocity Planetary Searcher (HARPS; Δλ/λ/1000=115) on the European Southern Observatory (ESO) 3.6m telescope (6 spectra on 2015 Feb 14-19 for HATS-31; 3 spectra on 2015 Apr 6-8 for HATS-33; 2 spectra on 2015 Apr 7-8 for HATS-35), 10 spectra using CORALIE (Δλ/λ/1000=60) on the Euler 1.2m telescope (5 spectra on 2015 Mar-Jun for HATS-33; 5 spectra on 2014 Nov-2015 Jun for HATS-35), and 32 spectra with Fiber-fed Extended Range Optical Spectrograph (FEROS; Δλ/λ/1000=48) at the Max Planck Gesellschaft (MPG) 2.2m telescope (8 spectra on 2014 Jul-2015 Jun for HATS-32; 4 spectra on 2015 May-Jul for HATS-33; 10 spectra on 2015 Jun-Jul for HATS-34; 10 spectra on 2015 Jun-Jul for HATS-35). The photometric data are available in Table3. The high-resolution spectroscopic data are provided in Table8. (3 data files).

RoboDIMM | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Travel Information Questionnaire Vistor Support Questionaire Telescope Schedules Astronomer's Tools Contact Acknowledgments TS4 History ISPI ISPI Exposure Time Calculator OSIRIS Spartan Optical Imagers accuracy of 3.8% in the image size. Exposure time: the error caused by the finite exposure time is

Spectroscopic Confirmation of a Massive Red-sequence Selected Galaxy Cluster at Z=1.34 in the SpARCS-South Cluster Survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, Gillian; Demarco, Ricardo; Muzzin, Adam; Yee, H.K.C.; Lacy, Mark; Surace, Jason; Gilbank, David; Blindert, Kris; Hoekstra, Henk; Majumdar, Subhabrata;

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Photometry of YSOs in eight bright-rimmed clouds (Sharma+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, S.; Pandey, A. K.; Borissova, J.; Ojha, D. K.; Ivanov, V. D.; Ogura, K.; Kobayashi, N.; Kurtev, R.; Gopinathan, M.; Yadav, R. K.

2016-08-01

Near-infrared (J, H, K') data for eight selected Bright-Rimmed Clouds (BRCs) along with two nearby field regions (see Table1) were collected with the Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI) camera (FOV~10.5*10.5arcmin2; scale 0.3arcsec/pixel) on the 4m Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Chile, during the nights of 2010 March 03-04. The seeing was ~1arcsec. The individual exposure times were 60 s per frame for all filters. The total exposure time for the target fields was 540s for each J, H, and K' band. We also used the infrared archived data taken from the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) of the space-based Spitzer telescope at the 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0μm bands. We obtained Basic Calibrated Data (BCD) from the Spitzer data archive for all BRCs (except SFO 76, which has no Spitzer data). The exposure time of each BCD was 10.4s (4 data files).

SARA South Observatory: A Fully Automated Boller & Chivens 0.6-m Telescope at C.T.I.O.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mack, Peter; KanniahPadmanaban, S. Y.; Kaitchuck, R.; Borstad, A.; Luzier, N.

2010-05-01

The SARA South Observatory is the re-birth of the Lowell 24-inch telescope located on the south-east ridge of Cerro Tololo, Chile. Installed in 1968 this Boller & Chivens telescope fell into disuse for almost 20 years. The telescope and observatory have undergone a major restoration. A new dome with a wide slit has been fully automated with an ACE SmartDome controller featuring autonomous closure. The telescope was completely gutted, repainted, and virtually every electronic component and wire replaced. Modern infrastructure, such as USB, Ethernet and video ports have been incorporated into the telescope tube saddle boxes. Absolute encoders have been placed on the Hour Angle and declination axes with a resolution of less than 0.7 arc seconds. The secondary mirror is also equipped with an absolute encoder and temperature sensor to allow for fully automated focus. New mirror coatings, automated mirror covers, a new 150mm refractor, and new instrumentation have been deployed. An integrated X-stage guider and dual filter wheel containing 18 filters is used for direct imaging. The guider camera can be easily removed and a standard 2-inch eyepiece used for occasional viewing by VIP's at C.T.I.O. A 12 megapixel all-sky camera produces color images every 30 seconds showing details in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds. Two low light level cameras are deployed; one on the finder and one at the top of the telescope showing a 30° field. Other auxiliary equipment, including daytime color video cameras, weather station and remotely controllable power outlets permit complete control and servicing of the system. The SARA Consortium (www.saraobservatory.org), a collection of ten eastern universities, also operates a 0.9-m telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory using an almost identical set of instruments with the same ACE control system. This project was funded by the SARA Consortium.

New instrumentation for the 1.2m Southern Millimeter Wave Telescope (SMWT)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasquez, P.; Astudillo, P.; Rodriguez, R.; Monasterio, D.; Reyes, N.; Finger, R.; Mena, F. P.; Bronfman, L.

2016-07-01

Here we describe the status of the upgrade program that is being performed to modernize the Southern 1.2m Wave Telescope. The Telescope was built during early ´80 to complete the first Galactic survey of Molecular Clouds in the CO(1-0) line. After a fruitful operation in CTIO the telescope was relocated to the Universidad de Chile, Cerro Calán Observatory. The new site has an altitude of 850m and allows observations in the millimeter range throughout the year. The telescope was upgraded, including a new building to house operations, new control system, and new receiver and back-end technologies. The new front end is a sideband-separating receiver based on a HEMT amplifier and sub-harmonic mixers. It is cooled with Liquid Nitrogen to diminish its noise temperature. The back-end is a digital spectrometer, based on the Reconfigurable Open Architecture Computing Hardware (ROACH). The new spectrometer includes IF hybridization capabilities to avoid analog hybrids and, therefore, improve the sideband rejection ratio of the receiver.

Discovery of DLT18h/AT 2018xx with PROMPT and the DLT40 Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sand, D.; Valenti, S.; Wyatt, S.; Bostroem, K. A.; Reichart, D. E.; Haislip, J. B.; Kouprianov, V.

2018-02-01

We report the discovery of DLT18h/AT 2018xx, which was first imaged on 2018 Feb 21.1 (UT) at R 17.2 mag during the ongoing D < 40 Mpc (DLT40) one day cadence supernova search, which uses data from the PROMPT5 0.41m telescope located at CTIO.

Discovery and Spectroscopic Classification of DLT18q/AT2018aoz as a young type Ia Supernova

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sand, D.; Valenti, S.; Wyatt, S.; Bostroem, K. A.; Reichart, D. E.; Haislip, J. B.; Kouprianov, V.

2018-04-01

We report the discovery and classification of DLT18q/AT 2018aoz. The supernova was found on 2018 April 02.1 (UT) at r 15.1 mag during the ongoing D < 40 Mpc (DLT40) supernova search, using data from the PROMPT5 0.41m telescope located at CTIO.

Centaurus A galaxy, type EO peculiar elliptical, also radio source

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Centaurus A galaxy, type EO peculiar elliptical, also radio source. CTIO 4-meter telescope, 1975. NGC 5128, a Type EO peculiar elliptical galaxy in the constellation Centaurus. This galaxy is one of the most luminous and massive galaxies known and is a strong source of both radio and X-ray radiation. Current theories suggest that the nucleus is experiencing giant explosions involving millions of stars and that the dark band across the galactic disk is material being ejected outward. Cerro Toloto 4-meter telescope photo. Photo credit: National Optical Astronomy Observatories

Introducing the All-sky NOAO Source Catalog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nidever, David L.; NOAO DataLab

2017-06-01

Most of the sky has been imaged with NOAO's telescopes from both hemispheres. While the large majority of these data were obtained for PI-led projects only a small fraction have been released to the community via well-calibrated and easily accessible catalogs. We are remedying this by created a catalog of sources from most of the public data taken on CTIO-4m+DECam as well as KPNO-4m+Mosaic3. This catalog, called the NOAO Source Catalog (NSC), already contains 2.3 billion unique objects, 19 billion source measurements, covers ~25,000 square degrees of the sky, has 10-sigma depths of ~23rd magnitude in most broadband filters, and astrometric accuracy of ~20 mas. We plan to release the catalog via the new NOAO Data Lab service in the near future.

Orbits for 18 Visual Binaries and Two Double-line Spectroscopic Binaries Observed with HRCAM on the CTIO SOAR 4 m Telescope, Using a New Bayesian Orbit Code Based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendez, Rene A.; Claveria, Ruben M.; Orchard, Marcos E.; Silva, Jorge F.

2017-11-01

We present orbital elements and mass sums for 18 visual binary stars of spectral types B to K (five of which are new orbits) with periods ranging from 20 to more than 500 yr. For two double-line spectroscopic binaries with no previous orbits, the individual component masses, using combined astrometric and radial velocity data, have a formal uncertainty of ˜ 0.1 {M}⊙ . Adopting published photometry and trigonometric parallaxes, plus our own measurements, we place these objects on an H-R diagram and discuss their evolutionary status. These objects are part of a survey to characterize the binary population of stars in the Southern Hemisphere using the SOAR 4 m telescope+HRCAM at CTIO. Orbital elements are computed using a newly developed Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm that delivers maximum-likelihood estimates of the parameters, as well as posterior probability density functions that allow us to evaluate the uncertainty of our derived parameters in a robust way. For spectroscopic binaries, using our approach, it is possible to derive a self-consistent parallax for the system from the combined astrometric and radial velocity data (“orbital parallax”), which compares well with the trigonometric parallaxes. We also present a mathematical formalism that allows a dimensionality reduction of the feature space from seven to three search parameters (or from 10 to seven dimensions—including parallax—in the case of spectroscopic binaries with astrometric data), which makes it possible to explore a smaller number of parameters in each case, improving the computational efficiency of our MCMC code. Based on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, e Inovação (MCTI) da República Federativa do Brasil, the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU).

Strong [Fe X] Emission and Deep Optical Eclipses of the Classical Nova V5593 Sgr 2012 No. 5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Starrfield, Sumner; Wagner, R. Mark; Walter, Frederick M.; Woodward, Charles E.; Schwarz, Greg; Krautter, Joachim

2016-01-01

V5593 Sgr was discovered by T. Kojima on 2012 July 16.512 UT at a magnitude of ~12.6. A low-resolution spectrum obtained by M. Fujii on 2012 July 18.572 UT confirmed that the object was indeed a Classical Nova. The AAVSO V-band light curve showed that the nova peaked near 11th mag on July 23-24 UT and subsequently declined in brightness with a t_2 of about 27 days making it a moderately fast nova. We obtained optical spectroscopy of V5593 Sgr between 2012 July 26 and 2013 February 19 UT with the SMARTS/CTIO 1.5 m telescope (+RC spectrograph) and then between 2014 August 25 and 2015 June 17 UT using the MDM Observatory 2.4 m Hiltner telescope (+CCDS), the 8.4 m Large Binocular Telescope (+MODS1), and the 6.5 m MMT (+BlueChannel). The SMARTS spectra confirmed the Fe II classification but showed that by 2013 February 19 UT the Fe II lines became much weaker and strong He II 468.5 nm and [Fe VII] 608.7 nm became prominent. A spectrum obtained on 2014 August 25 UT exhibited Balmer, He II, and [Fe VII] emission lines, but also for the first time, the presence of strong [Fe X] 637.4 nm emission with an observed intensity ratio with respect to Halpha of about 1.5. Other identified emission lines in our spectra included O VI, [Ca V], [Ca VI], [Ca VII], [Fe VI], [Fe XI], and [Fe XIV]. Surprisingly, [O III] emission was weak or absent. By 2015 June, a spectrum showed that the observed [Fe X]/Halpha intensity ratio had decreased to about 0.74. Contemporaneous optical photometry was obtained with the SMARTS/CTIO 1 m telescope (+ANDICAM) between 2014 March 19 and 2015 September 28 UT in the BVRIJHK bands. In agreement with our spectra in quiescence, V5593 Sgr is very red with (B-V) ~ 1 mag and (V-K) ~ 5 mag. The photometry shows ellipsoidal-like modulations with a peak-to-peak amplitude exceeding 2 mag in R and I. The modulation is seen in B through K; however, the amplitude is lower in JHK. Brief eclipses occur at the minimum of the ellipsoidal variation with a depth of at least 5 mag in R and I. The eclipse is seen in all bands covered by our observations. Two or more candidate periods may be consistent with the data. We will discuss these results in the context of other classical novae including GQ Mus and V723 Cas.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Interferometry and spectroscopy of sigma Orionis (Schaefer+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaefer, G. H.; Hummel, C. A.; Gies, D. R.; Zavala, R. T.; Monnier, J. D.; Walter, F. M.; Turner, N. H.; Baron, F.; Ten Brummelaar, T.; Che, X.; Farrington, C. D.; Kraus, S.; Sturmann, J.; Sturmann, L.

2017-03-01

Interferometric data on the σ Orionis triple system were collected between 2010 and 2013 at the CHARA Array located on Mount Wilson, California. The array has six 1m telescopes arranged in a Y configuration with baselines ranging from 34 to 331m. here are two telescopes in each arm, labeled as E (East), W (West), and S (South). We used the Michigan Infrared Combiner (MIRC) to combine the light from three to six telescopes simultaneously. All data were collected after the photometric channels were installed in MIRC; the photometric channels measure the amount of light received from each telescope during the observations to improve the calibration. We used the low spectral resolution prism (R~42) to disperse the fringes across eight spectral channels in the H band (λ=1.5-1.8μm). Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer (NPOI) observations of σ Orionis were collected over a period from 2000 to 2013. Initially, the observations were obtained with the 3-beam combiner, and then, starting in 2002, with the 6-beam hybrid combiner. The NPOI beam combiners disperse the light and record the visibility spectra from 550 to 850 nm in 16 spectral channels. In total, some 59 nights of observations were executed, of which 26 nights were of good quality. The calibrators were selected from a list of single stars maintained at NPOI with diameters estimated from V and (V-K) using the surface brightness relation published by Mozurkewich et al. 2003AJ....126.2502M and van Belle et al. 2009MNRAS.394.1925V. The information for all of the calibrators is given in Table5. We obtained new spectroscopic radial velocity measurements of σ Orionis Aa,Ab using the 1.5m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). We obtained 40 observations on 29 nights using the Fiber Echelle (FE) Spectrograph (http://www.ctio.noao.edu/~atokovin/echelle/FECH-overview.html) (R=25000, λ=4800-7000Å) between UT 2008 September 23 and 2009 February 21. Additional observations were obtained using the Chiron fiber-fed echelle spectrometer equipped with an image slicer (R=78000, λ=4550-8800Å) on 10 nights between UT 2012 November 4 and 2013 February 2 and 11 nights between UT 2016 January 21 and March 27. The Chiron observations were concentrated near the periastron passage of the close pair. The median radial velocities of σ Ori Aa and Ab, measured from the selected spectral lines, are presented in Table8. (5 data files).

Knowing Our Neighbors: 2MASS 2306-0502 (TRAPPIST-1) Revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartlett, Jennifer Lynn; Lurie, John; Jao, W.-C.; Ianna, P. A.; Riedel, A.; Finch, C.; Winters, J.; Subasavage, J.; Henry, T.

2018-01-01

Obtaining a well-understood, volume-limited (and ultimately volume-complete) sample of stellar systems within 25 pc is essential for determining the stellar luminosity function, the mass-luminosity relationship, the stellar velocity distribution, and the stellar multiplicity fraction. Such a sample also provides insight into the local star formation history. Towards that end, Research Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS) measures trigonometric parallaxes to establish which systems truly lie within the 25-pc radius of the Solar Neighborhood. Recent observations with the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9-m telescope allow us to update the astrometry and VRI photometry for 2MASS J23062928-0502285 (TRAPPIST-1). Extrasolar planet searches by others detected 7 Earth-sized planets transiting this cool dwarf.Based on our 2004—2016 observations, we measure a parallax of 78.76 ± 1.04 mas with a proper motion of 1034.8 ± 0.3 mas/yr in 118.5○ ± 0.03○ for 2MASS 2306-0502. During this 12.2-year period, we did not detect any perturbations in the astrometric residuals. Because this parallax is independent of the earlier CTIOPI/SMARTS 1.5-m result, we calculate its weighted mean parallax to be 79.29 ± 0.96 mas (12.6 ± 0.2 pc), which is ~4% farther than the original distance. Our improved parallax implies its radii and that of its planets would be ~4% larger than previously reported.During our astrometric observations, 2MASS 2306-0502 demonstrated an overall photometric variability of 11.6 mmag in I-band, which is less than the 20-mmag limit for significant variability. Removing a July 2009 flaring event drops the mean variability to 8.2 mmag.Our VRI photometry indicates the brightness of 2MASS 2306-0502 is 18.75, 16.54, 14.10 mag, respectively, based on 3 nights.Even as we continue to look for new neighbors, we should also keep an eye on old friends.NSF grants AST 05-07711 and AST 09-08402, NASA-SIM, Georgia State University, the University of Virginia, Hampden-Sydney College, and the Levinson Fund of the Peninsula Community Foundation supported this research. CTIOPI was an NOAO Survey Program and continues as part of the SMARTS Consortium. We thank the SMARTS Consortium and the CTIO staff, who enable the small telescope operations at CTIO.

System Architecture of the Dark Energy Survey Camera Readout Electronics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shaw, Theresa; /FERMILAB; Ballester, Otger

2010-05-27

The Dark Energy Survey makes use of a new camera, the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). DECam will be installed in the Blanco 4M telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). DECam is presently under construction and is expected to be ready for observations in the fall of 2011. The focal plane will make use of 62 2Kx4K and 12 2kx2k fully depleted Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) for guiding, alignment and focus. This paper will describe design considerations of the system; including, the entire signal path used to read out the CCDs, the development of a custom crate and backplane, the overallmore » grounding scheme and early results of system tests.« less

Optical classification of 8 INTEGRAL sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masetti, N.; Morelli, L.; Palazzi, E.; Stephen, J.; Bazzano, A.; Dean, A. J.; Walter, R.; Minniti, D.

2006-03-01

On 20-22 March 2006 we used the R-C spectrograph of the CTIO 1.5m telescope in Cerro Tololo (Chile) to get optical spectra of the putative counterparts of 8 X-ray sources discovered by INTEGRAL (see Bird et al. 2006, ApJ, 636, 765; Halpern 2005, ATel #572; Kuiper et al. 2006, ATel #684; Sazonov et al. 2005, A&A, 444, L37; Revnivtsev et al. 2006, Astron. Lett., 32, 145).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Multiwavelength study of HII region S311 (Yadav+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadav, R. K.; Pandey, A. K.; Sharma, S.; Ojha, D. K.; Samal, M. R.; Mallick, K. K.; Jose, J.; Ogura, K.; Richichi, A.; Irawati, P.; Kobayashi, N.; Eswaraiah, C.

2017-11-01

We observed the HII region S311 (centred on RA(2000)=07:52:24, DE(2000)=-26:24:58.40) in NIR broad-bands J (1.25um), H (1.63um) and Ks (2.14um) on 2010 March 3 using the Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI) camera mounted on the CTIO Blanco 4-m telescope. We consider only those sources having error <0.1mag in all three bands, resulting in a final catalogue of 2671 point sources. The Spitzer-IRAC observations for the S311 region (PID 20726) were made on 2006 May 3 using the 3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0um bands and were downloaded from the Spitzer heritage archive (SHA). (4 data files).

Knowing Our Neighbors: Four New Nearby High Proper Motion Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartlett, Jennifer L.; Lurie, John C.; Ianna, Philip A.; Riedel, Adric R.; Finch, Charlie T.; Winters, Jennifer G.; Jao, Wei-Chun; Subasavage, John P.; Henry, Todd J.

2017-01-01

Obtaining a well-understood, volume-limited (and ultimately volume-complete) sample of stellar systems within 25 pc is essential for determining the stellar luminosity function, the mass-luminosity relationship, the stellar velocity distribution, and the stellar multiplicity fraction. Such a sample also provides insight into the local star formation history. Towards that end, the Research Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS) team measures trigonometric parallaxes to establish which systems truly lie within the 25-pc radius of the Solar Neighborhood. Recent astrometric measurements with the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9-m telescope establish three high proper motion systems as members (2MASS J02511490-0352459, 2MASS J15345704-1418486, and 2MASS J09211410-2104446) and confirm a fourth (2MASS J23062928-0502285). All four proper motions exceed 0.9”/yr. 2MA0251 travels 2.1497±0.0009”/yr in 149.20±0.05° at a distance of 11.0±0.4 pc. 2M2306 moves 1.0344±0.0007”/yr in 118.50±0.08° at a distance of 12.7±0.2 pc. 2MA1534 goes 0.9726±0.0004”/yr in 251.50 ±0.05° at a distance of 10.93±0.10 pc. 2MA0921 shifts 0.9489±0.0003”/yr in 164.70±0.04° at a distance of 12.3±0.2 pc. The corresponding tangential velocities are 112.4, 62.4, 50.4, and 55.5 km/s whereas the median for parallaxes previously published by RECONS is 53 km/s. With radial velocities in the literature of -75.5 to 80.53 km/s, none of these is a candidate member of any young moving groups.To characterize these late M-early L systems more fully, RECONS obtained VRI photometry; their I -band magnitudes range from 14.10 to 16.55. Over their astrometric baselines of 7.75 to 8.99 years, these demonstrated long-term I-band variability of 0.0135 mag. or less, indicating they may be older systems.With each new confirmation, we come closer to completing the census of the Solar Neighborhood.NSF grants AST 05-07711 and AST 09-08402, NASA-SIM, Georgia State University, the University of Virginia, Hampden-Sydney College, and the Levinson Fund of the Peninsula Community Foundation supported this research. CTIOPI was an NOAO Survey Program and continues as part of the SMARTS Consortium. We thank the SMARTS Consortium and the CTIO staff, who enable the small telescope operations at CTIO.

REVISITING THE MICROLENSING EVENT OGLE 2012-BLG-0026: A SOLAR MASS STAR WITH TWO COLD GIANT PLANETS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Beaulieu, J.-P.; Batista, V.; Marquette, J.-B., E-mail: beaulieu@iap.fr, E-mail: batista@iap.fr, E-mail: marquett@iap.fr

2016-06-20

Two cold gas giant planets orbiting a G-type main-sequence star in the galactic disk were previously discovered in the high-magnification microlensing event OGLE-2012-BLG-0026. Here, we present revised host star flux measurements and a refined model for the two-planet system using additional light curve data. We performed high angular resolution adaptive optics imaging with the Keck and Subaru telescopes at two epochs while the source star was still amplified. We detected the lens flux, H = 16.39 ± 0.08. The lens, a disk star, is brighter than predicted from the modeling in the original study. We revisited the light curve modelingmore » using additional photometric data from the B and C telescope in New Zealand and CTIO 1.3 m H -band light curve. We then include the Keck and Subaru adaptive optic observation constraints. The system is composed of a ∼4–9 Gyr lens star of M {sub lens} = 1.06 ± 0.05 M {sub ⊙} at a distance of D {sub lens} = 4.0 ± 0.3 kpc, orbited by two giant planets of 0.145 ± 0.008 M {sub Jup} and 0.86 ± 0.06 M {sub Jup}, with projected separations of 4.0 ± 0.5 au and 4.8 ± 0.7 au, respectively. Because the lens is brighter than the source star by 16 ± 8% in H, with no other blend within one arcsec, it will be possible to estimate its metallicity using subsequent IR spectroscopy with 8–10 m class telescopes. By adding a constraint on the metallicity it will be possible to refine the age of the system.« less

Detection of a very bright source close to the LMC supernova SN 1987A

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nisenson, P.; Papaliolios, C.; Karovska, M.; Noyes, R.

1987-01-01

High angular resolution observations of the supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, SN 1987A, have revealed a bright source separated from the SN by approximately 60 mas with a magnitude difference of 2.7 at 656 nm (H-alpha). Speckle imaging techniques were applied to data recorded with the CfA two-dimensional photon counting detector on the CTIO 4 m telescope on March 25 and April 2 to allow measurements in H-alpha on both nights and at 533 nm and 450 nm on the second night. The nature of this object is as yet unknown, though it is almost certainly a phenomenon related to the SN.

NASA's Optical Measurement Program 2014 H.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowardin, H.; Lederer, S.; Stansbery, G.; Seitzer, P.; Buckalew, B.; Abercromby, K.; Barker, E.

2014-09-01

The Optical Measurements Group (OMG) within the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) addresses U.S. National Space Policy goals by monitoring and characterizing debris. Since 2001, the OMG has used the Michigan Orbital Debris Survey Telescope (MODEST) at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile for general orbital debris survey. The 0.6-m Schmidt MODEST provides calibrated astronomical data of GEO targets, both catalogued and uncatalogued debris, with excellent image quality. The data are utilized by the ODPO modeling group and are included in the Orbital Debris Engineering Model (ORDEM) v. 3.0. MODEST and the CTIO/SMARTS (Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System)0.9 m both acquire filter photometric data, as well as synchronously observing targets in selected optical filters. This information provides data used in material composition studies as well as longer orbital arc data on the same target, without time delay or bias from a rotating, tumbling, or spinning target. NASA, in collaboration with the University of Michigan, began using the twin 6.5-m Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile for deep imaging (Baade) and spectroscopic data (Clay) in 2011. Through the data acquired on Baade, debris have been detected that are ~3 magnitudes fainter than detections with MODEST, while the data from Clay provide better resolved information used in material characterization analyses via selected bandpasses. To better characterize and model optical data, the Optical Measurements Center (OMC) at NASA/JSC has been in operation since 2005, resulting in a database of comparison laboratory data. The OMC is designed to emulate illumination conditions in space using equipment and techniques that parallel telescopic observations and source-target-sensor orientations. Lastly, the OMG is building the Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) at Ascension Island. The 1.3-m telescope is designed to observe GEO and LEO targets, using a modified Ritchey-Chrétien configuration on a double horseshoe equatorial mount to allow tracking objects at LEO rates through the domes keyhole at zenith. Through the data collection techniques employed at these unique facilities, NASAs ODPO has developed a multi-faceted approach to characterize the orbital debris risk to satellites in various altitudes and provide material characterization of debris via photometric and spectroscopic measurements. Ultimately, the data are used in conjunction with in-situ and radar measurements to provide accurate data for models of our space environment and service spacecraft risk assessment.

NASA's Optical Measurement Program 2014

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowardin, H.; Lederer, S.; Stansbery, G.; Seitzer, P.; Buckalew, B.; Abercromby, K.; Barker, E.

2014-01-01

The Optical Measurements Group (OMG) within the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) addresses U.S. National Space Policy goals by monitoring and characterizing debris. Since 2001, the OMG has used the Michigan Orbital Debris Survey Telescope (MODEST) at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile for general orbital debris survey. The 0.6-m Schmidt MODEST provides calibrated astronomical data of GEO targets, both catalogued and uncatalogued debris, with excellent image quality. The data are utilized by the ODPO modeling group and are included in the Orbital Debris Engineering Model (ORDEM) v. 3.0. MODEST and the CTIO/SMARTS (Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System) 0.9 m both acquire filter photometric data, as well as synchronously observing targets in selected optical filters. This information provides data used in material composition studies as well as longer orbital arc data on the same target, without time delay or bias from a rotating, tumbling, or spinning target. NASA, in collaboration with the University of Michigan, began using the twin 6.5-m Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile for deep imaging (Baade) and spectroscopic data (Clay) in 2011. Through the data acquired on Baade, debris have been detected that are 3 magnitudes fainter than detections with MODEST, while the data from Clay provide better resolved information used in material characterization analyses via selected bandpasses. To better characterize and model optical data, the Optical Measurements Center (OMC) at NASA/JSC has been in operation since 2005, resulting in a database of comparison laboratory data. The OMC is designed to emulate illumination conditions in space using equipment and techniques that parallel telescopic observations and source-target-sensor orientations. Lastly, the OMG is building the Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) at Ascension Island. The 1.3-m telescope is designed to observe GEO and LEO targets, using a modified Ritchey-Chrétien configuration on a double horseshoe equatorial mount to allow tracking objects at LEO rates through the dome's keyhole at zenith. Through the data collection techniques employed at these unique facilities, NASA's ODPO has developed a multi-faceted approach to characterize the orbital debris risk to satellites in various altitudes and provide material characterization of debris via photometric and spectroscopic measurements. Ultimately, the data are used in conjunction with in-situ and radar measurements to provide accurate data for models of our space environment and service spacecraft risk assessment.

NASA's Optical Measurement Program 2014

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowardin, H.; Lederer, S. M.; Stansbery, G.; Seitzer, P.; Buckalew, B.; Abercromby, K.; Barker, E.

2014-01-01

The Optical Measurements Group (OMG) within the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) addresses U.S. National Space Policy goals by monitoring and characterizing debris. Since 2001, the OMG has used the Michigan Orbital Debris Survey Telescope (MODEST) at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile for general orbital debris surveys. The 0.6-m Schmidt MODEST provides calibrated astronomical data of GEO targets, both catalogued and uncatalogued debris, with excellent image quality. The data are utilized by the ODPO modeling group and are included in the Orbital Debris Engineering Model (ORDEM) v. 3.0. MODEST and the CTIO/SMARTS (Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System) 0.9 m are both employed to acquire filter photometry data as well as synchronously observe targets in selected optical filters. Obtaining data synchronously yields data for material composition studies as well as longer orbital arc data on the same target without time delay or bias from a rotating, tumbling, or spinning target. Observations of GEO orbital debris using the twin 6.5-m Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile for deep imaging (Baade) and spectroscopic data (Clay) began in 2011. Through the data acquired on Baade, debris has been detected that reaches approx. 3 magnitudes fainter than detections with MODEST, while the spectral data from Clay provide better resolved information used in material characterization analyses. To better characterize and model optical data, the Optical Measurements Center (OMC) at NASA/JSC has been in operation since 2005, resulting in a database of comparison laboratory data. The OMC is designed to emulate illumination conditions in space using equipment and techniques that parallel telescopic observations and sourcetarget- sensor orientations. Lastly, the OMG is building the Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) at Ascension Island. The 1.3-m telescope is designed to observe GEO and LEO targets, using a modified Ritchey-Chrétien configuration on a double horseshoe equatorial mount to allow tracking objects at LEO rates through the dome's keyhole at zenith. Through the data collection techniques employed at these unique facilities, NASA's ODPO has developed a multifaceted approach to characterize the orbital debris risk to satellites in various altitudes and provide insight leading toward material characterization of debris via photometric and spectroscopic measurements. Ultimately, the data are used in conjunction with in-situ and radar measurements to provide accurate data for models of our space environment and for facilitating spacecraft risk assessment.

On the Nature of CP Pup

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mason, E.; Orio, M.; Mukai, K.; Bianchini, A.; deMartino, D.; diMille, F.; Williams, R. E.

2013-01-01

We present new X-ray and optical spectra of the old nova CP Pup (nova Pup 1942) obtained with Chandra and the CTIO 4m telescope. The X-ray spectrum reveals a multi-temperature optically thin plasma reaching a maximum temperature of 36+19 keV 16 absorbed by local complex neutral material. The time resolved optical spectroscopy confirms the presence of the 1.47 hr period, with cycle-to-cycle amplitude changes, as well as of an additional long term modulation which is suggestive either of a longer pe- riod or of non-Keplerian velocities in the emission line regions. These new observational facts add further support to CP Pup as a magnetic cataclysmic variable (mCV). We compare the mCV and the non-mCV scenarios and while we cannot conclude whether CP Pup is a long period system, all observational evidences point at an intermediate polar (IP) type CV.

Revisiting the Microlensing Event OGLE 2012-BLG-0026: A Solar Mass Star with Two Cold Giant Planets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beaulieu, J.-P.; Bennett, D. P.; Batista, V.; Fukui, A.; Marquette, J.-B.; Brillant, S.; Cole, A. A.; Rogers, L. A.; Sumi, T.; Abe, F.

2016-01-01

Two cold gas giant planets orbiting a G-type main-sequence star in the galactic disk were previously discovered in the high-magnification microlensing event OGLE-2012-BLG-0026. Here, we present revised host star flux measurements and a refined model for the two-planet system using additional light curve data. We performed high angular resolution adaptive optics imaging with the Keck and Subaru telescopes at two epochs while the source star was still amplified. We detected the lens flux, H = 16.39 +/- 0.08. The lens, a disk star, is brighter than predicted from the modeling in the original study. We revisited the light curve modeling using additional photometric data from the B and C telescope in New Zealand and CTIO 1.3 m H-band light curve. We then include the Keck and Subaru adaptive optic observation constraints. The system is composed of an approximately 4-9 Gyr lens star of M(sub lens) = 1.06 +/- 0.05 solar mass at a distance of D(sub lens) = 4.0 +/- 0.3 kpc, orbited by two giant planets of 0.145 +/- 0.008 M(sub Jup) and 0.86 +/- 0.06 M(sub Jup), with projected separations of 4.0 +/- 0.5 au and 4.8 +/- 0.7 au, respectively. Because the lens is brighter than the source star by 16 +/- 8% in H, with no other blend within one arcsec, it will be possible to estimate its metallicity using subsequent IR spectroscopy with 8-10 m class telescopes. By adding a constraint on the metallicity it will be possible to refine the age of the system.

Simultaneous Multiwavelength Observations of PKS 2155-304

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osterman, M. A.; Miller, H. R.; Marshall, K.; Ryle, W. T.; Aller, H.; Aller, M.; Wagner, S.

2005-12-01

The TeV blazar PKS 2155-304 was the subject of an intensive two week optical and infrared observing campaign in August 2004 at the CTIO 0.9m telescope. During this time, simultaneous X-ray data from RXTE was also obtained. Over the course of these observations, two large flares occurred at these wavelengths. In the weeks following the CTIO campaign, more flux increases were observed at X-ray, optical, and radio wavelengths. We present an analysis of the relative sizes, shapes, and time delays of the various flares in order to constrain various models for blazar physics (e.g. shock in jet, accelerating or decelerating jet) assuming a synchrotron self-Compton model for the production of X-ray and higher energy emission. MAO, HRM, KM, and WTR are supported in part by the Program for Extragalactic Astronomy's Research Program Enhancement funds from GSU.

Deep Rapid Optical Follow-Up of Gravitational Wave Sources with the Dark Energy Camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowperthwaite, Philip

2018-01-01

The detection of an electromagnetic counterpart associated with a gravitational wave detection by the Advanced LIGO and VIRGO interferometers is one of the great observational challenges of our time. The large localization regions and potentially faint counterparts require the use of wide-field, large aperture telescopes. As a result, the Dark Energy Camera, a 3.3 sq deg CCD imager on the 4-m Blanco telescope at CTIO in Chile is the most powerful instrument for this task in the Southern Hemisphere. I will report on the results from our joint program between the community and members of the dark energy survey to conduct rapid and efficient follow-up of gravitational wave sources. This includes systematic searches for optical counterparts, as well as developing an understanding of contaminating sources on timescales not normally probed by traditional untargeted supernova surveys. I will additionally comment on the immense science gains to be made by a joint detection and discuss future prospects from the standpoint of both next generation wide-field telescopes and next generation gravitational wave detectors.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Differential BV photometry of 5 variables in M79 (Bond+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bond, H. E.; Ciardullo, R.; Siegel, M. H.

2016-07-01

We have carried out a program of photometric monitoring of M79. The observations, made by Chilean service personnel, used the 1.3m Small & Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) Consortium telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO) and its ANDICAM CCD camera. Data were obtained on the M79 Post-Asymptotic-Giant-Branch (PAGB; RA=5:24:10.36, Dec=-24:29:20.6; the PAGB star is also cataloged as TYC 6479-422-1 and 2MASS J05241036-2429206) star and surrounding field on 224 nights between 2007 February 20 and 2011 May 8. On each night, two exposures of 30s each were obtained in B and in V. The usable field of view of these images is about 5.6'*5.6'. The data for the five variable stars are included in Table5. (3 data files).

The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Summer Student Programs in La Serena, Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaleida, Catherine C.; Smith, C.; Van Der Bliek, N. S.; James, D.

2014-01-01

The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) offers positions for U.S. and Chilean student interns during the Chilean summer months of January-March (northern winter semester) at the CTIO offices in La Serena, Chile. CTIO is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) of the United States, focused on the development of astronomy in the southern hemisphere. Six undergraduate research assistantships are offered for U.S. physics and astronomy undergraduate students through the NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. The CTIO-funded Prácticas de Investigación en Astronomía (PIA) program is run concurrently with the REU program, and offers two research assistantships for Chilean undergraduate or 1st or 2nd year masters students, also at the CTIO offices in La Serena, Chile. The CTIO REU and PIA programs provide exceptional opportunities for students considering a career in astronomy to engage in substantive research activities with scientists working at the forefront of contemporary astrophysics. Student participants work on specific research projects in close collaboration with members of the CTIO scientific and technical staff, such as galaxy clusters, gravitational lensing, supernovae, planetary nebulae, stellar populations, star clusters, star formation, variable stars and interstellar medium. The CTIO REU and PIA programs emphasize observational techniques and provide opportunities for direct observational experience using CTIO's state-of-the-art telescopes and instrumentation. The programs run for 10 weeks, from mid-January to the end of March. A two-night observing run on Cerro Tololo and a field trip to another observatory in Chile are included for students of both programs. These positions are full time, and those selected will receive a modest stipend and subsidized housing on the grounds of the offices of CTIO in La Serena, as well as travel costs to and from La Serena. In addition, the students have the opportunity attend the American Astronomical Society (AAS) winter meeting to present their research the year following the program.

Optical Studies of Orbital Debris at GEO Using Two Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seitzer, P.; Abercromby, K. J.; Rodriquez,H. M.; Barker, E.

2008-01-01

Beginning in March, 2007, optical observations of debris at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) were commenced using two telescopes simultaneously at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. The University of Michigan's 0.6/0.9-m Schmidt telescope MODEST (for Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope) was used in survey mode to find objects that potentially could be at GEO. Because GEO objects only appear in this telescope's field of view for an average of 5 minutes, a full six-parameter orbit can not be determined. Interrupting the survey for follow-up observations leads to incompleteness in the survey results. Instead, as objects are detected on MODEST, initial predictions assuming a circular orbit are done for where the object will be for the next hour, and the objects are reacquired as quickly as possible on the CTIO 0.9-m telescope. This second telescope then follows-up during the first night and, if possible, over several more nights to obtain the maximum time arc possible, and the best six parameter orbit. Our goal is to obtain an initial orbit for all detected objects fainter than R = 15th in order to estimate the orbital distribution of objects selected on the basis of two observational criteria: magnitude and angular rate. Objects fainter than 15th are largely uncataloged and have a completely different angular rate distribution than brighter objects. Combining the information obtained for both faint and bright objects yields a more complete picture of the debris environment rather than just concentrating on the faint debris. One objective is to estimate what fraction of objects selected on the basis of angular rate are not at GEO. A second objective is to obtain magnitudes and colors in standard astronomical filters (BVRI) for comparison with reflectance spectra of likely spacecraft materials. This paper reports on results from two 14 night runs with both telescopes: in March and November 2007: (1) A significant fraction of objects fainter than R = 15th have eccentric orbits (e > 0.1) (2) Virtually all objects selected on the basis of angular rate are in the GEO and GTO regimes. (3) Calibrated magnitudes and colors in BVRI were obtained for many objects fainter than R = 15th magnitude. This work is supported by NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA.

Optical Studies of Space Debris at GEO: Survey and Follow-up with Two Telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seitzer, P.; Abercomby, K. J.; Rodriquez, H. M.; Barker, E. S.

2007-01-01

For 14 nights in March 2007, we used two telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile to study the nature of space debris at Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). In this project one telescope was dedicated to survey operations, while a second telescope was used for follow-up observations for orbits and colors. The goal was to obtain orbital and photometric information on every faint object found with the survey telescope. Thus we concentrate on objects fainter than R = 15th magnitude.

Instruments by Telescope | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments Single-object IR spectrograph 1.1"x28" ~3500 Hawaii2RG 0.80-2.40 Available SOAR Instruments See gratings 1,800-14,000 with 0.45 arcsec slit Fairchild CCD 4096x4096 0.32-0.98 Available Spartan IR imager

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Infrared spectroscopy of symbiotic stars. XI. (Fekel+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fekel, F. C.; Hinkle, K. H.; Joyce, R. R.; Wood, P. R.

2017-06-01

Our spectroscopic observations in the southern hemisphere were initially acquired from 2001 March through 2002 December. We observed at the Mount Stromlo Observatory (MSO), which is located near Canberra, Australia, and used the 1.88m telescope and coude spectrograph. The detector to record our spectra was an infrared camera, NICMASS, that was developed at the University of Massachusetts. It produced a 2 pixel resolving power of 44000 at a wavelength of 1.623μm. Between 2003 February and 2010 June we obtained some additional spectra with the 8m Gemini South telescope, located at Cerro Pachon, Chile. We used the Phoenix cryogenic echelle spectrograph. That spectrograph enabled us to observe at several different infrared wavelength regions including 1.563, 2.226, and 2.364μm, and the Gemini South spectra have a resolving power equal to either 50000 or 70000. >From 2009 May through 2010 June we also used the 1.5m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). That telescope is operated by the Small and Moderate Aperature Research Telescope System (SMARTS) consortium of universities and other organizations. During that time period, we acquired five spectra with the 1.5m telescope, a fiber fed echelle spectrograph, and a 2K SITe CCD. The spectra have a resolving power of ~25000 at 5500Å. The echelle spectrograms from the 1.5m SMARTS telescope cover the wavelength range 4020-7300Å. We chose to measure velocities in one of the reddest orders of the SMARTS echelle spectrograms at a wavelength region near 7130Å. (5 data files).

SOAR Telescope Progress Report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sebring, T.; Cecil, G.; Krabbendam, V.

1999-12-01

The 4.3m SOAR telescope is fully funded and under construction. A partnership between the country of Brazil, NOAO, Michigan State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, SOAR is being designed for high-quality imaging and imaging spectroscopy in the optical and near-IR over a field of view up to 12' diameter. US astronomers outside MSU and UNC will access 30% of the observing time through the standard NOAO TAC process. The telescope is being designed to support remote and synoptic observations. First light is scheduled for July 2002 at Cerro Pachon in Chile, a site with median seeing of 2/3" at 500 nm. The telescope will be operated by CTIO. Corning Inc. has fused the mirror blanks from boules of ULE glass. RSI in Richardson, Texas and Raytheon Optical Systems Inc. in Danbury, Conn. are designing and will fabricate the mount and active optics systems, respectively. The mount supports an instrument payload in excess of 5000 kg, at 2 Nasmyth locations and 3 bent Cass. ports. The mount and facility building have space for a laser to generate an artificial AO guide star. LabVIEW running under the Linux OS on compactPCI hardware has been adopted to control all telescope, detector, and instrument systems. The primary mirror is 10 cm thick and will be mounted on 120 electro-mechanical actuators to maintain its ideal optical figure at all elevations. The position of the light-weighted secondary mirror is adjusted to maintain collimation through use of a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. The tertiary mirror feeds instruments and also jitters at up to 50 Hz to compensate for telescope shake and atmosphere wavefront tilt. The dome is a steel framework, with fiberglass panels. Air in the observing volume will be exchanged with that outside every few minutes by using large fans under computer control. All systems will be assembled and checked at the manufacturer's facility, then shipped to Chile. A short integration period is planned, and limited science operations will begin in late 2002. The telescope will deliver an f/16 tip/tilt/focus stabilized image. Optical spectrographs (5' field and IFU) using volume-phase holographic gratings for high efficiency, and wide-field optical and near-IR imagers are under development at partner institutions and at partner expense. These instruments are being designed to exploit the excellent image quality of the telescope. SOAR is participating in consortia for Rockwell 2x2K HgCdTe arrays, and MIT/Lincoln Labs 2x4K CCD's. Most detectors will be run with SDSU-2 array controllers, and custom LabVIEW software. CTIO is also responsible for CCD integration.

Trio of stellar occultations by Pluto One Year Prior to New Horizons' Arrival

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasachoff, Jay M.; Person, Michael J.; Bosh, Amanda S.; Gulbis, Amanda A. S.; Zuluaga, Carlos A.; Levine, Stephen; Osip, David J.; Schiff, Adam R.; Seeger, Christina H.; Babcock, Bryce A.; Rojo, Patricio; Kosiarek, Molly R.; Servajean, Elise

2015-01-01

Our campaign in July 2014 yielded three successful stellar occultations (~m=15, 17, and 18) of Pluto (~m=14), observed from telescopes in New Zealand, Australia, and Chile. Telescopes involved included Chile: Magellan's Clay (6.5 m), SOAR (4.1 m), Carnegie's DuPont (2.4 m); Australia: AAT (4 m); and Canterbury's Mt. John McLellan (1-m); as well as various smaller telescopes in Australia and Chile. One of the events was also observed, with negative results, from GROND on La Silla (2.2 m) and SMARTS's ANDICAM at CTIO (1.3 m). Though our observations were coordinated across continents, each successfully observed event was seen from only one site because of bad weather at the other sites. Two of the events were uniquely observed from Mt. John (Pasachoff et al., DPS 2014) and one, with only Chile sites in the predicted path, from the Clay (Person et al., DPS 2014). This last event was expected to be of the brightest star with the largest telescope we have ever observed for a Pluto occultation, but clouds arrived at the 6.5-m Clay 90 s before the predicted time; a 1% occultation was nonetheless seen and eventually, confirmed by Keck AO observations, to be of a 15th magnitude star previously hidden in the brightness of the 12th mag star. Our scientific conclusion is that as of these observations, one year before New Horizons' passage of Pluto, the atmosphere of Pluto remained robust and of the same size. Details on our analysis of the three events will be presented.Acknowledgments: This work was supported in part by NASA Planetary Astronomy grants to Williams College (NNX12AJ29G) and to MIT (NNX10AB27G), as well as grants from USRA (#8500-98-003) and Ames Research (#NAS2-97-01) to Lowell Observatory. A.R.S. was supported by NSF grant AST-1005024 for the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium REU, with partial support from U.S. DoD's ASSURE program. P.R. acknowledges support from FONDECYT through grant 1120299. J.M.P. thanks Andrew Ingersoll and Caltech Planetary Astronomy for hospitality.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: SONYC census of substellar objects in Lupus 3 (Muzic+, 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muzic, K.; Scholz, A.; Geers, V. C.; Jayawardhana, R.; Lopez Marti, B.

2017-06-01

The near-infrared observations were designed to provide J- and KS photometry in the area slightly larger than the one covered with MOSAIC-II. We used NEWFIRM at the CTIO 4 m telescope, providing an FOV of 28'x28' and a pixel scale of 0.4". The NEWFIRM detector is a mosaic of four 2048x2048 Orion InSb arrays, organized in a 2x2 grid. Data reduction was performed using the NEWFIRM pipeline. The data were dark- and sky-subtracted and were corrected for bad pixels and flat-field effects. The astrometry was calibrated with respect to the 2MASS (Skrutskie et al. 2006AJ....131.1163S, Cat. VII/233) coordinate system, and each detector quadrant was re-projected onto an undistorted celestial tangent plane. (3 data files).

Telescopes on Cerro Tololo & Cerro Pachon | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

The Search for Pre-Main Sequence Eclipsing Binary Stars in the Lagoon Nebula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henderson, Calen B.; Stassun, K. G.

2009-01-01

We report time-series CCD I-band photometry for the pre-main-sequence cluster NGC 6530, located within the Lagoon Nebula. The data were obtained with the 4Kx4K imager on the SMARTS 1.0m telescope at CTIO on 36 nights over the summers of 2005 and 2006. In total we have light curves for 50,000 stars in an area 1 deg2, with a sampling cadence of 1 hour. The stars in our sample have masses in the range 0.25-4.0 Msun, assuming a distance of 1.25 kpc to the cluster. Our goals are to look for stars with rotation periods and to identify eclipsing binary candidates. Here we present light curves of photometrically variable stars and potential eclipsing binary star systems. This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation under Career grant AST-0349075.

The LCOGT Science Archive and Data Pipeline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lister, Tim; Walker, Z.; Ciardi, D.; Gelino, C. R.; Good, J.; Laity, A.; Swain, M.

2013-01-01

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) is building and deploying a world-wide network of optical telescopes dedicated to time-domain astronomy. In the past year, we have deployed and commissioned four new 1m telescopes at McDonald Observatory, Texas and at CTIO, Chile, with more to come at SAAO, South Africa and Siding Spring Observatory, Australia. To handle these new data sources coming from the growing LCOGT network, and to serve them to end users, we have constructed a new data pipeline and Science Archive. We describe the new LCOGT pipeline, currently under development and testing, which makes use of the ORAC-DR automated recipe-based data reduction pipeline and illustrate some of the new data products. We also present the new Science Archive, which is being developed in partnership with the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) and show some of the new features the Science Archive provides.

SIMP: A Near-Infrared Proper Motion Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Artigau, Étienne; Lafrenière, David; Doyon, René; Albert, Loïc; Robert, Jasmin; Malo, Lison

2009-02-01

SIMP is a proper motion (PM) survey made with the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic (OMM) wide-field near-infrared camera CPAPIR at the CTIO 1.5 m and OMM 1.6 m telescopes. The SIMP observations were initiated in early 2005, are still ongoing and, to date, have covered 28% of the sky at high galactic latitudes. The PMs of the sources detected are determined by comparing their measured positions with those listed in the 2MASS point source catalog, giving a time baseline of 4 to 10 years. The 5 σ uncertainty on the relative SIMP and 2MASS astrometry is 1'', equivalent to a PM lower limit of 0.125-0.250''/yr, or a tangential velocity limit of 15-30 km/s at 25 pc. Up to the 2MASS magnitude limit (J~16.5), T dwarfs are found out to ~25 pc, while L dwarfs may be found as far as 100 pc away.

Knowing Our Neighbors: Six Young, Nearby Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartlett, Jennifer L.; Lurie, John C.; Ianna, Philip A.; Riedel, Adric R.; Winters, Jennifer G.; Finch, Charlie T.; Jao, Wei-Chun; Subasavage, John P.; Henry, Todd J.

2016-06-01

Obtaining a well-understood, volume-limited (and ultimately volume-complete) sample of nearby stars is necessary for determining a host of astrophysical quantities, including the stellar luminosity and mass functions, the stellar velocity distribution, and the stellar multiplicity fraction. Furthermore, such a sample provides insight into the local star formation history. Towards that end, the Research Consortium on Nearby Stars (RECONS) measures trigonometric parallaxes to establish which systems truly lie within the 25-pc radius of the Solar Neighborhood. Recent measurements with the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9-m telescope establish six new systems as members of the Solar Neighborhood and also potential members of young moving groups based on (a) CTIOPI astrometry and (b) radial velocities from the literature, where available: ● G 75-35 at a distance of 11.8±0.2 pc and G 161-71 at 13.5±0.3 pc are possible members of the Argus Association● LP 888-18 at a distance of 12.5±0.2 pc is a member of the AB Doradus Moving Group, while LP 834-32 at 17.3±0.6 pc and LP 870-65 at 18.2±0.5 pc are possible group members● LHS 6167AB at a distance of 9.68±0.09 pc is a possible member of the Hercules-Lyra Moving Group. To characterize these systems further, RECONS obtained VRI photometry for each, which range from 12.44-18.81 mag. in V. LP 834-32, LHS 6167AB, and G 161-71 demonstrated significant long-term variability in V-band; the first two appear to have flared in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Furthermore, CTIOPI 1.5-m spectroscopy identifies these systems as M3.5-M8.0 dwarfs. G 161-71 displayed strong Hα emission but weak sodium and potassium features.The Solar Neighborhood contains both young and old stars that can be observed more easily than their more distant counterparts, which allows their characteristics to be studied in greater detail.NSF grants AST 05-07711 and AST 09-08402, NASA-SIM, Georgia State University, the University of Virginia, Hampden-Sydney College, and the Levinson Fund of the Peninsula Community Foundation supported this research. CTIOPI was an NOAO Survey Program and continues as part of the SMARTS Consortium. We thank the SMARTS Consortium and the CTIO staff, who enable the small telescope operations at CTIO.

Cataloging the Entire Sky with NOAO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nidever, David; Dey, Arjun; Olsen, Knut; Nikutta, Robert; Juneau, Stephanie; NOAO Data Lab Team

2018-01-01

More than two thirds of the sky has now been imaged in at least one band with NOAO's telescopes. The large majority of these data were obtained for PI-led projects and surveys, and thus far only a small fraction have been released to the community via well-calibrated and easily accessible catalogs. We are remedying this by creating a catalog of sources from most of the public data taken using the CTIO-4m+DECam and KPNO-4m+Mosaic3. This catalog, called the NOAO Source Catalog (NSC), currently covers ~25,000 square degrees, contains 20 billion individual measurements of 2 billion unique objects, and has 10-sigma depths of ~23rd magnitude in most broad-band filters and astrometric accuracy of ~20 mas. The NSC can be used to investigate stellar streams, dwarf satellite galaxies, galaxy distributions, variable stars and other transients. I will give an overview of the first public data release distributed through NOAO Data Lab and discuss initial results from a search for Milky Way satellite galaxies using the new catalog.

The First Data Release of the All-sky NOAO Source Catalog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nidever, David L.; NOAO Data Lab

2018-06-01

Roughly three quarters of the sky has been imaged with NOAO's telescopes from both hemispheres. While the large majority of these data were obtained for PI-led projects and surveys only a fraction have been released to the community via well-calibrated and easily accessible catalogs. We have remedied this by creating a catalog of sources from most of the public data taken on CTIO-4m+DECam as well as KPNO 4m+Mosaic3. The first data release (DR1) of this catalog, called the NOAO Source Catalog (NSC), contains 2.9 billion unique objects, 34 billion individual measurements, covers ~30,000 square degrees, has depths of ~23rd magnitude in most broadband filters with ~1-2% photometric accuracy and astrometric accuracy of ~2 mas. The NSC will be useful for exploring stellar streams, dwarf satellite galaxies, distant galaxies as well as variable stars and other transients. DR1 is now available through the NOAO Data Lab (datalab.noao.edu).

SOAR remote observing: tactics and early results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cecil, Gerald N.; Crain, J. Adam

2004-09-01

Travel from North America to the 4.1m SOAR telescope atop Cerro Pachon exceeds $1000, and takes >16 hours door to door (20+ hours typically). SOAR aims to exploit best seeing, requiring dynamic scheduling that is impossible to accomplish when catering to peripatetic astronomers. According to technical arguments at www.peakoil.org, we are near the peak rate of depleting world petroleum, so can expect travel costs to climb sharply. With the telecom bubble's glut of optical fiber, we can transmit data more efficiently than astronomers and "observe remotely". With data compression, less than half of the 6 Mbps bandwidth shared currently by SOAR and CTIO is enough to enable a high-fidelity observing presence for SOAR partners in North America, Brazil, and Chile. We discuss access from home by cable modem/DSL link.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Candidate strong lens systems from DES obs. (Diehl+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diehl, H. T.; Buckley-Geer, E. J.; Lindgren, K. A.; Nord, B.; Gaitsch, H.; Gaitsch, S.; Lin, H.; Allam, S.; Collett, T. E.; Furlanetto, C.; Gill, M. S. S.; More, A.; Nightingale, J.; Odden, C.; Pellico, A.; Tucker, D. L.; da Costa, L. N.; Neto, A. F.; Kuropatkin, N.; Soares-Santos, M.; Welch, B.; Zhang, Y.; Frieman, J. A.; Abdalla, F. B.; Annis, J.; Benoit-Levy, A.; Bertin, E.; Brooks, D.; Burke, D. L.; Rosell, A. C.; Kind, M. C.; Carretero, J.; Cunha, C. E.; D'Andrea, C. B.; Desai, S.; Dietrich, J. P.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Evrard, A. E.; Finley, D. A.; Flaugher, B.; Garcia-Bellido, J.; Gerdes, D. W.; Goldstein, D. A.; Gruen, D.; Gruendl, R. A.; Gschwend, J.; Gutierrez, G.; James, D. J.; Kuehn, K.; Kuhlmann, S.; Lahav, O.; Li, T. S.; Lima, M.; Maia, M. A. G.; Marshall, J. L.; Menanteau, F.; Miquel, R.; Nichol, R. C.; Nugent, P.; Ogando, R. L. C.; Plazas, A. A.; Reil, K.; Romer, A. K.; Sako, M.; Sanchez, E.; Santiago, B.; Scarpine, V.; Schindler, R.; Schubnell, M.; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.; Sheldon, E.; Smith, M.; Sobreira, F.; Suchyta, E.; Swanson, M. E. C.; Tarle, G.; Thomas, D.; Walker, A. R.; DES Collaboration

2017-10-01

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is in the midst of imaging 5000°2 of the southern galactic cap using the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which is operated on the 4m Victor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO) near La Serena, Chile. Science verification (SV) spanned 79 nights or half-nights from 2012 November 1, to 2013 February 22. The main SV wide-field (WF) survey areas amounted to ~250°2 at non-uniform depth and data quality. The first full observing season, Year 1 (Y1), spanned 119 nights or half-nights from 2013 August 31 to 2014 February 9. The Y1 wide-field (WF) survey observations were concentrated in two areas: one of about 150°2 near the celestial equator that included a part of SDSS Stripe 82 (Annis+ 2014ApJ...794..120A), and a much larger region of roughly 1800°2 from -60° to -40° decl. that overlapped the area mapped in microwaves by the South Pole Telescope (SPT). Generally, we observed those fields four times in each of the five filters: the g, r, i, z, and Y-bands. (2 data files).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: UBVR photometry of the T Tauri binary DQ Tau (Tofflemire+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tofflemire, B. M.; Mathieu, R. D.; Ardila, D. R.; Akeson, R. L.; Ciardi, D. R.; Johns-Krull, C.; Herczeg, G. J.; Quijano-Vodniza, A.

2017-08-01

The Las Cumbres Observatories Global Telescope (LCOGT) 1m network consists of nine 1m telescopes spread across four international sites: McDonald Observatory (USA), CTIO (Chile), SAAO (South Africa), and Siding Springs Observatory (Australia). Over the 2014-2015 winter observing season, our program requested queued "visits" of DQ Tau 20 times per orbital cycle for 10 continuous orbital periods. Given the orbital period of DQ Tau, the visit cadence corresponded to ~20hr. Each visit consisted of three observations in each of the broadband UBVRIY and narrowband Hα and Hβ filters, requiring ~20 minutes. In this work we present only the UBVR observations, which overlap with our high-cadence observations. Indeed, two eight-night observing runs centered on separate periastron passages of DQ Tau (orbital cycles 3 and 5 in Figure 1) were obtained from the WIYN 0.9m telescope located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. In addition to our two eight-night observing runs, a synoptic observation program was also in place at the WIYN 0.9m that provided approximately weekly observations of DQ Tau in UBVR during the 2014-B semester. Also, using Apache Point Observatory's ARCSAT 0.5m telescope, we performed observing runs of seven and ten nights centered on two separate periastron passaged of DQ Tau (orbital cycles 2 and 7 in Figure 1). (1 data file).

Multiwavelength studies of H II region NGC 2467

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadav, Ram Kesh; Pandey, A. K.; Sharma, Saurabh; Eswaraiah, C.

2013-06-01

We present the multiwavelength studies of the H II region Sh2-311 to explore the effects of massive stars on low-mass star formation. In this study we have used optical (UBVI) data from ESO 2.2m Wide Field Imager (WFI), Near-Infrared (NIR) (JHKs) data from CTIO 4m Blanco Telescope and archival Spitzer 8μm data. Based on stellar density contours and dust distribution we have divided the complex into three regions i.e., Haffner 19 (H19), Haffner 18 (H18) and NGC 2467. Using the UBVI data we have estimated the basic parameters of these regions. We have constructed the (J - H)/(H - Ks) color-color diagram and a J/(J - H) color-magnitude diagram to identify young stellar objects (YSOs) and to estimate their masses. Spatial distribution of the YSOs indicates that most of them are distributed at the periphery of the H II region and ionizing star may be responsible for the triggering of star formation at the periphery of the H II region.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Solar neighborhood. XXXIX. Nearby white dwarfs (Subasavage+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subasavage, J. P.; Jao, W.-C.; Henry, T. J.; Harris, H. C.; Dahn, C. C.; Bergeron, P.; Dufour, P.; Dunlap, B. H.; Barlow, B. N.; Ianna, P. A.; Lepine, S.; Margheim, S. J.

2017-10-01

Standardized photometric observations were carried out at three separate telescopes. The Small & Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) 0.9m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) was used during Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory Parallax Investigation (CTIOPI) observing runs when conditions were photometric. A Tektronics 2K*2K detector was used in region-of-interest mode centered on the central quarter of the full CCD producing a Field Of View (FOV) of 6.8'*6.8'. The SMARTS 1.0m telescope at CTIO was used with the Y4KCam 4K*4K imager, producing a 19.7'*19.7' FOV. Finally, the Ritchey 40-in telescope at USNO Flagstaff Station (NOFS) was used with a Tektronics 2K*2K detector with a 20.0'*20.0' FOV. Near-infrared JHKs photometry was collected for WD0851-246, at the CTIO 4.0 m Blanco telescope using the NEWFIRM during an engineering night on 2011.27 UT. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) Extremely Wide-field Infrared Image (NEWFIRM) is a 4K*4K InSb mosaic that provides a 28'*28' FOV on the Blanco telescope. Additional photometry values were extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR12 (Alam et al. 2015, Cat. V/147), 2MASS, and the United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) Infrared Sky Survey (UKIDSS) DR9 Large Area Survey (LAS; see Lawrence et al. 2012, Cat. II/319), when available. Two White Dwarfs (WDs) presented here (WD1743-545 and WD2057-493) are newly discovered nearby WDs identified during a spectroscopic survey of WD candidates in the southern hemisphere (J. Subasavage et al. 2017, in preparation) taken from the SUPERBLINK catalog (Lepine & Shara 2015ASPC..493..455S). A third WD included here (WD2307-691) was previously unclassified, yet is a common proper-motion companion to a Hipparcos star within 25pc (HIP114416). A fourth WD (WD2028-171) was suspected to be a WD by the authors based on a trawl of the New Luyten Two Tenths (NLTT) catalog (Luyten 1979, Cat. I/98). Finally, a fifth WD (WD1241-798) was first spectroscopically identified as a WD by Subasavage et al. (2008AJ....136..899S; Paper XX) but with an ambiguous spectral type of DC/DQ. The SOuthern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) 4m telescope with the Goodman spectrograph was used for spectroscopic follow up as part of a larger spectroscopic campaign to identify nearby WDs to be released in a future publication. Observations were taken with a 600 lines-per-mm VPH grating with a 1.0'' slit width to provide 2.1Å resolution in wavelength range of 3600Å-6200Å. Trigonometric parallax data acquisition and reduction techniques for the CTIOPI program are discussed fully in Jao et al. (2005AJ....129.1954J). In brief, the instrument setup and basic data calibrations are identical to those used for photometric observations (i.e., the SMARTS 0.9m telescope coupled with the central quarter of a Tektronics 2K*2K detector). A parallax target's reference field is determined upon first observation. We use one of the Johnson-Kron-Cousins VRI filters, selected to optimize the signal on the PI star and reference stars (the parallax filter), as well as to keep exposure times greater than ~30s and less than ~600s, when possible. Because of a damaged Tek 2 V filter (referred to as oV) that occurred in early 2005, the CTIOPI program used a comparable V filter (referred to as nV) from 2005 to mid-2009. The astrometry is affected by this change because the passbands were slightly different. It was determined empirically that trigonometric parallax determinations are sound if at least ~1-2 years of data are available both before and after the filter switch. However, subtle signals from a perturbing companion would not be reliable. In 2009, it was determined that the crack near the corner of the filter did not impact the FOV of the CTIOPI data, as only the central quarter of the CCD is used. Thus, a switch back to the original V (oV) was completed in mid-2009. U. S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS) astrometric data have been collected with the Kaj Strand 61-in Astrometric Reflector using three separate CCDs over the multiple decades that NOFS has measured stellar parallaxes. Initially, a Texas Instruments (TI) 800*800 (TI800) CCD, followed by a Tektronics 2048*2048 (Tek2K) CCD, and most recently an EEV (English Electric Valve, now e2v) 2048*4096 (EEV24) CCD were used. The latter two cameras are still in operation at NOFS for astrometric work and were used for all but two of the NOFS parallaxes presented here. The TI800 CCD was used to measure the parallaxes for WD0213+396 and WD1313-198. A total of four filters were used for astrometric work. ST-R (also known as STWIDER) is centered near 700nm with a FWHM of 250nm. A2-1 is an optically flat interference filter centered near 698nm with a FWHM of 172nm. I-2 is an optically flat interference filter centered near 810nm with a FWHM of 191nm. Z-2 is an optically flat 3mm thick piece of Schott RG830 glass that produces a relatively sharp blue-edge cutoff near 830nm and for which the red edge is defined by the CCD sensitivity. More details on the filters can be found in C. Dahn et al. (2017, in preparation). (8 data files).

Results from DESDM Pipeline on Data From Blanco Cosmology Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Desai, Shantanu; Mohr, J.; Armstrong, R.; Bertin, E.; Zenteno, A.; Tucker, D.; Song, J.; Ngeow, C.; Lin, H.; Bazin, G.; Liu, J.; Cosmology Survey, Blanco

2011-01-01

The Blanco Cosmology Survey (BCS) is a 60-night survey of the southern skies using the CTIO Blanco 4 m telescope, whose main goal to study cosmic acceleration using galaxy clusters. BCS has carried out observations in two 50 degree patches of the southern skies centered at 23 hr and 5 hr in griz bands. These fields were chosen to maximize overlap with the the South Pole Telescope. The data from this survey has been processed using the Dark energy Data Management System (DESDM) on Teragrid resources at NCSA and CCT. DESDM is developed to analyze data from the Dark Energy Survey, which begins around 2011 and analysis of real data provides valuable warmup exercise before the DES survey starts. We describe in detail the key steps in producing science ready catalogs from the raw data. This includes detrending, astrometric calibration, photometric calibration, co-addition with psf homogenization. The final catalogs are constructed using model-fitting photometry which includes detailed galaxy fitting models convolved with the local PSF. We illustrate how photometric redshifts of galaxy clusters are estimated using red-sequence fitting and show results from a few clusters.

Pre-Discovery Detection of ASASSN-18fv by Evryscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corbett, H.; Law, N.; Goeke, E.; Ratzloff, J.; Howard, W.; Fors, O.; del Ser, D.; Quimby, R. M.

2018-03-01

We have identified pre-discovery imaging of the probable classical nova ASASSN-18fv by Evryscope-South (http://evryscope.astro.unc.edu/), an array of 6-cm telescopes continuously monitoring 8000 square degrees of sky at 2-minute cadence from CTIO, Chile.

DEEP-South: Preliminary Photometric Results from the KMTNet-CTIO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Myung-Jin; Moon, Hong-Kyu; Choi, Young-Jun; Yim, Hong-Suh; Bae, Young-Ho; Roh, Dong-Goo; Park, Jin Tae; Moon, Bora

2016-01-01

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) successfully completed the development of Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet, Park et al. 2012) in mid-2015, following which it conducted test runs for several months. `DEep Ecliptic Patrol of the Southern sky' (DEEP-South, Moon et al. 2015), which will be used for asteroid and comet studies, will not only characterize targeted asteroids, carrying out blind surveys toward the sweet spots, but will also mine the data of such bodies using the KMTNet archive. We report preliminary lightcurves of four Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) from test runs at KMTNet-CTIO in the February - May 2015 period.

Sky Conditions | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments Meteorologica Chile (go to "Imágenes Satelitales" > "Tope de Nubes" > "Loop IR Coloreada") Latest GOES IR Satellite Images Latest GOES IR Satellite Images (New page with movie

hs-2007-16-e-full_jpg

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-03-01

Carina Nebula Details: The Caterpillar Credit for Hubble Image: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Credit for CTIO Image: N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley) and NOAO/AURA/NSF The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations. Goddard is responsible for HST project management, including mission and science operations, servicing missions, and all associated development activities. To learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope go here: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html

Site Protection Efforts at the AURA Observatory in Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, R. Chris; Smith, Malcolm G.; Sanhueza, Pedro

2015-08-01

The AURA Observatory (AURA-O) was the first of the major international observatories to be established in northern Chile to exploit the optimal astronomical conditions available there. The site was originally established in 1962 to host the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). It now hosts more than 20 operational telescopes, including some of the leading U.S. and international astronomical facilities in the southern hemisphere, such as the Blanco 4m telescope on Cerro Tololo and the Gemini-South and SOAR telescopes on Cerro Pachón. Construction of the next generation facility, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), has recently begun on Cerro Pachón, while additional smaller telescopes continue to be added to the complement on Cerro Tololo.While the site has become a major platform for international astronomical facilities over the last 50 years, development in the region has led to an ever-increasing threat of light pollution around the site. AURA-O has worked closely with local, regional, and national authorities and institutions (in particular with the Chilean Ministries of Environment and Foreign Relations) in an effort to protect the site so that future generations of telescopes, as well as future generations of Chileans, can benefit from the dark skies in the region. We will summarize our efforts over the past 15 years to highlight the importance of dark sky protection through education and public outreach as well as through more recent promotion of IDA certifications in the region and support for the World Heritage initiatives described by others in this conference.

Observations of Titan 3C-4 Transtage Fragmentation Debris

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowardin, Heather; Seitzer, P.; Abercromby, K.; Barker, E.; Cardona, T.; Krisko, P.; Lederer, S.

2013-01-01

The fragmentation of a Titan 3C-4 Transtage (1968-081) on 21 February 1992 is one of only two known break-ups in or near geosynchronous orbit. The original rocket body and 24 pieces of debris are currently being tracked by the US Space Surveillance Network (SSN). The rocket body (SSN# 3432) and several of the original fragments (SSN# 25000, 25001, 30000, and 33511) were observed in survey mode during 2004-2010 using the 0.6-m Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope (MODEST) in Chile using a broad R filter. This paper will present a size distribution for all calibrated magnitude data acquired on MODEST. Size distribution plots will also be shown using historical models for small fragmentation debris (down to 10 cm) believed to be associated with the Titan break-up. In November 2010, visible broadband photometry (Johnson/Kron-Cousins BVRI) was acquired with the 0.9-m Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile on several Titan fragments (SSN# 25001, 33509, 33510) and the parent rocket body. Color index data will be used to determine the fragment brightness distribution and how the data compares to spacecraft materials measured in the laboratory using similar photometric measurement techniques. In 2012, the SSN added 16 additional fragments to the catalogue. MODEST acquired magnitude data on ten Titan fragments in late 2012 and early 2013. The magnitude distribution of all the observed fragments are analyzed as a function of time. In order to better characterize the breakup fragments spectral measurements were acquired on the original rocket body and five Titan fragments using the 6.5-m Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The telescopic spectra are compared with laboratory acquired spectra of materials (e.g., Aluminum and various paints) and categorized based on known absorption features for spacecraft materials.

Minimum-Light Spectral Classifications for M-Type Mira Variables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wing, Robert F.

2015-08-01

Many bright, well-known Mira variables, including most of the 378 stars for which the AAVSO publishes predicted dates of maximum and minimum in its annual Bulletins, have never been spectroscopically observed close to the time of minimum light, and consequently their catalogued ranges in spectral type are often grossly and misleadingly under-represented. In an effort to improve this situation, for the past 12 years I have been using my 6-color system of narrow-band classification photometry to observe Miras predicted to be near minimum light at the times of my biannual observing runs with the CTIO 0.9-m telescope (operated by the SMARTS consortium). The 6-color system measures the 7100 A band of TiO, which serves to classify stars in the interval K4 to M8, and the 1.06 micron band of VO, which is effective for stars of type M8 and later. To date I have made 431 observations of approximately 220 different (and mostly southern) Miras. Examples are shown of the observed 6-color spectra, and the classifications derived from them.

The TERMS Project: Improved Orbital Parameters and Photometry of HD168443 and the Photometry Pipeline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pilyavsky, Genady; Mahadevan, S.; Kane, S. R.; Howard, A. W.; Ciardi, D. R.; de Pree, C.; Dragomir, D.; Fischer, D.; Henry, G. W.; Jensen, E. L. N.; Laughlin, G.; Marlowe, H.; Rabus, M.; von Braun, K.; Wright, J. T.; Wang, X.

2012-01-01

The discovery of transiting planets around bright stars holds the potential to greatly enhance our understanding of planetary atmospheres. The Transit Ephemeris Refinement and Monitoring Survey (TERMS) project focuses on updating the ephemerides of known exoplanets, put tighter constraints on the orbital parameters and shrink the large errors on the predicted transit windows, enabling photometric monitoring to search for a transit signature. Here, we present the revised orbital parameters and the photometric coverage during a predicted transit window of HD168443b, a massive planet orbiting the bright star HD 168443 (V = 6.92) with a period of 58.11 days. The high eccentricity of the planetary orbit (e = 0.53) significantly enhances the a-priori transit probability (3.7%) from what is expected for a circular orbit (2.5%). The transit ephemeris was updated using refined orbital parameters from additional Keck-HIRES radial velocities. The photometry obtained at the 1 m telescope in Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) and the T8 0.8 m Automated Photometric Telescope (APT) at Fairborn Observatory achieved the necessary millimag precision. The expected change in flux (0.5%) for HD168443 was not observed during the predicted transit window, thus allowing us to rule out the transit and put tighter constrains on the orbital inclination of HD168443b. Additionally, we present the software used to analyze the CTIO data. Developed by the TERMS team, this IDL based package is a fast, precise, and easy to use program which has eliminated the need for external software and command line prompts by utilizing the functionality of a graphical user interface (GUI).

MONSOON Image Acquisition System | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments flexible solution for the acquisition of pixel data from scientific CDD and IR detectors. The architecture requirements for both IR and CCD large focal planes that NOAO developed for instrumentation efforts in the

The Massive Progenitor of the Type II-linear Supernova 2009kr

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elias-Rosa, Nancy; Van Dyk, Schuyler D.; Li, Weidong; Miller, Adam A.; Silverman, Jeffrey M.; Ganeshalingam, Mohan; Boden, Andrew F.; Kasliwal, Mansi M.; Vinkó, József; Cuillandre, Jean-Charles; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Steele, Thea N.; Bloom, Joshua S.; Griffith, Christopher V.; Kleiser, Io K. W.; Foley, Ryan J.

2010-05-01

We present early-time photometric and spectroscopic observations of supernova (SN) 2009kr in NGC 1832. We find that its properties to date support its classification as Type II-linear (SN II-L), a relatively rare subclass of core-collapse supernovae (SNe). We have also identified a candidate for the SN progenitor star through comparison of pre-explosion, archival images taken with WFPC2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope with SN images obtained using adaptive optics plus NIRC2 on the 10 m Keck-II telescope. Although the host galaxy's substantial distance (~26 Mpc) results in large uncertainties in the relative astrometry, we find that if this candidate is indeed the progenitor, it is a highly luminous (M 0 V = -7.8 mag) yellow supergiant with initial mass ~18-24 M sun. This would be the first time that an SN II-L progenitor has been directly identified. Its mass may be a bridge between the upper initial mass limit for the more common Type II-plateau SNe and the inferred initial mass estimate for one Type II-narrow SN. Based in part on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), obtained from the Data Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS 05-26555; the 6.5 m Magellan Clay Telescope located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile; various telescopes at Lick Observatory; the 1.3 m PAIRITEL on Mt. Hopkins; the SMARTS Consortium 1.3 m telescope located at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Chile; the 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), which is operated by the National Research Council of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of France, and the University of Hawaii; and the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA, with generous financial support from the W. M. Keck Foundation.

The LCOGT Network for Solar System Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lister, Tim

2012-10-01

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) network is a planned homogeneous network of over 35 telescopes at 6 locations in the northern and southern hemispheres. This network is versatile and designed to respond rapidly to target of opportunity events and also to do long term monitoring of slowly changing astronomical phenomena. The global coverage of the network and the apertures of telescope available make LCOGT ideal for follow-up and characterization of Solar System objects (e.g. asteroids, Kuiper Belt Objects, comets, Near-Earth Objects (NEOs)) and ultimately for the discovery of new objects. Currently LCOGT is operating the two 2m Faulkes Telescopes at Haleakala, Maui and Siding Spring Observatory, Australia and in March 2012 completed the install of the first member of the new 1m telescope network at McDonald Observatory, Texas. Further deployments of six to eight 1m telescopes to CTIO in Chile, SAAO in South Africa and Siding Spring Observatory are expected in late 2012-early 2013. I am using the growing LCOGT network to confirm newly detected NEO candidates produced by PanSTARRS (PS1) and other sky surveys and to obtain follow-up astrometry and photometry for radar-targeted objects. I have developed an automated system to retrieve new PS1 NEOs, compute orbits, plan observations and automatically schedule them for follow-up on the robotic telescopes of the LCOGT Network. In the future, LCOGT has proposed to develop a Minor Planet Investigation Project (MPIP) that will address the existing lack of resources for minor planet follow-up, takes advantage of ever-increasing new datasets, and develops a platform for broad public participation in relevant scientific exploration. We plan to produce a cloud-based Solar System investigation environment, a citizen science project (AgentNEO), and a cyberlearning environment, all under the umbrella of MPIP.

Population and Star Formation Histories from the Outer Limits Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brondel, Brian Joseph; Saha, Abhijit; Olszewski, Edward

2015-08-01

The Outer Limits Survey (OLS) is a deep survey of selected fields in the outlying areas of the Magellanic Clouds based on the MOSAIC-II instrument on the Blanco 4-meter Telescope at CTIO. OLS is designed to probe the outer disk and halo structures of Magellanic System. The survey comprises ~50 fields obtained in Landolt R, I and Washington C, M and DDO51 filters, extending to a depth of about 24th magnitude in I. While qualitative examination of the resulting data has yielded interesting published results, we report here on quantitative analysis through matching of Hess diagrams to theoretical isochrones. We present analysis based on techniques developed by Dolphin (e.g., 2002, MNRAS, 332, 91) for fields observed by OLS. Our results broadly match those found by qualitative examination of the CMDs, but interesting details emerge from isochrone fitting.

Ultraviolet and optical spectral morphology of Melnick 42 and Radcliffe 136a in 30 Doradus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walborn, Nolan R.; Ebbets, Dennis C.; Parker, Joel WM.; Nichols-Bohlin, Joy; White, Richard L.

1992-01-01

HST/GHRS ultraviolet spectrograms of the individual O3 If*/WN6-A object Mk 42 in 30 Dor and the adjacent, central multiple system R136a are compared with each other and with an appropriate sequence of O3 If* and WN6-A standards from the IUE archive. The analogous spectral montages covering the blue-violet regino, based on new, homogeneous, digital observations of the same stars with the CTIO 4 m telescope, are also presented. These comparisons show clearly the intermediate O3/WN nature of the Mk 42 spectrum, in terms of both emission-line strength (increasing with envelope density) and stellar-wind velocity (decreasing with envelope density). It is also shown that R136a possesses stronger WN spectral characteristics than Mk 42, in agreement with HST narrow-band imaging by the WF/PC Team.

DEEP-South: Preliminary Lightcurves of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids from the First Year Operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moon, Hong-Kyu; Kim, Myung-Jin; Choi, Young-Jun; Yim, Hong-Suh; Park, Jintae; Roh, Dong-Goo; Lee, Hee-Jae; Oh, Young-Seok; Bae, Young-Ho

2016-10-01

Deep Ecliptic Patrol of the Southern Sky (DEEP-South) observation is being made during the off-season for exoplanet search. It started in October 2015, using Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), a network of three identical telescopes with 1.6 m aperture equipped with 18K × 18K CCDs located in Chile (CTIO), South Africa (SAAO), and Australia (SSO). The combination of KMTNet's prime focus optics and the 340 million pixel CCD provides four square degree field of view with 0.4 arcsec/pixel plate scale.Most of the allocated time for DEEP-South is devoted to targeted photometry of PHAs and NEAs to increase the number of those objects with known physical properties. It is efficiently achieved by multiband, time series photometry. This Opposition Census (OC) mode targets objects near their opposition, with km-sized PHAs in early stage and goes down to sub-km objects. Continuous monitoring of the sky with KMTNEt is optimized for spin characterization of various kinds of asteroids, including binaries, slow/fast- and non-principal axis- rotators, and hence expected to facilitate the debiasing of previously reported lightcurve observations. We present the preliminary lightcurves of PHAs from year one of the DEEP-South Project.

The Robotic Hugo E. Schwarz Telescope | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications of a new electronic drive system for the mount, and the second, dedicate to re-design the dome

The LCOGT Observation Portal, Data Pipeline and Science Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lister, Tim; LCOGT Science Archive Team

2014-01-01

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) is building and deploying a world-wide network of optical telescopes dedicated to time-domain astronomy. During 2012-2013, we successfully deployed and commissioned nine new 1m telescopes at McDonald Observatory (Texas), CTIO (Chile), SAAO (South Africa) and Siding Spring Observatory (Australia). New, improved cameras and additional telescopes will be deployed during 2014. To enable the diverse LCOGT user community of scientific and educational users to request observations on the LCOGT Network and to see their progress and get access to their data, we have developed an Observation Portal system. This Observation Portal integrates proposal submission and observation requests with seamless access to the data products from the data pipelines in near-realtime and long-term products from the Science Archive. We describe the LCOGT Observation Portal and the data pipeline, currently in operation, which makes use of the ORAC-DR automated recipe-based data reduction pipeline and illustrate some of the new data products. We also present the LCOGT Science Archive, which is being developed in partnership with the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) and show some of the new features the Science Archive provides.

KMTNET: A Network of 1.6 m Wide-Field Optical Telescopes Installed at Three Southern Observatories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Seung-Lee; Lee, Chung-Uk; Park, Byeong-Gon; Kim, Dong-Jin; Cha, Sang-Mok; Lee, Yongseok; Han, Cheongho; Chun, Moo-Young; Yuk, Insoo

2016-02-01

The Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) is a wide-field photometric system installed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). Here, we present the overall technical specifications of the KMTNet observation system, test observation results, data transfer and image processing procedure, and finally, the KMTNet science programs. The system consists of three 1.6 m wide-field optical telescopes equipped with mosaic CCD cameras of 18k by 18k pixels. Each telescope provides a 2.0 by 2.0 square degree field of view. We have finished installing all three telescopes and cameras sequentially at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in South Africa, and the Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) in Australia. This network of telescopes, which is spread over three different continents at a similar latitude of about -30 degrees, enables 24-hour continuous monitoring of targets observable in the Southern Hemisphere. The test observations showed good image quality that meets the seeing requirement of less than 1.0 arcsec in I-band. All of the observation data are transferred to the KMTNet data center at KASI via the international network communication and are processed with the KMTNet data pipeline. The primary scientific goal of the KMTNet is to discover numerous extrasolar planets toward the Galactic bulge by using the gravitational microlensing technique, especially earth-mass planets in the habitable zone. During the non-bulge season, the system is used for wide-field photometric survey science on supernovae, asteroids, and external galaxies.

Properties of RR Lyrae stars in the inner regions of the Large Magellanic Cloud. III. Near-infrared study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borissova, J.; Rejkuba, M.; Minniti, D.; Catelan, M.; Ivanov, V. D.

2009-08-01

Context: RR Lyrae variable stars are the primary Population II distance indicator. Likewise, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) constitutes a key step in the extragalactic distance scale. Aims: By combining near-IR photometry and spectroscopically measured metallicities for a homogeneous sample of 50 RR Lyr stars in the LMC, we investigate the metallicity dependence of the period-luminosity relation in the near-infrared (IR), use the newly derived relations to re-derive the distance to the LMC, and compare the distance moduli obtained from RR Lyr and red clump stars. Methods: This paper presents new (single-epoch) J-band and (multi-epoch) K_s-band photometry of RR Lyr stars in 7 different LMC fields, observed with the near-IR camera SOFI at ESO's New Technology Telescope. Additional K_s-band data for another two LMC fields were taken with the ISPI infrared array at CTIO's Blanco 4m telescope. The near-IR photometry was cross-correlated with the MACHO and OGLE databases, resulting in a catalog of 62 RR Lyr stars with BVRIJKs photometry. A subsample of 50 stars also has spectroscopically measured metallicities. Results: In the deep JK color-magnitude diagrams of 7 fields, red giant branch, red clump and RR Lyr stars are detected. The majority of RR Lyr stars are located within the instability strip with near-IR colors between 0.14 ≤ (J-K_s)_0<0.32. The period-luminosity relation only has a very mild dependence on metallicity in the K band, consistent with no dependence: MKs =2.11(± 0.17) log{P} + 0.05(± 0.07) [Fe/H] - 1.05. In the J band the currently available data do not allow firm conclusions regarding the metallicity dependence of the period-luminosity relation. Conclusions: The distance modulus of the LMC, derived using our near-IR period-luminosity-metallicity relation for RR Lyr stars, is (m-M)_0=18.53 ± 0.13, in very good agreement with the distance modulus from the red clump stars, 18.46 ± 0.07. However, LMC modulus derived from the RR Lyrae stars depends on the parallax of the star RR Lyrae. Based on observations collected with European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and New Technology Telescope, under programs 64.N-0176(B), 70.B-0547(A), and 072.D-0106(B) with the Blanco telescope at CTIO, under ISPI Prop. No. 0101; and at Gemini Observatory (observing program GS-2004A-Q-27), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (Brazil), and SECYT (Argentina). Table of the individual KS measurements with dates is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/502/505

Interpenetrated Networks between Graphitic Carbon Infilling and Ultrafine TiO2 Nanocrystals with Patterned Macroporous Structure for High-Performance Lithium Ion Batteries.

PubMed

Zheng, Wenji; Yan, Zhijun; Dai, Yan; Du, Naixu; Jiang, Xiaobin; Dai, Hailing; Li, Xiangcun; He, Gaohong

2017-06-21

Interpenetrated networks between graphitic carbon infilling and ultrafine TiO 2 nanocrystals with patterned macropores (100-200 nm) were successfully synthesized. Polypyrrole layer was conformably coated on the primary TiO 2 nanoparticles (∼8 nm) by a photosensitive reaction and was then transformed into carbon infilling in the interparticle mesopores of the TiO 2 nanoparticles. Compared to the carbon/graphene supported TiO 2 nanoparticles or carbon coated TiO 2 nanostructures, the carbon infilling would provide a conductive medium and buffer layer for volume expansion of the encapsulated TiO 2 nanoparticles, thus enhancing conductivity and cycle stability of the C-TiO 2 anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). In addition, the macropores with diameters of 100-200 nm in the C-TiO 2 anode and the mesopores in carbon infilling could improve electrolyte transportation in the electrodes and shorten the lithium ion diffusion length. The C-TiO 2 electrode can provide a large capacity of 192.8 mA h g -1 after 100 cycles at 200 mA g -1 , which is higher than those of the pure macroporous TiO 2 electrode (144.8 mA h g -1 ), C-TiO 2 composite electrode without macroporous structure (128 mA h g -1 ), and most of the TiO 2 based electrodes in the literature. Importantly, the C-TiO 2 electrode exhibits a high rate performance and still delivers a high capacity of ∼140 mA h g -1 after 1000 cycles at 1000 mA g -1 (∼5.88 C), suggesting good lithium storage properties of the macroporous C-TiO 2 composites with high capacity, cycle stability, and rate capability. This work would be instructive for designing hierarchical porous TiO 2 based anodes for high-performance LIBs.

Exploring the Milky Way Disk Abundance Transition Zone Rgc 10 kpc with Open Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobson, Heather R.; Friel, E.; Pilachowski, C.

2009-01-01

Recent studies of the radial chemical abundance distribution among stellar populations in the Galactic disk have shown a change in the abundance trend at galactocentric distance Rgc 10 kpc, as first noted by Twarog et al. (1997). Here the gradient in [Fe/H] with distance appears to vanish, with abundances of stars at greater distances dropping to [Fe/H] -0.3, independent of galactocentric distance. Much is still unknown about the exact nature of the transition from inner to outer disk, and it is still uncertain if the outer disk has had a distinct evolutionary history from that of the inner disk. While current chemical evolution models can well match the outer disk abundances (Cescutti et al. 2007), abundances of many more stars at Rgc 9-12 kpc must be determined to better characterize the nature of the transition from inner to outer disk. We have initiated a survey of abundances of 20 open clusters in this region using spectroscopy obtained with the WIYN, KPNO 4m, CTIO 4m and Hobby-Eberly telescopes. Chemical abundances are determined for Fe, O, Na, and alpha-elements, among others. Results for the survey to date are presented here.

"A Bright Supernova Discovered in the Nearby Galaxy NGC 5128" | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments in Cen A. In the near IR the luminous nucleus - the bright fuzzy object - of Cen A is prominent IR the luminous nucleus - the bright fuzzy object - of Cen A is prominent, while in the u band it is

You can see galaxies from your computer | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Calendar Activities NOAO-S EPO Programs CADIAS Astro Chile Hugo E. Schwarz Telescope Dark Sky Education Preserving the Dark Skies La Oficina de Protección de la Calidad del Cielo del Norte de Chile - OPCC Light Pollution StarLight Universe The World at Night (TWAN) International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) Students REU

MOLECULAR AND IONIZED HYDROGEN IN 30 DORADUS. I. IMAGING OBSERVATIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yeh, Sherry C. C.; Seaquist, Ernest R.; Matzner, Christopher D.

2015-07-10

We present the first fully calibrated H{sub 2} 1–0 S(1) image of the entire 30 Doradus nebula. The observations were conducted using the NOAO Extremely Wide-field Infrared Imager (NEWFIRM) on the CTIO 4 m Blanco Telescope. Together with a NEWFIRM Brγ image of 30 Doradus, our data reveal the morphologies of the warm molecular gas and ionized gas in 30 Doradus. The brightest H{sub 2}-emitting area, which extends from the northeast to the southwest of R136, is a photodissociation region (PDR) viewed face-on, while many clumps and pillar features located at the outer shells of 30 Doradus are PDRs viewedmore » edge-on. Based on the morphologies of H{sub 2}, Brγ, CO, and 8 μm emission, the H{sub 2} to Brγ line ratio, and Cloudy models, we find that the H{sub 2} emission is formed inside the PDRs of 30 Doradus, 2–3 pc to the ionization front of the H ii region, in a relatively low-density environment <10{sup 4} cm{sup −3}. Comparisons with Brγ, 8 μm, and CO emission indicate that H{sub 2} emission is due to fluorescence, and provide no evidence for shock excited emission of this line.« less

Substellar objects in nearby young clusters (SONYC). VIII. Substellar population in Lupus 3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mužić, Koraljka; Scholz, Alexander; Geers, Vincent C.

2014-04-20

SONYC—Substellar Objects in Nearby Young Clusters—is a survey program to investigate the frequency and properties of substellar objects in nearby star-forming regions. We present a new imaging and spectroscopic survey conducted in the young (∼1 Myr), nearby (∼200 pc) star-forming region Lupus 3. Deep optical and near-infrared images were obtained with MOSAIC-II and NEWFIRM at the CTIO 4 m telescope, covering ∼1.4 deg{sup 2} on the sky. The i-band completeness limit of 20.3 mag is equivalent to 0.009-0.02 M {sub ☉}, for A{sub V} ≤ 5. Photometry and 11-12 yr baseline proper motions were used to select candidate low-mass membersmore » of Lupus 3. We performed a spectroscopic follow-up of 123 candidates, using VIMOS at the Very Large Telescope, and we identify 7 probable members, among which 4 have spectral type later than M6.0 and T {sub eff} ≤ 3000 K, i.e., are probably substellar in nature. Two of the new probable members of Lupus 3 appear underluminous for their spectral class and exhibit emission line spectrum with strong H{sub α} or forbidden lines associated with active accretion. We derive a relation between the spectral type and effective temperature: T {sub eff} = (4120 ± 175) – (172 ± 26) × SpT, where SpT refers to the M spectral subtype between 1 and 9. Combining our results with the previous works on Lupus 3, we show that the spectral type distribution is consistent with that in other star-forming regions, as well as the derived star-to-brown dwarf ratio of 2.0-3.3. We compile a census of all spectroscopically confirmed low-mass members with spectral type M0 or later.« less

Multiple Absorption Components in the Post-Periastron He I P Cygni Absorption Troughs of Eta Carinae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richardson, Noel D.; Damineli, Augusto; Gull, Ted; Moffat, Anthony; Groh, Jose; St.-Jean, Lucas; Walter, Frederick M.; Teodoro, Mairan; Madura, Tom; Corcoran, Michael;

Characterization of Orbital Debris Photometric Properties Derived from Laboratory-Based Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowardin, H.; Abercromby, K.; Barker, E.; Seitzer, P.; Schildknecht, T.

2010-01-01

To better characterize and model optical data acquired from ground-based telescopes, the Optical Measurements Center (OMC) at NASA/JSC attempts to emulate illumination conditions seen in space using equipment and techniques that parallel telescopic observations and source-target-sensor orientations. The OMC uses a 75 Watt Xenon arc lamp as a solar simulator, an SBIG CCD camera with standard Johnson/Bessel filters, and a robotic arm to simulate an object's position and rotation. The laboratory uses known shapes, materials suspected to be consistent with the orbital debris population, and three phase angles to best match the lighting conditions of the telescope based data. The fourteen objects studied in the laboratory are fragments or materials acquired through ground-tests of scaled-model satellites/rocket bodies as well as material samples in more/less "flight-ready" condition. All fragments were measured at 10 increments in a full 360 rotation at 6 , 36 , and 60 phase angles. This paper will investigate published color photometric data for a series of orbital debris targets and compare it to the empirical photometric measurements generated in the OMC. Using the data acquired over specific rotational angles through different filters (B, V, R, I), a color index is acquired (B-R, R-I). Using these values and their associated lightcurves, this laboratory data is compared to observational data obtained on the 1 m telescope of the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AUIB), the 0.9 m operated by the Small- and Medium-Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) Consortium and the Curtis-Schmidt 0.6 m Michigan Orbital Debris Space Debris Telescope both located at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). An empirical based optical characterization model will be presented to provide preliminary correlations between laboratory based and telescope-based data in the context of classification of GEO debris objects.

HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGING OF THE ATLBS REGIONS: THE RADIO SOURCE COUNTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thorat, K.; Subrahmanyan, R.; Saripalli, L.

2013-01-01

The Australia Telescope Low-brightness Survey (ATLBS) regions have been mosaic imaged at a radio frequency of 1.4 GHz with 6'' angular resolution and 72 {mu}Jy beam{sup -1} rms noise. The images (centered at R.A. 00{sup h}35{sup m}00{sup s}, decl. -67 Degree-Sign 00'00'' and R.A. 00{sup h}59{sup m}17{sup s}, decl. -67 Degree-Sign 00'00'', J2000 epoch) cover 8.42 deg{sup 2} sky area and have no artifacts or imaging errors above the image thermal noise. Multi-resolution radio and optical r-band images (made using the 4 m CTIO Blanco telescope) were used to recognize multi-component sources and prepare a source list; the detection thresholdmore » was 0.38 mJy in a low-resolution radio image made with beam FWHM of 50''. Radio source counts in the flux density range 0.4-8.7 mJy are estimated, with corrections applied for noise bias, effective area correction, and resolution bias. The resolution bias is mitigated using low-resolution radio images, while effects of source confusion are removed by using high-resolution images for identifying blended sources. Below 1 mJy the ATLBS counts are systematically lower than the previous estimates. Showing no evidence for an upturn down to 0.4 mJy, they do not require any changes in the radio source population down to the limit of the survey. The work suggests that automated image analysis for counts may be dependent on the ability of the imaging to reproduce connecting emission with low surface brightness and on the ability of the algorithm to recognize sources, which may require that source finding algorithms effectively work with multi-resolution and multi-wavelength data. The work underscores the importance of using source lists-as opposed to component lists-and correcting for the noise bias in order to precisely estimate counts close to the image noise and determine the upturn at sub-mJy flux density.« less

VizieR Online Data Catalog: COSMOS Multi-Wavelength Photometry Catalog (Capak+, 2007)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capak, P.; Aussel, H.; Ajiki, M.; McCracken, H. J.; Mobasher, B.; Scoville, N.; Shopbell, P.; Taniguchi, Y.; Thompson, D.; Tribiano, S.; Sasaki, S.; Blain, A. W.; Brusa, M.; Carilli, C.; Comastri, A.; Carollo, C. M.; Cassata, P.; Colbert, J.; Ellis, R. S.; Elvis, M.; Giavalisco, M.; Green, W.; Guzzo, L.; Hasinger, G.; Ilbert, O.; Impey, C.; Jahnke, K.; Kartaltepe, J.; Kneib, J.-P.; Koda, J.; Koekemoer, A.; Komiyama, Y.; Leauthaud, A.; Lefevre, O.; Lilly, S.; Liu, C.; Massey, R.; Miyazaki, S.; Murayama, T.; Nagao, T.; Peacock, J. A.; Pickles, A.; Porciani, C.; Renzini, A.; Rhodes, J.; Rich, M.; Salvato, M.; Sanders, D. B.; Scarlata, C.; Schiminovich, D.; Schinnerer, E.; Scodeggio, M.; Sheth, K.; Shioya, Y.; Tasca, L. A. M.; Taylor, J. E.; Yan, L.; Zamorani, G.

2008-03-01

The present COSMOS data were collected on a variety of telescopes and instruments, as well as from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) second data release (DR2) archive (u, g, r, i, z) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST, F814W). This paper covers the processing of the data obtained with Suprime-Cam on the Subaru 8.3m telescope (Bj, Vj, g+, r+, i+, z+, NB816), Megaprime on the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT, u*, i*), FLAMINGOS on the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO, Ks) 4m telescope, and the Infrared Side Port Imager on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO, Ks) 4m telescope during the 2004-2005 observing season. The COSMOS I band catalog is an I band selected multi-color catalog for 2 square degrees centered on the COSMOS field at 10:00:28.6, +02:12:21. The total magnitude (SExtractor mag_auto) for a source must have an AB magnitude of less than i+<25 to appear in the archival catalog. All photometry is in the AB magnitude system and measured in a 3 arc second aperture on PSF-matched images unless otherwise noted. A magnitude of -99 indicates a photometric measurement was not possible due to lack of data, a large number of bad pixels, or saturation. A magnitude of 99.0 indicates no detection. In the case of no detection the error given for the object is the 1 sigma limiting magnitude at the position of the souce. The photometry is as measured on the images with no corrections applied. We recommend applying the magnitude offsets in the paper to obtain the best possible photometry. More details on the photometry are available in the paper. The Photometric Redshifts included in this catalog are described in Mobasher et al. (2007ApJS..172..117M) and have an accuracy of dz/(1+z)<0.031 at z<1.2 and I<24. It is important to pay attention to the flag columns at the end of the catalog. The cleanest catalog will have all flags set to 0. The photometry flags indicate the area of the photometry aperture, in square arc seconds, which is in a masked region. A flag of 1 indicates 14 percent of the aperture is masked, so any flagged object should be carefully checked. Objects with a de-blending flag set to 1 are potentially spurious and should not be used for statistical studies. However, the photometry for real sources with a de-blending flag set to 1 is good if they fall outside of masked region. (1 data file).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: COSMOS Multi-Wavelength Photometry Catalog (Capak+, 2007)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capak, P.; Aussel, H.; Ajiki, M.; McCracken, H. J.; Mobasher, B.; Scoville, N.; Shopbell, P.; Taniguchi, Y.; Thompson, D.; Tribiano, S.; Sasaki, S.; Blain, A. W.; Brusa, M.; Carilli, C.; Comastri, A.; Carollo, C. M.; Cassata, P.; Colbert, J.; Ellis, R. S.; Elvis, M.; Giavalisco, M.; Green, W.; Guzzo, L.; Hasinger, G.; Ilbert, O.; Impey, C.; Jahnke, K.; Kartaltepe, J.; Kneib, J.-P.; Koda, J.; Koekemoer, A.; Komiyama, Y.; Leauthaud, A.; Lefevre, O.; Lilly, S.; Liu, C.; Massey, R.; Miyazaki, S.; Murayama, T.; Nagao, T.; Peacock, J. A.; Pickles, A.; Porciani, C.; Renzini, A.; Rhodes, J.; Rich, M.; Salvato, M.; Sanders, D. B.; Scarlata, C.; Schiminovich, D.; Schinnerer, E.; Scodeggio, M.; Sheth, K.; Shioya, Y.; Tasca, L. A. M.; Taylor, J. E.; Yan, L.; Zamorani, G.

2008-03-01

The present COSMOS data were collected on a variety of telescopes and instruments, as well as from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) second data release (DR2) archive (u, g, r, i, z) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST, F814W). This paper covers the processing of the data obtained with Suprime-Cam on the Subaru 8.3m telescope (Bj, Vj, g+, r+, i+, z+, NB816), Megaprime on the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT, u*, i*), FLAMINGOS on the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO, Ks) 4m telescope, and the Infrared Side Port Imager on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO, Ks) 4m telescope during the 2004-2005 observing season. The COSMOS I band catalog is an I band selected multi-color catalog for 2 square degrees centered on the COSMOS field at 10:00:28.6, +02:12:21. The total magnitude (SExtractor mag_auto) for a source must have an AB magnitude of less than i+<25 to appear in the archival catalog. All photometry is in the AB magnitude system and measured in a 3" aperture on PSF-matched images unless otherwise noted. A magnitude of -99 indicates a photometric measurement was not possible due to lack of data, a large number of bad pixels, or saturation. A magnitude of 99.0 indicates no detection. In the case of no detection the error given for the object is the 1 sigma limiting magnitude at the position of the source. The photometry is as measured on the images with no corrections applied. We recommend applying the magnitude offsets in the paper to obtain the best possible photometry. More details on the photometry are available in the paper. The Photometric Redshifts included in this catalog are described in Mobasher et al. (2007ApJS..172..117M) and have an accuracy of dz/(1+z)<0.031 at z<1.2 and I<24. It is important to pay attention to the flag columns at the end of the catalog. The cleanest catalog will have all flags set to 0. The photometry flags indicate the area of the photometry aperture, in square arc seconds, which is in a masked region. A flag of 1 indicates 14 percent of the aperture is masked, so any flagged object should be carefully checked. Objects with a de-blending flag set to 1 are potentially spurious and should not be used for statistical studies. However, the photometry for real sources with a de-blending flag set to 1 is good if they fall outside of masked region. (1 data file).

New High-z BL Lacs Using the Photometric Method with Swift and SARA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaur, A.; Rau, A.; Ajello, M.; Domínguez, A.; Paliya, V. S.; Greiner, J.; Hartmann, D. H.; Schady, P.

2018-06-01

BL Lacertae (BL Lac) objects are prominent members of the third Fermi Large Area Telescope catalog of γ-ray sources. Half of the members of the BL Lac population (∼300) lack redshift measurements, which is due to the absence of lines in their optical spectra, thereby making it difficult to utilize spectroscopic methods. Our photometric dropout technique can be used to establish the redshift for a fraction of these sources. This work employed six filters mounted on the Swift-UVOT and four optical filters on two telescopes, the 0.65 m SARA-CTIO in Chile and 1.0 m SARA-ORM in the Canary Islands, Spain. A sample of 15 sources was extracted from the Swift archival data for which six filter UVOT observations were conducted. By complementing the Swift observations with the SARA ones, we were able to discover two high-redshift sources: 3FGL J1155.4-3417 and 3FGL J1156.7–2250 at z={1.83}-0.13+0.10 and z={1.73}-0.19+0.11, respectively, resulting from the dropouts in the power-law template fits to these data. The discoveries add to the important (26 total) sample of high-redshift BL Lacs. While the sample of high-z BL Lacs is still rather small, these objects do not seem to fit well within known schemes of the blazar population and represent the best probes of the extragalactic background light.

NRES: The Network of Robotic Echelle Spectrographs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siverd, Robert; Brown, Timothy M.; Henderson, Todd; Hygelund, John; Barnes, Stuart; Bowman, Mark; De Vera, Jon; Eastman, Jason D.; Kirby, Annie; Norbury, Martin; Smith, Cary; Taylor, Brook; Tufts, Joseph; Van Eyken, Julian C.

2017-06-01

Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is building the Network of Robotic Echelle Spectrographs (NRES), which will consist of four to six identical, optical (390 - 860 nm) high-precision spectrographs, each fiber-fed simultaneously by up to two 1-meter telescopes and a Thorium-Argon calibration source. We plan to install one at up to 6 observatory sites in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, creating a single, globally-distributed, autonomous spectrograph facility using up to ten 1-m telescopes. Simulations suggest we will achieve long-term radial velocity precision of 3 m/s in less than an hour for stars brighter than V = 11 or 12. Following a few months of on-sky evaluation at our BPL test facility, the first spectrograph unit was shipped to CTIO in late 2016 and installed in March 2017. Barring serious complications, we expect regular scheduled science observing to begin in mid-2017. Three additional units are in building or testing phases and slated for deployment in late 2017. Acting in concert, these four spectrographs will provide a new, unique facility for stellar characterization and precise radial velocities. We will briefly overview the LCO telescope network, the NRES spectrograph design, the advantages it provides, and development challenges we encountered along the way. We will further discuss real-world performance from our first unit, initial science results, and the ongoing software development effort needed to automate such a facility for a wide array of science cases.

Optical Observations of Space Debris

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seitzer, Patrick; Abercromby, Kira; Rodriquez, Heather; Barker, Edwin S.; Kelecy, Thomas

2008-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the use of optical telescopes to observe space debris. .It will present a brief review of how the survey is conducted, and what some of the significant results encompass. The goal is to characterize the population of debris objects at GEO, with emphasis on the faint object population. Because the survey observations extend over a very short arc (5 minutes), a full six parameter orbit can not be determined. Recently we have begun to use a second telescope, the 0.9-m at CTIO, as a chase telescope to do follow-up observations of potential GEO debris candidates found by MODEST. With a long enough sequence of observations, a full six-parameter orbit including eccentricity can be determined. The project has used STK since inception for planning observing sessions based on the distribution of bright cataloged objects and the anti-solar point (to avoid eclipse). Recently, AGI's Orbit Determination Tool Kit (ODTK) has been used to determine orbits, including the effects of solar radiation pressure. Since an unknown fraction of the faint debris at GEO has a high area-to-mass ratio (A/M), the orbits are perturbed significantly by solar radiation. The ODTK analysis results indicate that temporal variations in the solar perturbations, possibly due to debris orientation dynamics, can be estimated in the OD process. Additionally, the best results appear to be achieved when solar forces orthogonal to the object-Sun line are considered. Determining the A/M of individual objects and the distribution of A/M values of a large sample of debris is important to understanding the total population of debris at GEO

Carina Nebula Detail

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Carina Nebula Details: Great Clouds Credit for Hubble Image: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Credit for CTIO Image: N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley) and NOAO/AURA/NSF The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations. Goddard is responsible for HST project management, including mission and science operations, servicing missions, and all associated development activities. To learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope go here: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook

Observations of Titan IIIC Transtage Fragmentation Debris

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowardin, Heather; Seitzer, P.; Abercromby, K.; Barker, E.; Buckalew, B.; Cardona, T.; Krisko, P.; Lederer, S.

2013-01-01

The fragmentation of a Titan IIIC Transtage (1968-081) on 21 February 1992 is one of only two known break-ups in or near geosynchronous orbit. The original rocket body and 24 pieces of debris are currently being tracked by the U. S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN). The rocket body (SSN# 3432) and several of the original fragments (SSN# 25000, 25001, 30000, and 33511) were observed in survey mode during 2004-2010 using the 0.6-m Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope (MODEST) in Chile using a broad R filter. This paper presents a size distribution for all calibrated magnitude data acquired on MODEST. Size distribution plots are also shown using historical models for small fragmentation debris (down to 10 cm) thought to be associated with the Titan Transtage break-up. In November 2010, visible broadband photometry (Johnson/Kron-Cousins BVRI) was acquired with the 0.9-m Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile on several Titan fragments (SSN 25001, 33509, and 33510) and the parent rocket body (SSN 3432). Color index data are used to determine the fragment brightness distribution and how the data compares to spacecraft materials measured in the laboratory using similar photometric measurement techniques. In order to better characterize the break-up fragments, spectral measurements were acquired on three Titan fragments (one fragment observed over two different time periods) using the 6.5-m Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The telescopic spectra of SSN 25000 (May 2012 and January 2013), SSN 38690, and SSN 38699 are compared with laboratory acquired spectra of materials (e.g., aluminum and various paints) to determine the surface material.

Observations of Titan IIIC Transtage Fragmentation Debris

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowardin, H.; Buckalew, B.; Barker, E.; Abercromby, K.; Seitzer, P.; Cardona, T.; Krisko, P.; Lederer, S.

2013-09-01

The fragmentation of a Titan IIIC Transtage (1968-081) on 21 February 1992 is one of only two known break-ups in or near geosynchronous orbit. The original rocket body and 24 pieces of debris are currently being tracked by the U. S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN). The rocket body (SSN# 3432) and several of the original fragments (SSN# 25000, 25001, 30000, and 33511) were observed in survey mode during 2004-2010 using the 0.6 m Michigan Orbital DEbris Survey Telescope (MODEST) in Chile using a broad R filter. This paper presents a size distribution for all calibrated magnitude data acquired on MODEST. Size distribution plots are also shown using historical models for small fragmentation debris (down to 10 cm) thought to be associated with the Titan Transtage break-up. In November 2010, visible broadband photometry (Johnson/Kron-Cousins BVRI) was acquired with the 0.9 m Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile on several Titan fragments (SSN 25001, 33509, and 33510) and the parent rocket body (SSN 3432). Color index data are used to determine the fragment brightness distribution and how the data compares to spacecraft materials measured in the laboratory using similar photometric measurement techniques. In order to better characterize the break-up fragments, spectral measurements were acquired on three Titan fragments (one fragment observed over two different time periods) using the 6.5-m Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The telescopic spectra of SSN 25000 (May 2012 and January 2013), SSN 38690, and SSN 38699 are compared with laboratory acquired spectra of materials (e.g., aluminum and various paints) to determine the surface material.

Erratum: "Meeting the Cool Neighbors. X. Ultracool Dwarfs from the 2MASS All-Sky Data Release" (2008, AJ, 136, 1290)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reid, I. Neill; Cruz, Kelle L.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Allen, Peter R.; Mungall, F.; Liebert, James; Lowrance, Patrick; Sweet, Anne

2008-11-01

IOP Publishing sincerely regrets that an error was made in the acknowledgements section of this article. This has been amended in the online journal and the corrected text is reproduced below. The NStars research described in this paper was partially supported by a grant awarded as part of the NASA Space Interferometry Mission Science Program, administered by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. Support for K.L.C. is provided by NASA through the Spitzer Space Telescope Fellowship Program, through a contract issued by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA. P.R.A. acknowledges support from grant NAG5-11627 to Kevin Luhman from the NASA Long-Term Space Astrophysics program. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation. We acknowledge use of the NASA/IPAC Infrared Source Archive (IRSA), which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA. We also acknowledge making extensive use of the SIMBAD database, maintained by Strasbourg Observatory, and of the ADS bibliographic service. This research has made extensive use of the M-, L-, and T-dwarf compendium housed at DwarfArchives.org and maintained by Chris Gelino, Davy Kirkpatrick, and Adam Burgasser. This program has also profited from extensive allocations of telescope time at both Kitt Peak Observatory and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). We thank the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) Telescope Allocation Committees for their support of this project and acknowledge the courteous and efficient assistance of the technical support staff: John Glaspey, Darryl Willmarth, Diane Harmer, Bill Gillespie, Hillary Mathis, and Hal Halbedel at KPNO, and Alberto Alvarez, Angel Guerra, and Patricio Ugarte at CTIO. We apologize to the authors of the article and to readers of the journal for this unfortunate error.

Optical Positions of ICRF Sources from CTIO 1.0M Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

proyecto del USNO para enlazar los sistemas de referencia en radio y óptico, se tomaron datos con el telescopio CTIO de 1.0 m in 2009. Los primeros...subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE...AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for public release; distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES RevMexAA (Serie de Conferencias), 46, 83â\\ග (2015) 14

Rotational Study of Ambiguous Taxonomic Classified Asteroids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linder, Tyler R.; Sanchez, Rick; Wuerker, Wolfgang; Clayson, Timothy; Giles, Tucker

2017-01-01

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) moving object catalog (MOC4) provided the largest ever catalog of asteroid spectrophotometry observations. Carvano et al. (2010), while analyzing MOC4, discovered that individual observations of asteroids which were observed multiple times did not classify into the same photometric-based taxonomic class. A small subset of those asteroids were classified as having both the presence and absence of a 1um silicate absorption feature. If these variations are linked to differences in surface mineralogy, the prevailing assumption that an asteroid’s surface composition is predominantly homogenous would need to be reexamined. Furthermore, our understanding of the evolution of the asteroid belt, as well as the linkage between certain asteroids and meteorite types may need to be modified.This research is an investigation to determine the rotational rates of these taxonomically ambiguous asteroids. Initial questions to be answered:Do these asteroids have unique or nonstandard rotational rates?Is there any evidence in their light curve to suggest an abnormality?Observations were taken using PROMPT6 a 0.41-m telescope apart of the SKYNET network at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). Observations were calibrated and analyzed using Canopus software. Initial results will be presented at AAS.

| CTIO

Science.gov Websites

‹› You are here CTIO Home » About » News » Record-Breaking Image Quality with DECam Post date : 3 years 3 months ago Lunar Eclipse with the Tololo All-Sky CAmera (TASCA) Post date: 3 years 4 months ago DECam's nearby discoveries Post date: 3 years 4 months ago Smashing Results about our Nearby

The Two Micron All Sky Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lonsdale, Carol

The 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) project, a collaboration between the University of Massachusetts (Dr. Mike Skrutskie, PI) and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, JPL/Caltech funded primarily by NASA and the NSF, will scan the entire sky utilizing two new, highly automated 1.3m telescopes at Mt. Hopkins, AZ and at CTIO, Chile. Each telescope simultaneously scans the sky at J, H and Ks with a three channel camera using 256x256 arrays of HgCdTe detectors to detect point sources brighter than about 1 mJy (to SNR=10), with a pixel size of 2.0 arcseconds. The data rate is $\\sim 19$ Gbyte per night, with a total processed data volume of 13 Tbytes of images and 0.5 Tbyte of tabular data. The 2MASS data is archived nightly into the Infrared Science Information System at IPAC, which is based on an Informix database engine, judged at the time of purchase to have the best commercially available indexing and parallelization flexibility, and a 5 Tbyte-capacity RAID multi-threaded disk system with multi-server shared disk architecture. I will discuss the challenges of processing and archiving the 2MASS data, and of supporting intelligent query access to them by the astronomical community across the net, including possibilities for cross-correlation with other remote data sets.

The 1984 eclipse of the symbiotic binary SY Muscae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kenyon, S. J.; Michalitisianos, A. G.; Lutz, J. H.; Kafatos, M.

1985-01-01

Data from IUE spectra obtained with the 10 x 20-arcsec aperture on May 13, 1984, and optical spectrophotometry obtained with an SIT vidicon on the 1.5-m telescope at CTIO on April 29-May 1, 1984, are reported for the symbiotic binary SY Mus. The data are found to be consistent with a model of a red-giant secondary of 60 solar radii which completely eclipses the hot primary every 627 d but only partially eclipses the 75-solar-radius He(+) region surrounding the primary. The distance to SY Mus is estimated as 1.3 kpc. It is suggested that the large Balmer decrement in eclipse, with (H-alpha)/(H-beta) = 8.3 and (H-beta)/(H-gamma) = 1.5, is associated with an electron density of about 10 to the 10th/cu cm.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: 2007.5 to 2010.4 HST astrometry of HD 202206 (Benedict+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedict, G. F.; Harrison, T. E.

2017-08-01

For this study astrometric measurements came from Fine Guidance Sensor 1r (FGS 1r), an upgraded FGS installed in 1997 during the second Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission. It provided superior fringes from which to obtain target and reference star positions (McArthur et al. 2003hstc.conf..373M). We utilized only the fringe tracking mode (POS mode) in this investigation. POS mode observations of a star have a typical duration of 60s, during which over 2000 individual position measures are collected. The astrometric centroid is estimated by choosing the median measure, after filtering large outliers (caused by cosmic-ray hits and particles trapped by the Earth's magnetic field). The standard deviation of the measures provides a measurement error. We refer to the aggregate of astrometric centroids of each star secured during one visibility period as an "orbit". Because one of the pillars of the scientific method involves reproducibility, we present a complete ensemble of time-tagged HD202206 and reference star astrometric measurements, Optical Field Angle Distortion (OFAD; McArthur et al. 2006hstc.conf..396M) and intra-orbit-drift-corrected, in Table2, along with calculated parallax factors in R.A. and decl. These data, collected from 2007.5 to 2010.4, in addition to providing material for confirmation of our results, might ultimately be combined with Gaia measures, significantly extending the time baseline of astrometry, thereby improving proper motion and perturbation characterization. Our band passes for reference star photometry include: BVRI photometry of the reference stars from the NMSU 1m telescope located at Apache Point Observatory and JHK (from 2MASS; see Cutri et al. 2003, Cat. II/246). Table4 lists the visible and infrared photometry for the HD202206 reference stars. To establish spectral type and luminosity class, the reference frame stars were observed on 2009 December 9 using the RCSPEC on the Blanco 4m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). We used the KPGL1 grating to give a dispersion of 0.95Å/pix. Classifications used a combination of template matching and line ratios. We determine the spectral types for the higher S/N stars to within ±1 subclass. Classifications for the lower S/N stars have ±2 subclass uncertainty. Table5 lists the spectral types and luminosity classes for our reference stars. (6 data files).

The demise of Comet 85P/Boethin, the first EPOXI mission target

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meech, K. J.; Kleyna, J.; Hainaut, O. R.; Lowry, S. C.; Fuse, T.; A'Hearn, M. F.; Chesley, S.; Yeomans, D. K.; Fernández, Y.; Lisse, C.; Reach, W.; Bauer, J. M.; Mainzer, A. K.; Pittichová, J.; Christensen, E.; Osip, D.; Brink, T.; Mateo, M.; Motta, V.; Challis, P.; Holman, M.; Ferrín, I.

2013-02-01

Comet 85P/Boethin was selected as the original comet target for the Deep Impact extended mission, EPOXI. Because this comet had been only observed at two apparitions in 1975 and 1986 and consequently had a large ephemeris error, an early intense recovery effort similar to that of 1P/Halley was undertaken beginning in 2005 using the ESO Very Large Telescopes (VLTs) in a distant comet program. These were challenging observations because of the low galactic latitude, and an error ellipse (the line of variations) that was larger than the CCD FOV, and the comet was not seen. Dedicated recovery observing time was awarded on the Subaru telescope in April and May 2006, and June 2007, in addition to time on the VLT and Canada-France-Hawaii telescopes during July-August 2007 with wide field mosaics and mosaicing techniques. The limiting V magnitudes from these observing runs ranged between 25.7 and 27.3 and again the comet was not seen in the individual nights. A new image processing technique was developed to stack images over extended runs and runs after distorting them to account for dilations and rotations in the line of variations using modifications of the world coordinate system. A candidate at V ˜ 27.3 was found in the CFHT data along the LOV, 2.5' west of the nominal ephemeris position. The EPOXI mission was unwilling to re-target the spacecraft without a confirmation. Additional time was secured using the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Gemini South 8-m telescope, the Clay and Baade (Magellan 6.5 m), CTIO 4 m, and SOAR 4 m telescopes during 2007 September and October A composite image made by stacking the new data showed no plausible candidate nucleus to a limiting magnitude of V = 28.5, corresponding to a nucleus radius between 0.1 and 0.2 km (assuming an albedo of 0.04). The comet was declared lost, presumably having disintegrated. Searches in the WISE data set revealed no debris trail, but no constraints on the possible time of disruption can be made. NASA approved the trajectory correction maneuver to go to Comet 103P/Hartley 2 on 2007 November 1. Many observers searched for the comet as it came to its December 2008 perihelion, but no trace of the nucleus was found. Based on observations collected at the Very Large Telescope, Chile, in part on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, in part using data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, in part on observations obtained with MegaPrime/MegaCam, a joint project of CFHT and CEA/DAPNIA, at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) which is operated by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, the Institut National des Science de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) of France, and the University of Hawaii, in part using data collected at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which are operated by the Association for Research in Astronomy, under contract with the National Science Foundation, and in part on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, e Inovação (MCTI) da República Federativa do Brasil, the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU). This work is also based in part on observations taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by JPL/Caltech under a contract with NASA.

Undergraduate ALFALFA Team: Star Formation in the NGC 5846 Group of Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viani, Lucas; Koopmann, R. A.; Darling, H.; ALFALFA Team

2013-01-01

We examine gas and star formation properties of galaxies in the NGC 5846 group. Narrowband Halpha and broadband R images for a sample of galaxies were obtained at the KPNO WIYN 0.9m with MOSAIC and the SMARTS 0.9m telescope at CTIO. Neutral hydrogen data from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) survey trace the cold neutral gas content. The amounts and extents of star formation in a subsample of galaxies are compared as a function of cold gas content and position in the group. The typical star formation rates and extents of NGC 5846 galaxies are less than those of isolated galaxies and similar to those of galaxies located in the Virgo Cluster and other group environments. This work is part of the Undergraduate ALFALFA (Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA) Team Groups Project, a collaborative undertaking of faculty and undergraduates at 11 institutions, aimed at investigating properties of galaxy groups surveyed by the ALFALFA blind HI survey.

Discovery and Characterization of Wide Binary Systems with a Very Low Mass Component

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baron, Frédérique; Lafrenière, David; Artigau, Étienne; Doyon, René; Gagné, Jonathan; Davison, Cassy L.; Malo, Lison; Robert, Jasmin; Nadeau, Daniel; Reylé, Céline

2015-03-01

We report the discovery of 14 low-mass binary systems containing mid-M to mid-L dwarf companions with separations larger than 250 AU. We also report the independent discovery of nine other systems with similar characteristics that were recently discovered in other studies. We have identified these systems by searching for common proper motion sources in the vicinity of known high proper motion stars, based on a cross-correlation of wide area near-infrared surveys (2MASS, SDSS, and SIMP). An astrometric follow-up, for common proper motion confirmation, was made with SIMON and/or CPAPIR at the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic 1.6 m and CTIO 1.5 m telescopes for all the candidates identified. A spectroscopic follow-up was also made with GMOS or GNIRS at Gemini to determine the spectral types of 11 of our newly identified companions and 10 of our primaries. Statistical arguments are provided to show that all of the systems we report here are very likely to be physical binaries. One of the new systems reported features a brown dwarf companion: LSPM J1259+1001 (M5) has an L4.5 (2M1259+1001) companion at ˜340 AU. This brown dwarf was previously unknown. Seven other systems have a companion of spectral type L0-L1 at a separation in the 250-7500 AU range. Our sample includes 14 systems with a mass ratio below 0.3.

DISCOVERY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF WIDE BINARY SYSTEMS WITH A VERY LOW MASS COMPONENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baron, Frédérique; Lafrenière, David; Artigau, Étienne

2015-03-20

We report the discovery of 14 low-mass binary systems containing mid-M to mid-L dwarf companions with separations larger than 250 AU. We also report the independent discovery of nine other systems with similar characteristics that were recently discovered in other studies. We have identified these systems by searching for common proper motion sources in the vicinity of known high proper motion stars, based on a cross-correlation of wide area near-infrared surveys (2MASS, SDSS, and SIMP). An astrometric follow-up, for common proper motion confirmation, was made with SIMON and/or CPAPIR at the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic 1.6 m and CTIO 1.5more » m telescopes for all the candidates identified. A spectroscopic follow-up was also made with GMOS or GNIRS at Gemini to determine the spectral types of 11 of our newly identified companions and 10 of our primaries. Statistical arguments are provided to show that all of the systems we report here are very likely to be physical binaries. One of the new systems reported features a brown dwarf companion: LSPM J1259+1001 (M5) has an L4.5 (2M1259+1001) companion at ∼340 AU. This brown dwarf was previously unknown. Seven other systems have a companion of spectral type L0–L1 at a separation in the 250–7500 AU range. Our sample includes 14 systems with a mass ratio below 0.3.« less

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Solar neighborhood. XXXVI. VRI variability of M dwarfs (Hosey+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosey, A. D.; Henry, T. J.; Jao, W.-C.; Dieterich, S. B.; Winters, J. G.; Lurie, J. C.; Riedel, A. R.; Subasavage, J. P.

2015-07-01

We present an analysis of long-term photometric variability for nearby red dwarf stars at optical wavelengths (Table1). The sample consists of 264 M dwarfs south of decl.=+30 with V-K=3.96-9.16 and MV~~10-20, corresponding to spectral types M2V-M8V, most of which are within 25pc. Our 264 dwarf stars have been observed in the VRI filters over the past 14yr (with a median duration in the coverage of 7.9yr). The REsearch Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS; www.recons.org) has been using the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/Small & Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (CTIO/SMARTS) 0.9m telescope for astrometric and photometric observations since 1999, first as an National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) Surveys Program, and since 2003 under the auspices of the SMARTS Consortium. The telescope is equipped with a 2048*2048 Tektronix CCD camera. Images taken during the program are used here to investigate the photometric variability of the nearby M dwarfs that have been targeted for parallax and proper motion measurements. Observations are made using the central quarter of the chip, which provides a 6.8' square field of view and pixels 401mas in size. Parallax frames are taken in the VJ, RKC, and IKC filters with magnitudes ranging from 9 to 20. The central wavelengths for the VJ, RKC, and IKC filters used in this study are 5438/5475, 6425, and 8075Å, respectively. The subscript "J" indicates Johnson, "KC" indicates Kron-Cousins (usually known as Cousins). VRI photometry from our program is given for the sample stars in Table1. Details of the photometry observations and reductions can be found in Jao et al. (2005AJ....129.1954J) and Winters et al. 2011 (cat. J/AJ/141/21). For astrometry, five images of each star are typically taken per night, usually within 30 minutes of transit. The target star is positioned in the field so that 5-10 reference stars, normally fainter by 1-4mag, surround the target. These stars constitute a reference grid for the astrometric reductions, and are also used for the photometric variability study described here. Additional details of the observations can be found in Jao et al. (2005AJ....129.1954J). (2 data files).

Discovery and characteristics of the rapidly rotating active asteroid (62412) 2000 SY178 in the main belt

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sheppard, Scott S.; Trujillo, Chadwick, E-mail: ssheppard@carnegiescience.edu

We report a new active asteroid in the main belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. Object (62412) 2000 SY178 exhibited a tail in images collected during our survey for objects beyond the Kuiper Belt using the Dark Energy Camera on the CTIO 4 m telescope. We obtained broadband colors of 62412 at the Magellan Telescope, which, along with 62412's low albedo, suggests it is a C-type asteroid. 62412's orbital dynamics and color strongly correlate with the Hygiea family in the outer main belt, making it the first active asteroid known in this heavily populated family. We also find 62412more » to have a very short rotation period of 3.33 ± 0.01 hours from a double-peaked light curve with a maximum peak-to-peak amplitude of 0.45 ± 0.01 mag. We identify 62412 as the fastest known rotator of the Hygiea family and the nearby Themis family of similar composition, which contains several known main belt comets. The activity on 62412 was seen over one year after perihelion passage in its 5.6 year orbit. 62412 has the highest perihelion and one of the most circular orbits known for any active asteroid. The observed activity is probably linked to 62412's rapid rotation, which is near the critical period for break-up. The fast spin rate may also change the shape and shift material around 62412's surface, possibly exposing buried ice. Assuming 62412 is a strengthless rubble pile, we find the density of 62412 to be around 1500 kg m{sup −3}.« less

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Proper motions and photometry for members of Cha I (Esplin+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esplin, T. L.; Luhman, K. L.; Faherty, J. K.; Mamajek, E. E.; Bochanski, J. J.

2017-10-01

We have compiled a catalog of the previously known members of Cha I. We began with the census from Luhman 2008 (Cat. J/ApJ/675/1375). we adopt ChaJ11100159-7738052 as a previously known member, which was presented in Luhman 2007 (Cat. J/ApJS/173/104) as a possible field M9-L1 dwarf. We also include in our census the M9 companion to CT Cha (Schmidt et al. 2008A&A...491..311S) and five new M4 members from Frasca et al. 2015 (Cat. J/A+A/575/A4) and Sacco et al. 2017 (Cat. J/A+A/601/A97): 2MASSJ10575375-7724495, 2MASSJ10563146-7618334, 2MASSJ11213079-7633351, 2MASSJ11130450-7534369, and 2MASSJ11090915-7553477. We list the 244 previously known members and the 6 new members from this study in Table1. Luhman et al. (2005ApJ...635L..93L) obtained images of a 13.3'*16.7' area of the southern subcluster in Cha I with the Wide Field Camera (WFC) aperture of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on board HST. The observations were performed on 2004 August 21 and 2005 February 16 with the F775W and F850LP filters. To measure proper motions for sources detected in those data, we repeated those observations in the F850LP filter on 2009 August 20 and 2011 February 13 through program 11695. Portions of Cha I have been imaged at several epochs with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on Spitzer. Those observations occurred during both the cryogenic and post-cryogenic phases of the mission. The cryogenic phase began at launch in 2003 August and continued until 2009 May, when the liquid helium was depleted. During that time, IRAC operated with four 256*256 arrays that collected images in broadband filters at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0μm, which are denoted as [3.6], [4.5], [5.8], and [8.0]. For each array, the plate scale was 1.2''/pixel and the field of view (FOV) was 5.2'*5.2'. Point sources within the images have a FWHM of 1.6''-1.9'' for [3.6]-[8.0]. We compiled photometry from previous surveys for low-mass members of Cha I and publicly available catalogs, which consist of F775W and F850LP from ACS/HST (Luhman et al. 2005ApJ...635L..93L); F791W and F850LP from the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on HST (Todorov et al. 2014, Cat. J/ApJ/788/40); I from the Inamori Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph (IMACS) on the Magellan I telescope at Las Campanas Observatory (Luhman 2007, Cat. J/ApJS/173/104); Y, J, H, and Ks from the Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI) at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO; Luhman et al. 2005ApJ...635L..93L); J, H, and Ks from the 2MASS Point Source Catalog (Cutri et al. 2003, Cat. II/246); and i from the Third Release of the Deep Near-Infrared Survey of the Southern Sky (DENIS; Epchtein et al. 1999, see Cat. B/denis). We obtained images of additional fields of Cha I with ISPI on the nights of 2008 January 20-23. This instrument provided a plate scale of 0.3pixel-1 and a FOV of 10.25'*10.25'. These observations consisted of 16*60s exposures in each of three filters (J, H, Ks) and in each of four adjacent fields. The data were reduced in the same manner as the previous ISPI observations (Luhman et al. 2005ApJ...635L..93L; Luhman 2007, Cat. J/ApJS/173/104). The typical FWHM for point sources in these images was 0.95''. We performed optical imaging of Cha I with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at the 4m Blanco telescope at CTIO. The instrument contains 62 CCDs with dimensions of 2048*4096 pixels and plate scales of 0.27''/pixel. The FOV of the entire mosaic has a diameter of ~2°. In an initial set of shallow observations on 2013 May 30, we obtained three dithered images in each i, z, and Y with individual exposures times of 200, 30, and 30s, respectively. We collected deeper data on 2015 March 5 in which the numbers of images and exposure times were 49*150s (i), 79*100s (z), and 46*200s (Y). To extend the dynamic range to brighter magnitudes, we also obtained 7*0.7s images for each filter during that night. The images were reduced by the DECam pipeline. The typical FWHM for point sources in these images was 0.8''. Two publicly available Ks-band imaging programs of Cha I have been performed by the High Acuity Wide-field K-band Imager (HAWK-I) on the Unit Telescope 4 of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). This camera contains four 2048*2048 HAWAII-2RG arrays that have a plate scale of 0.106''/pixel and an FOV of 7.5'*7.5'. On the nights of 2008 January 24, 27-29, and 31, four fields were imaged through program 60.A-9284(L). In each field, 25 dithered images were taken, each consisting of 15 co-added 2.0s exposures. Four additional fields were imaged on the nights of 2010 May 12 and 2010 July 5-6 through program 385.C-0384(A). For each field, 200 images were taken with exposure times of 3s. We reduced the individual exposures from HAWK-I by subtracting a dark frame and dividing by a flat-field image using tasks within IRAF. The resulting images were then registered and combined into mosaics. For most of these images, the typical FWHM for point sources was 0.8'' except for the nights of 2010 July 5-6, when it was 1.5''. We performed optical spectroscopy on two targets, 2MASSJ10575375-7724495 and 2MASSJ11093277-7638376, with the Goodman High Throughput Spectrograph at the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope on 2014 May 7 and 2014 June 16, respectively. The instrument was operated with the 400 line/mm grating in second order, the GG445 filter, and the 0.84'' slit, which produced a wavelength coverage of 5400-9400Å with resolution of R=1100. Spectra of six candidates were obtained with FLAMINGOS-2 on the Gemini South Telescope on January 23 and February 2, 3, and 5 in 2015. For the brightest target, 2MASSJ11124771-7737547, the instrument was configured with the JH grism and filter and the 1.08'' slit (0.70-2.04μm, R=300). The other five FLAMINGOS-2 targets, ChaJ11110675-7636030, ChaJ11064106-7745040, ChaJ11105004-7721535, ChaJ11105772-7714570, and ChaJ11104183-7633064, were observed with the HK grism and filter and the 0.72'' slit (1.10-2.65μm, R=450). We observed 2MASSJ10543141-7710130, 2MASSJ10532815-7710268, and 2MASSJ11065677-7725478 with ARCoIRIS on the 4m Blanco telescope at CTIO on the nights of 2016 June 17 and 18 (0.8-2.47μm, R=3500). (3 data files).

CTIO History | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Preserving the Dark Skies La Oficina de Protección de la Calidad del Cielo del Norte de Chile - OPCC Light Pollution StarLight Universe The World at Night (TWAN) International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) Students REU ‹› You are here CTIO Home » About » CTIO History CTIO History Brief History of THE CERRO

The Mission Accessible Near-Earth Object Survey (MANOS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moskovitz, N.; Manos Team

2014-07-01

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are essential to understanding the origin of the Solar System through their compositional links to meteorites. As tracers of various regions within the Solar System they can provide insight to more distant, less accessible populations. Their relatively small sizes and complex dynamical histories make them excellent laboratories for studying ongoing Solar System processes such as space weathering, planetary encounters, and non-gravitational dynamics. Knowledge of their physical properties is essential to impact hazard assessment. Finally, the proximity of NEOs to Earth make them favorable targets for robotic and human exploration. However, in spite of their scientific importance, only the largest (km-scale) NEOs have been well studied and a representative sample of physical characteristics for sub-km NEOs does not exist. To address these issues we are conducting the Mission Accessible Near-Earth Object Survey (MANOS), a fully allocated multi-year survey of sub-km NEOs that will provide a large, uniform catalog of physical properties including light curves, spectra, and astrometry. From this comprehensive catalog, we will derive global properties of the NEO population, as well as identify individual targets that are of potential interest for exploration. We will accomplish these goals for approximately 500 mission-accessible NEOs across the visible and near-infrared ranges using telescope assets in both the northern and southern hemispheres. MANOS has been awarded large survey status by NOAO to employ Gemini-N, Gemini-S, SOAR, the Kitt Peak 4 m, and the CTIO 1.3 m. Access to additional facilities at Lowell Observatory (DCT 4.3 m, Perkins 72'', Hall 42'', LONEOS), the University of Hawaii, and the Catalina Sky Survey provide essential complements to this suite of telescopes. Targets for MANOS are selected based on three primary criteria: mission accessibility (i.e. Δ v < 7 km/s), size (H > 20), and observability. Our telescope assets allow us to obtain rotational light curves for objects down to V˜22, visible spectra down to V˜21, and near-IR spectra down to V˜19. MANOS primarily focuses on targets that are recently discovered. We employ a regular cadence of remote and queue observations to enable follow-up characterization within days or weeks after a target of interest is discovered. We will present a MANOS status report with an emphasis on noteworthy observations and ongoing efforts to achieve fully transparency by making target lists and data products publicly available online.

Planning by Search through Simulations.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-10-01

planners. 1.3 Planning: A New Paradigm After the advent of least-commitment planners, the planning problem became defined as the successive refinement of...ing, intervals during the execution of the plan (e.g., a thesis advisor is used discon- tinuously by a graduate student during his thesis research... The Garden I le\\ Ro4m tob Pita *44a Fr4Teot4i 4444444.4 (S-R4EST44CTIO pro444444 444 ( 4IT4 I B4 tually ~ ~ Rom com int effct For exmpe if the robo

Fast cadence planet-searches with the all-sky, gigapixel-scale Evryscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ratzloff, Jeff; Law, Nicholas

2018-01-01

The Evryscope is a 24-camera robotic telescope that continuously images 8,000 square degrees in 2-minute exposures, that has been collecting data continuously since deployment to CTIO in mid-2015. The telescope provides the fast cadence observations necessary for detecting minute to tens-of-minute time-scale exoplanet transits, which would occur around small, compact host stars including White Dwarfs and Hot Subdwarfs. We are conducting target surveys for each of these types of stars searching for potential planet transit signals. Our surveys will be the largest performed to date with several thousand targets in each group and years of observations, and the only surveys with minute-scale cadence. We present the status of the surveys, our estimated detection ability, interesting candidates, and preliminary results.

A photometric analysis of the neglected EW-type binary V336 TrA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kriwattanawong, W.; Sarotsakulchai, T.; Maungkorn, S.; Reichart, D. E.; Haislip, J. B.; Kouprianov, V. V.; LaCluyze, A. P.; Moore, J. P.

2018-05-01

This study presents an analysis of photometric light curves and absolute parameters for the EW-type binary V336 TrA. VRI imaging observations were taken in 2013 by using the robotic telescopes PROMPT 4 and PROMPT 5 at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Chile. The observed light curves were fitted by using the Wilson-Devinney method. The results showed that V336 TrA is a W-type contact binary with a mass ratio of q = 1.396. The binary is a weak contact system with a fill-out factor of f = 15.69%. The system contains components with masses of 0.653 M⊙ and 0.912 M⊙ for the hotter and the cooler, respectively. The location of the secondary (less massive) component on the log M - log L diagram was found to be near the TAMS. The component has evolved to be oversize and overluminous. The orbital angular momentum of the binary was found to be log Jo = 51.61 cgs, less than all detached systems for same mass. The system has undergone angular momentum and/or mass loss, during the binary evolution from the detached to contact system.

The Carina Project. VI. The Helium-burning Variable Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coppola, G.; Stetson, P. B.; Marconi, M.; Bono, G.; Ripepi, V.; Fabrizio, M.; Dall'Ora, M.; Musella, I.; Buonanno, R.; Ferraro, I.; Fiorentino, G.; Iannicola, G.; Monelli, M.; Nonino, M.; Pulone, L.; Thévenin, F.; Walker, A. R.

2013-09-01

We present new optical (BVI) time-series data for the evolved variable stars in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The quality of the data and the observing strategy allowed us to identify 14 new variable stars. Eight out of the 14 are RR Lyrae (RRL) stars, 4 are Anomalous Cepheids (ACs), and 2 are geometrical variables. Comparison of the period distribution for the entire sample of RRLs with similar distributions in nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies and in the Large Magellanic Cloud indicates that the old stellar populations in these systems share similar properties. This finding is also supported by the RRL distribution in the Bailey diagram. On the other hand, the period distribution and the Bailey diagram of ACs display significant differences among the above stellar systems. This evidence suggests that the properties of intermediate-age stellar populations might be affected both by environmental effects and structural parameters. We use the BV Period-Wesenheit (PW) relation of RRLs together with evolutionary prescriptions and find a true distance modulus of 20.09 ± 0.07 (intrinsic) ± 0.1 (statistical) mag that agrees quite well with similar estimates available in the literature. We identified four peculiar variables. Taking into account their position in the Bailey diagram and in the BV PW relation, two of them (V14 and V149) appear to be candidate ACs, while two (V158 and V182) might be peculiar RRLs. In particular, the variable V158 has a period and a V-band amplitude very similar to the low-mass RRL—RRLR-02792—recently identified by Pietrzyński et al. in the Galactic bulge. Based on images collected with the MOSAICII camera available at the CTIO 4 m Blanco telescope, La Serena (2003B-0051, 2004B-0227, and 2005B-0092; PI: A. R. Walker) and in part with the WFI available at the 2.2 m MPG/ESO telescope (A064.L-0327) and with images obtained from the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Bubble HII region Sh2-39 (N5) (Duronea+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duronea, N. U.; Cappa, C. E.; Bronfman, L.; Borissova, J.; Gromadzki, M.; Kuhn, M. A.

2017-06-01

The molecular observations were carried out in August 2015 with the 10m Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE). We used DASH345, a two sideband single-polarization heterodyne receiver, tunable in LO frequency range from 327GHz to 370GHz at observable frequency range from 321GHz to 376GHz. The XF digital spectrometer was set to a bandwidth and spectral resolution of 128MHz and 125KHz, respectively. The spectral velocity resolution was 0.11km/s, the half power beamwidth (HPBW) is ~22", and the main beam efficiency (mb) is 0.65. Observations were made using the on-the-fly (OTF) mode with two orthogonal scan directions along RA and Dec. (J2000) centered on RA, Dec.(J2000)= (18:17:02.1, -18:40:19). We observed simultaneously the lines CO(3-2) (345.796GHz) and HCO+(4-3) (356.734) in a region of ~17'x17' (see Fig. 1). The spectra were reduced with NOSTAR2 using the standard procedure. The brightest star projected at the center of [BDS2003] 6 (2MASS J18165113-1841488) was observed on August 2016 with Astronomy Research using the Cornell Infra Red Imaging Spectrograph (ARCoIRIS), a cross-dispersed, single-object, longslit, infrared imaging spectrograph,mounted on Blanco 4-m Telescope, CTIO. The spectra cover a simultaneous wavelength range of 0.80 to 2.47um, at a spectral resolution of about 3500 λ{δλ, encompassing the entire zYJHK photometric range. The spectrum was taken with 480 sec integration time, at 1.03 average airmass. The HD163336 telluric A0 V standard is observed immediately after target. The basic steps of the reduction procedure are described in Chene et al. (2012A&A...545A..54C, Cat. J/A+A/545/A54, 2013A&A...549A..98C). We used the corresponding pipeline. (3 data files).

Detection of High Velocity Absorption Components in the He I Lines of Eta Carinae near the Time of Periastron

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richardson, Noel D.; St-Jean, Lucas; Gull, Theodore R.; Madura, Thomas; Hillier, D. John; Teodoro, Mairan; Moffat, Anthony; Corcoran, Michael; Damineli, Augusto

2014-01-01

We have obtained a total of 58 high spectral resolution (R90,000) spectra of the massive binary star eta Carinae since 2012 in an effort to continue our orbital and long-term echelle monitoring of this extreme binary (Richardson et al. 2010, AJ, 139, 1534) with the CHIRON spectrograph on the CTIO 1.5 m telescope (Tokovinin et al. 2013, PASP, 125, 1336) in the 45507500A region. We have increased our monitoring efforts and observation frequency as the periastron event of 2014 has approached. We note that there were multiple epochs this year where we observe unusual absorption components in the P Cygni troughs of the He I triplet lines. In particular, we note high velocity absorption components related to the following epochs for the following lines: He I 4713: HJD 2456754- 2456795 (velocity -450 to -560 kms) He I 5876: HJD 2456791- 2456819 (velocity -690 to -800 kms) He I 7065: HJD 2456791- 2456810 (velocity -665 to -730 kms) Figures: Note that red indicates a high-velocity component noted above. He I 4713: http:www.astro.umontreal.carichardson4713.png He I 5876: http:www.astro.umontreal.carichardson5876.png He I 7065: http:www.astro.umontreal.carichardson7065.png These absorptions are likely related to the wind-wind collision region and bow shock, as suggested by the high-velocity absorption observed by Groh et al. (2010, AA, 519, 9) in the He I 10830 Atransition. In these cases, we suspect that we look along an arm of the shock cone and that we will see a fast absorption change from the other collision region shortly after periastron. We suspect that this is related to the multiple-components of the He II 4686 line that was noted by Walter (ATel6334), and is confirmed in our data. Further, high spectral resolution data are highly encouraged,especially for resolving powers greater than 50,000.These observations were obtained with the CTIO 1.5 m telescope, operated by the SMARTS Consortium, and were obtained through both SMARTS and NOAO programs 2012A-0216,2012B-0194, and 2013b-0328). We thank Emily MacPherson (Yale) for her efforts in scheduling the observations that we have and will obtain in the coming weeks.

RICARDO VENEGAS FLORES (1940 - 2015) | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

³ su gran capacidad de trabajo, su meticulosidad y profesionalismo y su gran calidad humana, lo que le - 2015) RICARDO VENEGAS FLORES 1940-2015 Con mucho pesar anunciamos que nuestro querido amigo y colega telescopio Blanco de 4m. Gracias a su gran competencia y capacidad técnica y humana, en noviembre de 1977

Ground-Based Observations of 9P/Tempel 1 - The Deep Impact Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meech, K. J.; Bauer, J. M.; A'Hearn, M. F.

1999-09-01

The Deep Impact mission, one of the two recently approved Discovery missions, will deliver a 500 kg copper projectile to the comet 9P/Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, to excavate a crater. The goal will be to watch the cratering event, measure the change in activity level caused by the impact, and will be the first experiment to sample deeply below the surface of a comet. In preparation for a successful mission, we will begin a vigorous ground-based observing campaign to characterize the nucleus of 9P/Tempel 1. The ground-based observations will characterize the pre-impact activity levels for comparison after the impact, characterize the nucleus in terms of a rotational light curve and pole position, get an estimate of the nucleus size and albedo, model the dust production rates, and search for the appearance of gaseous species as the comet approaches perihelion. The observing campaign as already begun with some intensive observations of the comet during the following observing runs: UT Date & Nts & Telescope & r[AU] & No. & Exp 12/97 & 1 &Keck II & 4.48 & 2 & 240 1/98 & 1 &UH 2.2m & 4.44 & 7 & 4200 2/98 & 1 &CTIO1.5m & 4.36 & 3 & 1800 4/98 & 2 &UH 2.2m & 4.26 & 8 & 4800 1/99 & 6 &UH 2.2m & 3.14 &133 &17220 3/99 & 4 &UH 2.2m & 2.88 &181 &54000 5/99 & 2 &UH 2.2m & 2.47 & 9 & 810 7 /99 & 2 &UH 2.2m & 2.19 & 9 & 1620 The 1999 January and March observations were made to search for the rotation period of the comet, as well as to obtain deep images to model the coma. The results of the rotational light curve observations will be presented, as well as a compilation of the heliocentric light curve from the data from earlier epochs. In addition, a detailed, comprehensive multi-wavelength ground-based observing plan will be presented to characterize the nucleus before the 2005 July 4 Deep Impact encounter with the comet. This project has been funded through the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program to date, NAG 4494.

Cosmological Results from High-z Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tonry, John L.; Schmidt, Brian P.; Barris, Brian; Candia, Pablo; Challis, Peter; Clocchiatti, Alejandro; Coil, Alison L.; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Garnavich, Peter; Hogan, Craig; Holland, Stephen T.; Jha, Saurabh; Kirshner, Robert P.; Krisciunas, Kevin; Leibundgut, Bruno; Li, Weidong; Matheson, Thomas; Phillips, Mark M.; Riess, Adam G.; Schommer, Robert; Smith, R. Chris; Sollerman, Jesper; Spyromilio, Jason; Stubbs, Christopher W.; Suntzeff, Nicholas B.

2003-09-01

The High-z Supernova Search Team has discovered and observed eight new supernovae in the redshift interval z=0.3-1.2. These independent observations, analyzed by similar but distinct methods, confirm the results of Riess and Perlmutter and coworkers that supernova luminosity distances imply an accelerating universe. More importantly, they extend the redshift range of consistently observed Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) to z~1, where the signature of cosmological effects has the opposite sign of some plausible systematic effects. Consequently, these measurements not only provide another quantitative confirmation of the importance of dark energy, but also constitute a powerful qualitative test for the cosmological origin of cosmic acceleration. We find a rate for SN Ia of (1.4+/-0.5)×10-4h3Mpc-3yr-1 at a mean redshift of 0.5. We present distances and host extinctions for 230 SN Ia. These place the following constraints on cosmological quantities: if the equation of state parameter of the dark energy is w=-1, then H0t0=0.96+/-0.04, and ΩΛ-1.4ΩM=0.35+/-0.14. Including the constraint of a flat universe, we find ΩM=0.28+/-0.05, independent of any large-scale structure measurements. Adopting a prior based on the Two Degree Field (2dF) Redshift Survey constraint on ΩM and assuming a flat universe, we find that the equation of state parameter of the dark energy lies in the range -1.48-1, we obtain w<-0.73 at 95% confidence. These constraints are similar in precision and in value to recent results reported using the WMAP satellite, also in combination with the 2dF Redshift Survey. Based in part on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. This research is primarily associated with proposal GO-8177, but also uses and reports results from proposals GO-7505, 7588, 8641, and 9118. Based in part on observations taken with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, operated by the National Research Council of Canada, le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique de France, and the University of Hawaii. CTIO: Based in part on observations taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Keck: Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. UH: Based in part on observations with the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii. UKIRT: Based in part on observations with the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the UK. Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. VLT: Based in part on observations obtained at the European Southern Observatory, Paranal, Chile, under programs ESO 64.O-0391 and ESO 64.O-0404. WIYN: Based in part on observations taken at the WIYN Observatory, a joint facility of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatories.

SOUTH POL: Revealing the Polarized Southern Sky

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magalhães, A. M.

2014-10-01

SOUTH POL will be a survey of the Southern sky in optical polarized light. It will use a newly designed polarimeter for an 80cm Robotic Telescope. Telescope and polarimeter will be installed at CTIO, Chile. The initial goal is to cover the sky south of declination -15° in about two years of observing time, aiming at a polarimetric accuracy ≤ 0.1% down to V=15, with a camera covering a field of about 2.0 square degrees. SOUTH POL will impact areas such as Cosmology, Extragalactic Astronomy, Interstellar Medium of the Galaxy and Magellanic Clouds, Star Formation, Stellar Envelopes, Stellar Explosions and Solar System, among others. The polarimeter is currently being built and its optics and electronics assembled. We will describe the current status of the project. This project is supported by FAPESP. AMM is also supported by CNPq.

GRB 081029: A Gamma-Ray Burst with a Multi-Component Afterglow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holland, Stephen T.; De Pasquale, Massimiliano; Mao, Jirong; Sakamoto, Takanori; Schady, Patricia; Covino, Stefano; Fan, Yi-Zhong; Jin, Zhi-Ping; D'Avanzo, Paolo; Antonelli, Angelo;

VizieR Online Data Catalog: UBVRIz light curves of 51 Type II supernovae (Galbany+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galbany, L.; Hamuy, M.; Phillips, M. M.; Suntzeff, N. B.; Maza, J.; de Jaeger, T.; Moraga, T.; Gonzalez-Gaitan, S.; Krisciunas, K.; Morrell, N. I.; Thomas-Osip, J.; Krzeminski, W.; Gonzalez, L.; Antezana, R.; Wishnjewski, M.; McCarthy, P.; Anderson, J. P.; Gutierrez, C. P.; Stritzinger, M.; Folatelli, G.; Anguita, C.; Galaz, G.; Green, E. M.; Impey, C.; Kim, Y.-C.; Kirhakos, S.; Malkan, M. A.; Mulchaey, J. S.; Phillips, A. C.; Pizzella, A.; Prosser, C. F.; Schmidt, B. P.; Schommer, R. A.; Sherry, W.; Strolger, L.-G.; Wells, L. A.; Williger, G. M.

2016-08-01

This paper presents a sample of multi-band, visual-wavelength light curves of 51 type II supernovae (SNe II) observed from 1986 to 2003 in the course of four different surveys: the Cerro Tololo Supernova Survey, the Calan Tololo Supernova Program (C&T), the Supernova Optical and Infrared Survey (SOIRS), and the Carnegie Type II Supernovae Survey (CATS). Near-infrared photometry and optical spectroscopy of this set of SNe II will be published in two companion papers. A list of the SNe II used in this study is presented in Table1. The first object in our list is SN 1986L and it is the only SN observed with photoelectric techniques (by M.M.P and S.K., using the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 0.9m equipped with a photometer and B and V filters). The remaining SNe were observed using a variety of telescopes equipped with CCD detectors and UBV(RI)KCz filters (see Table5). The magnitudes for the photometric sequences of the 51 SNe II are listed in Table4. In every case, these sequences were derived from observations of Landolt standards (see Appendix D in Hamuy et al. 2001ApJ...558..615H for the definition of the z band and Stritzinger et al. 2002AJ....124.2100S for the description of the z-band standards). Table5 lists the resulting UBVRIz magnitudes for the 51 SNe. (3 data files).

Maximizing the Detection Probability of Kilonovae Associated with Gravitational Wave Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Man Leong; Hu, Yi-Ming; Messenger, Chris; Hendry, Martin; Heng, Ik Siong

2017-01-01

Estimates of the source sky location for gravitational wave signals are likely to span areas of up to hundreds of square degrees or more, making it very challenging for most telescopes to search for counterpart signals in the electromagnetic spectrum. To boost the chance of successfully observing such counterparts, we have developed an algorithm that optimizes the number of observing fields and their corresponding time allocations by maximizing the detection probability. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we optimize follow-up observations targeting kilonovae using telescopes including the CTIO-Dark Energy Camera, Subaru-HyperSuprimeCam, Pan-STARRS, and the Palomar Transient Factory. We consider three simulated gravitational wave events with 90% credible error regions spanning areas from ∼ 30 {\\deg }2 to ∼ 300 {\\deg }2. Assuming a source at 200 {Mpc}, we demonstrate that to obtain a maximum detection probability, there is an optimized number of fields for any particular event that a telescope should observe. To inform future telescope design studies, we present the maximum detection probability and corresponding number of observing fields for a combination of limiting magnitudes and fields of view over a range of parameters. We show that for large gravitational wave error regions, telescope sensitivity rather than field of view is the dominating factor in maximizing the detection probability.

A three-dimensional carbon nano-network for high performance lithium ion batteries

DOE PAGES

Tian, Miao; Wang, Wei; Liu, Yang; ...

2014-11-20

Three-dimensional (3D) network structure has been envisioned as a superior architecture for lithium ion battery (LIB) electrodes, which enhances both ion and electron transport to significantly improve battery performance. Herein, a 3D carbon nano-network is fabricated through chemical vapor deposition of carbon on a scalably manufactured 3D porous anodic alumina (PAA) template. As a demonstration on the applicability of 3D carbon nano-network for LIB electrodes, the low conductivity active material, TiO 2, is then uniformly coated on the 3D carbon nano-network using atomic layer deposition. High power performance is demonstrated in the 3D C/TiO 2 electrodes, where the parallel tubesmore » and gaps in the 3D carbon nano-network facilitates fast Li ion transport. A large areal capacity of ~0.37 mAh·cm –2 is achieved due to the large TiO 2 mass loading in the 60 µm-thick 3D C/TiO 2 electrodes. At a test rate of C/5, the 3D C/TiO 2 electrode with 18 nm-thick TiO 2 delivers a high gravimetric capacity of ~240 mAh g –1, calculated with the mass of the whole electrode. A long cycle life of over 1000 cycles with a capacity retention of 91% is demonstrated at 1C. In this study, the effects of the electrical conductivity of carbon nano-network, ion diffusion, and the electrolyte permeability on the rate performance of these 3D C/TiO 2 electrodes are systematically studied.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tian, Miao; Wang, Wei; Liu, Yang

Three-dimensional (3D) network structure has been envisioned as a superior architecture for lithium ion battery (LIB) electrodes, which enhances both ion and electron transport to significantly improve battery performance. Herein, a 3D carbon nano-network is fabricated through chemical vapor deposition of carbon on a scalably manufactured 3D porous anodic alumina (PAA) template. As a demonstration on the applicability of 3D carbon nano-network for LIB electrodes, the low conductivity active material, TiO 2, is then uniformly coated on the 3D carbon nano-network using atomic layer deposition. High power performance is demonstrated in the 3D C/TiO 2 electrodes, where the parallel tubesmore » and gaps in the 3D carbon nano-network facilitates fast Li ion transport. A large areal capacity of ~0.37 mAh·cm –2 is achieved due to the large TiO 2 mass loading in the 60 µm-thick 3D C/TiO 2 electrodes. At a test rate of C/5, the 3D C/TiO 2 electrode with 18 nm-thick TiO 2 delivers a high gravimetric capacity of ~240 mAh g –1, calculated with the mass of the whole electrode. A long cycle life of over 1000 cycles with a capacity retention of 91% is demonstrated at 1C. In this study, the effects of the electrical conductivity of carbon nano-network, ion diffusion, and the electrolyte permeability on the rate performance of these 3D C/TiO 2 electrodes are systematically studied.« less

CHIRON | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

) [PDF, 8M] CHIRON: Commissioning tests and alignment by J. Spronck, Ch. Schwab, M. Giguere (Feb 7, 2011 Papers on CHIRON Schwab, Ch., Spronck, J., Tokovinin, A., Szymkowiak, A., Giguere, M., Fisher, D , 1.6M] Spronck, J., Schwab, C., Tokovinin, A., Giguere, M., Szymkowiak, A., Fischer, D. Chiron - A Fiber

Spectroscopic Results of Gravitational Microlenses: Are These Dark Objects or Faint Stars?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joseph, C. L.; Gallagher, J.; Phillips, M.

1994-12-01

We report on the spectroscopic results obtained in October 1994 with the 4-meter telescope on Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory (CTIO). Spectra of 2 recent microlens candidates toward the Galactic bulge reported by the Optical Gravitational Lens Experiment (OGLE) as well as one caught in the early phases of brightening toward the LMC reported by the MAssive Compact Halo Object (MACHO) Project have been obtained. The spectral coverage is from 6500 to 9800 Angstroms at a resolution of 6 Angstroms. The long-term goal of this spectroscopic study is to obtain censored statistical evidence on the luminosity of the microlenses, constraining the nature of these lenses. Several models of composite spectra of a bulge or LMC star plus a cool lensing star of different spectral types are presented to demonstrate the ranges in the product of luminosity times distance that the faint star could be detected in a composite spectrum.

SOUTH POL: Revealing the Polarized Southern Sky

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magalhaes, Antonio Mario Mario; Ramírez, Edgar; Ribeiro, Nadili; Seriacopi, Daiane; Rubinho, Marcelo; Ferrari, Tiberio; Rodrigues, Claudia; Schoenell, William; Herpich, Fabio; Pereyra, Antonio

2018-01-01

SOUTH POL will be a survey of the Southern sky in optical polarized light. It will use a newly built polarimeter for T80-S, an 84 cm robotic telescope installed at Cerro Tololo (CTIO), Chile. It will initially cover the sky South of declination -15 deg with a polarimetric accuracy < 0.1% at V~14-15. The telescope and camera combination covers a field of about 2.0 square degrees.SOUTH POL will impact areas such as Cosmology, Extragalactic Astronomy, Interstellar Medium of the Galaxy and Magellanic Clouds, Star Formation, Stellar Envelopes, Stellar Explosions and Solar System.The polarimeter has just been commissioned in mid-November, 2017. The data reduction pipeline has already been built. We will describe the instrument and the data reduction, as well as a few of the science cases. The survey is expected to begin midway through the 1st semester of 2018. Both catalog data and raw images will be made available.

A NEARLY VOLUME-COMPLETE SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY OF THE CLOSESTMID-TO-LATE M DWARFS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winters, Jennifer; Irwin, Jonathan; Newton, Elisabeth; Charbonneau, David; Latham, David W.; Mink, Jessica; Esquerdo, Gil; Berlind, Perry; Calkins, Mike

2018-01-01

Recent results from Kepler estimate that M dwarfs harbor 2.5 planets per star. Yet, we will understand our exoplanet discoveries only as well as we understand their host stars, and much remains unknown about our low-mass stellar neighbors, such as their kinematics, ages, and multiplicity. A nearly volume-complete sample of M dwarfs lies within 15 pc of the Sun, and it is only for planets orbiting these nearest and smallest stars that thorough follow-up work for characterization will be possible. Unfortunately, more than half of this sample have only low-resolution (R < 19,000) spectroscopic measurements available from the literature, while ten percent have no published spectrum at all.We have undertaken a multi-epoch, high-resolution (R ~ 44,000) spectroscopic survey of the mid-to-late M dwarfs that lie within 15 pc via acurate trigonometric parallaxes. Observations with the Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph (TRES) on the 1.5m telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) on Mt. Hopkins, AZ, are currently underway. We will shortly begin the southern part of this survey with CHIRON at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory / Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (CTIO/SMARTS) 1.5m. We present here results from year one of our TRES survey. We have measured radial velocities, rotational broadening, and H-alpha equivalent widths for 305 mid-to-late M dwarfs. We have discovered five new spectroscopic binaries, one of which is a rare M dwarf - (likely) brown dwarf binary within 10 pc, for which we have determined the orbit.Our survey more than doubles the number of mid-M dwarfs within 15 pc with complete high-resolution spectroscopic and trigonometric characterization. We hope to provide a legacy dataset for the use of future generations of astronomers.This work is being supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation.

Degradation of antibiotic norfloxacin in aqueous solution by visible-light-mediated C-TiO2 photocatalysis.

PubMed

Chen, Meijuan; Chu, W

2012-06-15

A visible-light-mediated C-TiO(2) photocatalytic process (Vis/C-TiO(2)) was employed to degrade antibiotic norfloxacin. The influences of catalyst dosage, initial probe compound concentration and solution pH levels on the decay performance and reaction kinetics were investigated and optimized. Based on the experimental results, an equation was established to predict the observed rate constant under neutral pH. In addition, the decay rate was accelerated under weak alkali in the presence of moderate OH(-) anions. Hydroxyl radical was confirmed to play a major role in the Vis/TiO(2) process, where in the presence of OH quencher and electron acceptor, retardation and improvement were found respectively. Furthermore, an original schematic diagram describing the surface property of C-TiO(2) was built and further verified, in which, NH(4)(+) cations normally served as hole scavengers showed a negligible effect because the adsorbed OH(-) formed a barrier for NH(4)(+) ions to approach the holes, and the F(-) anions presented a significant suppression on norfloxacin decay due to the formation of hydrogen bond (OH⋯F) around the C-TiO(2) surface. Besides, the recycling and sedimentation tests justified that the Vis/C-TiO(2) process is a cost-effective and feasible way for wastewater treatment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mechanical design for the Evryscope: a minute cadence, 10,000-square-degree FoV, gigapixel-scale telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ratzloff, Jeff; Law, Nicholas M.; Fors, Octavi; Wulfken, Philip J.

2015-01-01

We designed, tested, prototyped and built a compact 27-camera robotic telescope that images 10,000 square degrees in 2-minute exposures. We exploit mass produced interline CCD Cameras with Rokinon consumer lenses to economically build a telescope that covers this large part of the sky simultaneously with a good enough pixel sampling to avoid the confusion limit over most of the sky. We developed the initial concept into a 3-d mechanical design with the aid of computer modeling programs. Significant design components include the camera assembly-mounting modules, the hemispherical support structure, and the instrument base structure. We simulated flexure and material stress in each of the three main components, which helped us optimize the rigidity and materials selection, while reducing weight. The camera mounts are CNC aluminum and the support shell is reinforced fiberglass. Other significant project components include optimizing camera locations, camera alignment, thermal analysis, environmental sealing, wind protection, and ease of access to internal components. The Evryscope will be assembled at UNC Chapel Hill and deployed to the CTIO in 2015.

IR Imager Exposure Calculator

Science.gov Websites

CTIO Infrared Imager Exposure Time Calculator Note: ISPI throughput values updated 12 March 2005 S/N ratio 10 Exposure Time 1 (seconds) Calculate S/N for specified Total Integration Time Calculate Total Integration Time to reach Desired S/N Submit Exposure Calculation Request [CTIO Home] [CTIO IR

Protecting the Local Dark-Sky Areas around the International Observatories in Chile.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, M. G.

2001-12-01

This report covers efforts by IAU Commission 50's new Working Group on Light Pollution to slow or halt the spread of incipient light pollution near the VLT, the Magellan 6.5m telescopes, Gemini South, SOAR, Blanco and many smaller telescopes in Chile. An effort has just begun to protect the ALMA site in Northern Chile from RFI. Such work includes extensive outreach programs to the local population, schools and industry as well as to local, regional and national levels of government in Chile. The group is working internationally with such organizations as the IDA; one member has recently led the production of "The first world atlas of the artificial night-sky brightness". These efforts have resulted in the first national-level environmental legislation covering dark skies as part of a government effort to protect the environment. Chilean manufacturers are now producing competitive, full-cut-off, street lighting designed specifically to comply with the new legislation. The Chilean national tourism agency is supporting "Astronomical Tourism" based on the dark, clear skies of Chile. An international conference on Controlling Light Pollution and RFI will be held in La Serena, Chile on 5-7 March, 2002, backed up by a parallel meeting of Chilean amateur astronomers. Much work remains to be done. Most of this work is supported by funding from the US National Science Foundation through CTIO, and from ESO, OCIW and CONAMA.

KMTNet Time-series Photometry of the Doubly Eclipsing Binary Stars Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Kyeongsoo; Koo, Jae-Rim; Lee, Jae Woo; Kim, Seung-Lee; Lee, Chung-Uk; Park, Jang-Ho; Kim, Hyoun-Woo; Lee, Dong-Joo; Kim, Dong-Jin; Han, Cheongho

2018-05-01

We report the results of photometric observations for doubly eclipsing binaries OGLE-LMC-ECL-15674 and OGLE-LMC-ECL-22159, both of which are composed of two pairs (designated A&B) of a detached eclipsing binary located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The light curves were obtained by high-cadence time-series photometry using the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network 1.6 m telescopes located at three southern sites (CTIO, SAAO, and SSO) between 2016 September and 2017 January. The orbital periods were determined to be 1.433 and 1.387 days for components A and B of OGLE-LMC-ECL-15674, respectively, and 2.988 and 3.408 days for OGLE-LMC-ECL-22159A and B, respectively. Our light curve solutions indicate that the significant changes in the eclipse depths of OGLE-LMC-ECL-15674A and B were caused by variations in their inclination angles. The eclipse timing diagrams of the A and B components of OGLE-LMC-ECL-15674 and OGLE-LMC-ECL-22159 were analyzed using 28, 44, 28, and 26 new times of minimum light, respectively. The apsidal motion period of OGLE-LMC-ECL-15674B was estimated by detailed analysis of eclipse timings for the first time. The detached eclipsing binary OGLE-LMC-ECL-15674B shows a fast apsidal period of 21.5 ± 0.1 years.

Blanco Webcams | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

the slit, then the DECam image is being occluded. The small circle is the field of view of DECam on Meetings Upcoming Colloquia Sky Conditions CTIO Site Conditions TASCA RASICAM Infrared Sky Image CTIO Guidelines Library Facilities Outreach NOAO-S EPO Program team Art of Darkness Image Gallery EPO/CADIAS

Preliminary Characterization of IDCSP Spacecrafts Through a Multi-Analytical Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lederer, S. M.; Seitzer, P.; Cowardin, H. M.; Barker, E. S.; Abercromby, K. J.; Burkhardt, Andrew

2012-01-01

Defining the risks present to both crewed and robotic spacecrafts is part of NASA s mission, and is critical to keep these resources out of harm s way. Characterizing orbital debris is an essential part of this mission. We present a proof-of-concept study that employs multiple techniques to demonstrate the efficacy of each approach. The targets of this study are IDCSPs (Initial Defense Communications Satellite Program). 35 of these satellites were launched by the US in the mid-1960s and were the first US military communications satellites in the GEO regime. They were emplaced in slightly sub-synchronous orbits. These targets were chosen for this proof-of-concept study for the simplicity of their observable exterior surfaces. The satellites are 26-sided polygons (86cm in diameter), initially spin-stabilized, and covered on all sides in solar panels. Data presented here include: (a) visible broadband photometry (Johnson/Kron-Cousins BVRI) taken with the 0.9m SMARTs telescope (Small and Medium Aperture Telescopes) at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile in April, 2012, (b) laboratory broadband photometry (Johnson/ Bessell BVRI) of solar cells, obtained using the Optical Measurements Center (OMC) at NASA/JSC [1], (c) visible-band spectra taken using the Magellan 6.5m Baade Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile in May, 2012 [2], and (d) visible-band laboratory spectra of solar cells using an ASD Field Spectrometer. Color-color plots using broadband photometry (e.g. B-R vs. B-V) demonstrate that different material types fall into distinct areas on the plots [1]. Spectra of the same material types as those plotted in the color-color plots each display their own signature as well. Here, we compare lab data with telescopic data, and photometric results with spectroscopic results. The spectral response of solar cells in the visible wavelength regime varies from relatively flat to somewhat older solar cells whose reflectivity can be gently or sharply peaked in the blue. With a target like IDCSPs, the material type is known a priori, aiding in understanding how material type affects one s observations.

NRES: The Network of Robotic Echelle Spectrographs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siverd, Robert; Brown, Tim; Henderson, Todd; Hygelund, John; Barnes, Stuart; de Vera, Jon; Eastman, Jason; Kirby, Annie; Smith, Cary; Taylor, Brook; Tufts, Joseph; van Eyken, Julian

2018-01-01

Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is building the Network of Robotic Echelle Spectrographs (NRES), which will consist of four (up to six in the future) identical, optical (390 - 860 nm) high-precision spectrographs, each fiber-fed simultaneously by up to two 1-meter telescopes and a Thorium-Argon calibration source. We plan to install one at up to 6 observatory sites in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, creating a single, globally-distributed, autonomous spectrograph facility using up to ten 1-m telescopes. Simulations suggest we will achieve long-term radial velocity precision of 3 m/s in less than an hour for stars brighter than V = 11 or 12 once the system reaches full capability. Acting in concert, these four spectrographs will provide a new, unique facility for stellar characterization and precise radial velocities.Following a few months of on-sky evaluation at our BPL test facility, the first spectrograph unit was shipped to CTIO in late 2016 and installed in March 2017. After several more months of additional testing and commissioning, regular science operations began with this node in September 2017. The second NRES spectrograph was installed at McDonald Observatory in September 2017 and released to the network after its own brief commissioning period, extending spectroscopic capability to the Northern hemisphere. The third NRES spectrograph was installed at SAAO in November 2017 and released to our science community just before year's end. The fourth NRES unit shipped in October and is currently en route to Wise Observatory in Israel with an expected release to the science community in early 2018.We will briefly overview the LCO telescope network, the NRES spectrograph design, the advantages it provides, and development challenges we encountered along the way. We will further discuss real-world performance from our first three units, initial science results, and the ongoing software development effort needed to automate such a facility for a wide array of science cases.

Visiting Astronomers Travel Guide | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

please advise Ximena Herreros at the time that you initiate travel plans, if your stay in Chile will , well in advance of their travel time, regarding current visa requirements for Chile. back to top Visiting Astronomers Travel Guide Director's Discretionary (DD) Time CTIO 2016 Ephemeris ToO Policy CTIO

An Assessment of GEO Orbital Debris Photometric Properties Derived from Laboratory-Based Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowardin, H.; Abercromby, K.; Barker, E.; Seitzer, P.; Mulrooney, M.; Schildknecht, T.

Optical observations of orbital debris offer insights that differ from radar measurements (specifically the size parameter and wavelength regime). For example, time-dependent photometric data yield lightcurves in multiple bandpasses that aid in material identification and possible periodic orientations. This data can also be used to help identify shapes and optical properties at multiple phase angles. Capitalizing on optical data products and applying them to generate a more complete understanding of orbital space objects, is a key objective of NASA's Optical Measurement Program, and a primary driver for creation of the Optical Measurements Center (OMC). The OMC attempts to emulate space-based illumination conditions using equipment and techniques that parallel telescopic observations and source-target-sensor orientations. The OMC uses a 300 Watt Xenon arc lamp as a solar simulator, a CCD camera with Johnson/Bessel colored filters, and a robotic arm to orientate/rotate objects to simulate an objects orbit/rotational period. A high-resolution, high bandwidth (350nm-2500nm) Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) spectrometer is also employed to baseline various material types. Since observation of GEO targets are generally restricted to the optical regime (due to radar range limitations), analysis of their properties is tailored to those revealed by optical data products. In this connection, much attention has been directed towards understanding the lightcurves of orbital debris with high area-to-mass (A/m) ratios (> 0.9 m2/kg). A small population of GEO debris was recently identified, which exhibits the properties of high A/m objects, such as variable eccentricities and inclinations -- a dynamical characteristic generally resulting from varying solar radiation pressure on high A/m objects. Materials such as multi-layered insulation (MLI) and solar panels are two examples of materials with high area-to mass ratios. Lightcurves for such objects can vary greatly (even for the same object under different illumination conditions). For example, specular reflections from multiple facets of the target surface (e.g. Mylar or Aluminized Kapton) can lead to erratic, orientation-dependent lightcurves. This paper will investigate published color photometric data for a series of orbital debris targets and compare it to the empirical photometric measurements generated in the OMC. The specific materials investigated (known to exist in GEO) are: an intact piece of MLI, separated layers of MLI, and multiple solar cells materials. Using the data acquired over specific rotational angles through different filters (B, V, R, I), a color index is acquired (B-R, R-I). As a secondary check, the spectrometer is used to define color indexes for the same material. Using these values and their associated lightcurves, this laboratory data is compared to observational data obtained on the 1m telescope of the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AUIB) and the 0.9 m Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). We will present laboratory generated lightcurves with color indexes of the high A/m materials alongside telescopic data of targets with high A/m values. We will discuss the relationship of laboratory to telescope data in the context of classification of GEO debris objects.

Cooling the dark energy camera instrument

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schmitt, R.L.; Cease, H.; /Fermilab

2008-06-01

DECam, camera for the Dark Energy Survey (DES), is undergoing general design and component testing. For an overview see DePoy, et al in these proceedings. For a description of the imager, see Cease, et al in these proceedings. The CCD instrument will be mounted at the prime focus of the CTIO Blanco 4m telescope. The instrument temperature will be 173K with a heat load of 113W. In similar applications, cooling CCD instruments at the prime focus has been accomplished by three general methods. Liquid nitrogen reservoirs have been constructed to operate in any orientation, pulse tube cryocoolers have been usedmore » when tilt angles are limited and Joule-Thompson or Stirling cryocoolers have been used with smaller heat loads. Gifford-MacMahon cooling has been used at the Cassegrain but not at the prime focus. For DES, the combined requirements of high heat load, temperature stability, low vibration, operation in any orientation, liquid nitrogen cost and limited space available led to the design of a pumped, closed loop, circulating nitrogen system. At zenith the instrument will be twelve meters above the pump/cryocooler station. This cooling system expected to have a 10,000 hour maintenance interval. This paper will describe the engineering basis including the thermal model, unbalanced forces, cooldown time, the single and two-phase flow model.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tokovinin, Andrei, E-mail: atokovinin@ctio.noao.edu

Radial velocity (RV) monitoring of solar-type visual binaries has been conducted at the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5 m telescope to study short-period systems. The data reduction is described, and mean and individual RVs of 163 observed objects are given. New spectroscopic binaries are discovered or suspected in 17 objects, and for some of them the orbital periods could be determined. Subsystems are efficiently detected even in a single observation by double lines and/or by the RV difference between the components of visual binaries. The potential of this detection technique is quantified by simulation and used for statistical assessment of 96 wide binariesmore » within 67 pc. It is found that 43 binaries contain at least one subsystem, and the occurrence of subsystems is equally probable in either primary or secondary components. The frequency of subsystems and their periods matches the simple prescription proposed by the author. The remaining 53 simple wide binaries with a median projected separation of 1300 AU have an RV difference distribution between their components that is not compatible with the thermal eccentricity distribution f (e) = 2e but rather matches the uniform eccentricity distribution.« less

A 4-m evolvable space telescope configured for NASA's HabEx Mission: the initial stage of LUVOIR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lillie, Charles F.; MacEwen, Howard A.; Polidan, Ronald S.; Breckinridge, James B.

2017-09-01

Previous papers have described our concept for a large telescope that would be assembled in space in several stages (in different configurations) over a period of fifteen to 20 years. Spreading the telescope development, launch and operations cost over 20 years would minimize the impact on NASA's annual budget and drastically shorten the time between program start and "first light" for this space observatory. The first Stage of this Evolvable Space Telescope (EST) would consist of an instrument module located at the prime focus of three 4-meter hexagonal mirrors arranged in a semi-circle to form one-half of a 12-m segmented mirror. After several years three additional 4-m mirrors would be added to create a 12-m filled aperture. Later, twelve more 4-m mirrors will be added to this Stage 2 telescope to create a 20-m filled aperture space telescope. At each stage the telescope would have an unparalleled capability for UVOIR observations, and the results of these observations will guide the evolution of the telescope and its instruments. In this paper we describe our design concept for an initial configuration of our Evolvable Space Telescope that can meet the requirements of the 4-m version of the HabEx spacecraft currently under consideration by NASA's Habitable Exoplanet Science and Technology Definition Team. This "Stage Zero" configuration will have only one 4-m mirror segment with the same 30-m focal length and a prime focus coronagraph with normal incidence optics to minimize polarization effects. After assembly and checkout in cis-lunar space, the telescope would transfer to a Sun-Earth L2 halo orbit and obtain high sensitivity, high resolution, high contrast UVOIR observations that address the scientific objectives of the Habitable-Exoplanet Imaging Missions.

First Results from the Lyman Alpha Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (LAGER) Survey: Cosmological Reionization at z ˜ 7

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Zhen-Ya; Wang, Junxian; Rhoads, James; Infante, Leopoldo; Malhotra, Sangeeta; Hu, Weida; Walker, Alistair R.; Jiang, Linhua; Jiang, Chunyan; Hibon, Pascale; Gonzalez, Alicia; Kong, Xu; Zheng, XianZhong; Galaz, Gaspar; Barrientos, L. Felipe

2017-06-01

We present the first results from the ongoing Lyman Alpha Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (LAGER) project, which is the largest narrowband survey for z ˜ 7 galaxies to date. Using a specially built narrowband filter NB964 for the superb large-area Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the NOAO/CTIO 4 m Blanco telescope, LAGER has collected 34 hr NB964 narrowband imaging data in the 3 deg2 COSMOS field. We have identified 23 Lyα Emitter candidates at z = 6.9 in the central 2-deg2 region, where DECam and public COSMOS multi-band images exist. The resulting luminosity function (LF) can be described as a Schechter function modified by a significant excess at the bright end (four galaxies with L Lyα ˜ 1043.4±0.2 erg s-1). The number density at L Lyα ˜ 1043.4±0.2 erg s-1 is little changed from z = 6.6, while at fainter L Lyα it is substantially reduced. Overall, we see a fourfold reduction in Lyα luminosity density from z = 5.7 to z = 6.9. Combined with a more modest evolution of the continuum UV luminosity density, this suggests a factor of ˜3 suppression of Lyα by radiative transfer through the z ˜ 7 intergalactic medium (IGM). It indicates an IGM neutral fraction of x H I ˜ 0.4-0.6 (assuming Lyα velocity offsets of 100-200 km s-1). The changing shape of the Lyα LF between z ≲ 6.6 and z = 6.9 supports the hypothesis of ionized bubbles in a patchy reionization at z ˜ 7.

The DEEP-South: Scheduling and Data Reduction Software System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yim, Hong-Suh; Kim, Myung-Jin; Bae, Youngho; Moon, Hong-Kyu; Choi, Young-Jun; Roh, Dong-Goo; the DEEP-South Team

2015-08-01

The DEep Ecliptic Patrol of the Southern sky (DEEP-South), started in October 2012, is currently in test runs with the first Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) 1.6 m wide-field telescope located at CTIO in Chile. While the primary objective for the DEEP-South is physical characterization of small bodies in the Solar System, it is expected to discover a large number of such bodies, many of them previously unknown.An automatic observation planning and data reduction software subsystem called "The DEEP-South Scheduling and Data reduction System" (the DEEP-South SDS) is currently being designed and implemented for observation planning, data reduction and analysis of huge amount of data with minimum human interaction. The DEEP-South SDS consists of three software subsystems: the DEEP-South Scheduling System (DSS), the Local Data Reduction System (LDR), and the Main Data Reduction System (MDR). The DSS manages observation targets, makes decision on target priority and observation methods, schedules nightly observations, and archive data using the Database Management System (DBMS). The LDR is designed to detect moving objects from CCD images, while the MDR conducts photometry and reconstructs lightcurves. Based on analysis made at the LDR and the MDR, the DSS schedules follow-up observation to be conducted at other KMTNet stations. In the end of 2015, we expect the DEEP-South SDS to achieve a stable operation. We also have a plan to improve the SDS to accomplish finely tuned observation strategy and more efficient data reduction in 2016.

PROPERTIES OF THE 24 DAY MODULATION IN GX 13+1 FROM NEAR-INFRARED AND X-RAY OBSERVATIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Corbet, Robin H. D.; Pearlman, Aaron B.; Buxton, Michelle

2010-08-10

A 24 day period for the low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) GX 13+1 was previously proposed on the basis of seven years of RXTE All-Sky Monitor (ASM) observations and it was suggested that this was the orbital period of the system. This would make it one of the longest known orbital periods for a Galactic LMXB powered by Roche lobe overflow. We present here the results of (1) K-band photometry obtained with the SMARTS Consortium CTIO 1.3 m telescope on 68 nights over a 10 month interval; (2) continued monitoring with the RXTE ASM, analyzed using a semi-weighted power spectrum insteadmore » of the data filtering technique previously used; and (3) Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) hard X-ray observations. Modulation near 24 days is seen in both the K band and additional statistically independent ASM X-ray observations. However, the modulation in the ASM is not strictly periodic. The periodicity is also not detected in the Swift BAT observations, but modulation at the same relative level as seen with the ASM cannot be ruled out. If the 24 day period is the orbital period of system, this implies that the X-ray modulation is caused by structure that is not fixed in location. A possible mechanism for the X-ray modulation is the dipping behavior recently reported from XMM-Newton observations.« less

To v∞ and beyond! The He I absorption variability across the 2014.6 periastron passage of η Carinae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richardson, Noel D.; Madura, Thomas I.; St-Jean, Lucas; Moffat, Anthony F. J.; Gull, Theodore R.; Russell, Christopher M. P.; Damineli, Augusto; Teodoro, Mairan; Corcoran, Michael F.; Walter, Frederick M.; Clementel, Nicola; Groh, José H.; Hamaguchi, Kenji; Hillier, D. John

2016-09-01

We have monitored the massive binary star η Carinae with the CTIO/Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System 1.5 m telescope and CHIRON spectrograph from the previous apastron passage of the system through the recent 2014.6 periastron passage. Our monitoring has resulted in a large, homogeneous data set with an unprecedented time-sampling, spectral resolving power, and signal to noise. This allowed us to investigate temporal variability previously unexplored in the system and discover a kinematic structure in the P Cygni absorption troughs of neutral helium wind lines. The features observed occurred prior to the periastron passage and are seen as we look through the trailing arm of the wind-wind collision shock cone. We show that the bulk of the variability is repeatable across the last five periastron passages, and that the absorption occurs in the inner 230 au of the system. In addition, we found an additional, high-velocity absorption component superimposed on the P Cygni absorption troughs that has been previously unobserved in these lines, but which bears resemblance to the observations of the He I λ10830 Å feature across previous cycles. Through a comparison of the current smoothed particle hydrodynamical simulations, we show that the observed variations are likely caused by instabilities in the wind-wind collision region in our line of sight, coupled with stochastic variability related to clumping in the winds.

Multiple Stellar Populations of Globular Clusters from Homogeneous Ca-CN Photometry. II. M5 (NGC 5904) and a New Filter System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jae-Woo

2017-07-01

Using our ingeniously designed new filter systems, we investigate multiple stellar populations of the red giant branch (RGB) and the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) in the globular cluster (GC) M5. Our results are the following. (1) Our {{cn}}{JWL} index accurately traces nitrogen abundances in M5, while other color indices fail to do so. (2) We find bimodal CN distributions in both RGB and AGB sequences, with number ratios between CN-weak (CN-w) and CN-strong (CN-s) of n(CN-w):n(CN-s) = 29:71 (±2) and 21:79 (±7), respectively. (3) We also find a bimodal photometric [N/Fe] distribution for M5 RGB stars. (4) Our {{cn}}{JWL}-[O/Fe] and {{cn}}{JWL}-[Na/Fe] relations show clear discontinuities between the two RGB populations. (5) Although small, the RGB bump of CN-s is slightly brighter, {{Δ }}{V}{bump} = 0.07 ± 0.04 mag. If real, the difference in the helium abundance becomes {{Δ }}Y = 0.028 ± 0.016, in the sense that CN-s is more helium enhanced. (6) Very similar radial but different spatial distributions with comparable center positions are found for the two RGB populations. The CN-s RGB and AGB stars are more elongated along the NW-SE direction. (7) The CN-s population shows a substantial net projected rotation, while that of the CN-w population is nil. (8) Our results confirm the deficiency of CN-w AGB stars previously noted by others. We show that it is most likely due to stochastic truncation in the outer part of the cluster. Finally, we discuss the formation scenario of M5. Based on observations made with the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 1 m telescope, which is operated by the SMARTS consortium.

CTIO Staff | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Associate Malcolm Smith Emeritus Malcolm Smith's webpage Sean Points Scientist Sean Points' Web Page Alfredo Zenteno Assistant Scientist Robert Chris Smith Astronomer Regis Cartier Postdoc Research Associate Tim

REU Program | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO), located in La Serena, Chile, offers 10 week Undergraduate Research REU/PIA English/Spanish Astronomy Dictionary REU/PIA Current and Previous Programs CTIO REU/PIA Alumni

A Speckle survey of Southern Hipparcos Visual Doubles and Geneva-Copenhagen Spectroscopic Binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendez, R. A.; Tokovinin, A.; Horch, E.

2017-07-01

The prospect of exquisite-precision parallaxes that will be enabled by the Gaia satellite dramatically changes the landscape of observational stellar astrophysics: If one considers the Hipparcos double stars that lie within 250 pc of the Solar system, a parallax determined by Gaia would yield an uncertainty under 1% for all these objects. In this volume, there are 591 Hipparcos double star discoveries and 160 spectroscopic binaries from the Geneva-Copenhagen spectroscopic survey in the declination range of -20° to -90°. These two samples are important as a source of new binaries from which we will derive masses, component luminosities, and effective temperatures in the coming years. The northern hemisphere counterpart of these objects have been systematically observed at the WIYN Telescope by Horch and collaborators (Horch, E. P., van Altena, W. F., Howell, S. B., Sherry, W. H., & Ciardi, D. R. 2011, AJ, 141, 180). On the other hand, Tokovinin has shown the ability of HRCam at the CTIO/SOAR 4m telescope for binary star research. In 2014 we started a speckle survey with SOAR+HRCam that will complement and significantly extend those previous efforts, allowing us to compile a unique all-sky, volume-limited speckle survey of these two primary samples. So far 12 nights (spread over 3 semesters) have been granted through the Chilean reserved time, with lots of binaries confirmed, many new binaries found, and with several multiple systems discovered (Tokovinin et al., 2015, AJ, 150, 50 and 2016, AJ, 151, 153). Our survey, when complete, will open the door to many sensitive tests of stellar evolution theory, and a large number of new points on the MLR. With this we will truly be able to investigate effects such as metallicity and age on the MLR for the first time. In cases where one component has evolved off the main sequence, age determinations will also be possible.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: GOODS-S CANDELS multiwavelength catalog (Guo+, 2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Y.; Ferguson, H. C.; Giavalisco, M.; Barro, G.; Willner, S. P.; Ashby, M. L. N.; Dahlen, T.; Donley, J. L.; Faber, S. M.; Fontana, A.; Galametz, A.; Grazian, A.; Huang, K.-H.; Kocevski, D. D.; Koekemoer, A. M.; Koo, D. C.; McGrath, E. J.; Peth, M.; Salvato, M.; Wuyts, S.; Castellano, M.; Cooray, A. R.; Dickinson, M. E.; Dunlop, J. S.; Fazio, G. G.; Gardner, J. P.; Gawiser, E.; Grogin, N. A.; Hathi, N. P.; Hsu, L.-T.; Lee, K.-S.; Lucas, R. A.; Mobasher, B.; Nandra, K.; Newman, J. A.; van der Wel, A.

2014-04-01

The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS; Grogin et al. 2011ApJS..197...35G; Koekemoer et al. 2011ApJS..197...36K) is designed to document galaxy formation and evolution over the redshift range of z=1.5-8. The core of CANDELS is to use the revolutionary near-infrared HST/WFC3 camera, installed on HST in 2009 May, to obtain deep imaging of faint and faraway objects. The GOODS-S field, centered at RAJ2000=03:32:30 and DEJ2000=-27:48:20 and located within the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS; Giacconi et al. 2002, Cat. J/ApJS/139/369), is a sky region of about 170arcmin2 which has been targeted for some of the deepest observations ever taken by NASA's Great Observatories, HST, Spitzer, and Chandra as well as by other world-class telescopes. The field has been (among others) imaged in the optical wavelength with HST/ACS in F435W, F606W, F775W, and F850LP bands as part of the HST Treasury Program: the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS; Giavalisco et al. 2004, Cat. II/261); in the mid-IR (3.6-24um) wavelength with Spitzer as part of the GOODS Spitzer Legacy Program (PI: M. Dickinson). The CDF-S/GOODS field was observed by the MOSAIC II imager on the CTIO 4m Blanco telescope to obtain deep U-band observations in 2001 September. Another U-band survey in GOODS-S was carried out using the VIMOS instrument mounted at the Melipal Unit Telescope of the VLT at ESO's Cerro Paranal Observatory, Chile. This large program of ESO (168.A-0485; PI: C. Cesarsky) was obtained in service mode observations in UT3 between 2004 August and fall 2006. In the ground-based NIR, imaging observations of the CDFS were carried out in J, H, Ks bands using the ISAAC instrument mounted at the Antu Unit Telescope of the VLT. Data were obtained as part of the ESO Large Programme 168.A-0485 (PI: C. Cesarsky) as well as ESO Programmes 64.O-0643, 66.A-0572, and 68.A-0544 (PI: E. Giallongo) with a total allocation time of ~500 hr from 1999 October to 2007 January. The CANDELS/GOODS-S field was also observed in the NIR as part of the ongoing HAWK-I UDS and GOODS-S survey (HUGS; VLT large program ID 186.A-0898; PI: A. Fontana; A. Fontana et al., in preparation) using the High Acuity Wide field K-band Imager (HAWK-I) on VLT. (1 data file).

A Cognitive Architecture for Solving Ill-Structured Problems

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-08-01

R. C. (1982). Dynamic memory. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press. Selfridge, 0. G., & Neisser , U . (1960). Pattern recognition by machine...Page 1 . In tro d u ctio n...1 1.1 Relevance to the ARI M ission ............................................................................... 1 1.2 Components of Analogy U se

An Assessment of GEO Orbital Debris Photometric Properties Derived from Laboratory-Based Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriquez-Cowardin, H.; Abercromby, K.; Barker, E.; Mulrooney, M.; Seitzer, P.; Schildknecht, T.

2009-01-01

Optical observations of orbital debris offer insights that differ from radar measurements (specifically the size parameter and wavelength regime). For example, time-dependent photometric data yield lightcurves in multiple bandpasses that aid in material identification and possible periodic orientations. This data can also be used to help identify shapes and optical properties at multiple phase angles. Capitalizing on optical data products and applying them to generate a more complete understanding of orbital space objects, is a key objective of NASA s Optical Measurement Program, and a primary driver for creation of the Optical Measurements Center (OMC). The OMC attempts to emulate space-based illumination conditions using equipment and techniques that parallel telescopic observations and source-target-sensor orientations. The OMC uses a 300 Watt Xenon arc lamp as a solar simulator, a CCD camera with Johnson/Bessel colored filters, and a robotic arm to orientate/rotate objects to simulate an object's orbit/rotational period. A high-resolution, high bandwidth (350nm-2500nm) Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) spectrometer is also employed to baseline various material types. Since observation of GEO targets are generally restricted to the optical regime (due to radar range limitations), analysis of their properties is tailored to those revealed by optical data products. In this connection, much attention has been directed towards understanding the lightcurves of orbital debris with high area-to-mass (A/m) ratios (greater than 0.9 square meters per kilogram). A small population of GEO debris was recently identified, which exhibits the properties of high A/m objects, such as variable eccentricities and inclinations a dynamical characteristic generally resulting from varying solar radiation pressure on high A/m objects. Materials such as multi-layered insulation (MLI) and solar panels are two examples of materials with high area-to mass ratios. Lightcurves for such objects can vary greatly (even for the same object under different illumination conditions). For example, specular reflections from multiple facets of the target surface (e.g. Mylar or Aluminized Kapton) can lead to erratic, orientation-dependent light curves. This paper will investigate published color photometric data for a series of orbital debris targets and compare it to the empirical photometric measurements generated in the OMC. The specific materials investigated (known to exist in GEO) are: an intact piece of MLI, separated layers of MLI, and multiple solar cells materials. Using the data acquired over specific rotational angles through different filters (B, V, R, I), a color index is acquired (B-R, R-I). As a secondary check, the spectrometer is used to define color indexes for the same material. Using these values and their associated lightcurves, this laboratory data is compared to observational data obtained on the 1m telescope of the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AUIB) and the 0.9 m Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). We will present laboratory generated lightcurves with color indexes of the high A/m materials alongside telescopic data of targets with high A/m values. We will discuss the relationship of laboratory to telescope data in the context of classification of GEO debris objects.

Manufacturing Methods and Technology. Project Summary Reports.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-06-01

Tung- sten Inert Gas (TIG) welding of aluminum components. 41 X 4 (,B)IRAIt AW k A r A’I 4 " 6 A T A k I, A ., : , . Figure 1 - Modular Packages for...Telescope and M134 Mount 75 6 M102 Howitzer M113 Panoramic Telescope and M134 Mount 100 4 )21l4 Quiadrant 1.50 2 XM11A Elbow Telescope 130 5 M29...No. Temperature( OF) Time at temperature(min.) 1 200 30 2 200 6o 3 300 30 4 300 60 5 4DO 30 6 4 +0 60 Springs compressed to a stress level of 150,000

CTIO Directors | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

The Kinematics of Globular Clusters Measured with a Fabry Perot: the Inner 0.7' of M15 and 47 TUC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gebhardt, K.; Pryor, C.; Williams, T. B.; Hesser, J. E.

1992-12-01

We are using the Rutgers Imaging Fabry Perot Interferometer on the CTIO 4m telescope to study the kinematics of globular clusters. The etalon has a resolution of 0.7 Angstroms at 5900 Angstroms (FWHM), which equals the broadening caused by a velocity dispersion of 15 \\kms. We take a series of images, spaced at about 0.25 Angstroms, covering a strong absorption line (one of the Na D lines or a Ca triplet line) to produce a short spectrum at each pixel. The Fabry Perot field of view is about 4.5 square arcmin, but, due to the parabolic variation of wavelength with radius in the field, we get good coverage of the absorption line out to about 0.7' from the center with 15 exposures. If conditions are not photometric, we can normalize the images by using the stars on the edge of the field that are in the continuum. The information in these frames can be exploited in several ways. Measuring the brightness in each frame of every identifiable star yields stellar spectra and thus velocities. We use DAOPHOT II (Stetson, P.B. 1987 (Pub. A.S.P., 99, 191)) to do this. DAOPHOT can also subtract most of the light of the brighter stars and produce frames of residual cluster light, from which we can get the spectra of the integrated light. The broadening of the line in the spectrum of the diffuse light yields, in principle, the velocity dispersion of the underlying fainter stars, particularly near the cusp center. We present our results from two runs for the clusters M15 and 47 Tuc. We confirm the inward increase in the velocity dispersion of M15 previously measured by Peterson, R.C., Seitzer, P. and Cudworth, K.M. 1989 (Ap. J., 347, 251), but our dispersion estimates are smaller than theirs. Our measured dispersion for 25 stars within the 0.2' of the cluster center is 10 \\kms, 5 \\kms smaller than the value found by Peterson et.al..

Contact at CTIO | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Clouds at CTIO and the Dark Energy Survey

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neilsen, Jr., Eric

An understanding of the weather patters at Cerro-Tololo Inter-American (CTIO) Observatory, the observing site for the Dark Energy Survey (DES), is important for assessing the efciency of DES operations in using observing time and for planning future operations. CTIO has maintained records of cloud-cover by quarters of nights since 1975. A comparison between these cloud records in the 2013-2014 DES observing season (DES year 1) and achieved observing efciency and exposure quality allows the DES collaboration to make better use of the historical records in survey planning. Plots and tables here relate human recorded cloud-cover to collection of good DESmore » data, show the variation of typical cloud-cover by month, and evaluate the relationship between the El Niño weather pattern and cloud-cover at CTIO.« less

The DAG project, a 4m class telescope: the telescope main structure performances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchiori, G.; Busatta, A.; Ghedin, L.; Marcuzzi, E.; Manfrin, C.; Battistel, C.; Pirnay, O.; Flebus, Carlo; Yeşilyaprak, C.; Keskin, O.; Yerli, S.

2016-07-01

Dogu Anatolu Gözlemevi (DAG-Eastern Anatolia Observatory) Project is a 4m class optical, near-infrared Telescope and suitable enclosure which will be located at an altitude of 3.170m in Erzurum, Turkey. The DAG telescope is a project fully funded by Turkish Ministry of Development and the Atatürk University of Astrophysics Research Telescope - ATASAM. The Project is being developed by the Belgian company AMOS (project leader), which is also the optics supplier and EIE GROUP, the Telescope Main Structure supplier and responsible for the final site integration. The design of the Telescope Main Structure fits in the EIE TBO Program which aims at developing a Dome/Telescope systemic optimization process for both performances and competitive costs based on previous project commitments like NTT, VLT, VST and ASTRI. The optical Configuration of the DAG Telescope is a Ritchey-Chretien with two Nasmyth foci and a 4m primary thin mirror controlled in shape and position by an Active Optic System. The main characteristics of the Telescope Main Structure are an Altitude-Azimuth light and rigid structure system with Direct Drive Systems for both axis, AZ Hydrostatic Bearing System and Altitude standard bearing system; both axes are equipped with Tape Encoder System. An innovative Control System characterizes the telescope performance.

Synthesis, characterization, and performance evaluation of multilayered photoanodes by introducing mesoporous carbon and TiO2 for humic acid adsorption.

PubMed

Hosseini, Soraya; Jahangirian, Hossein; Webster, Thomas J; Soltani, Salman Masoudi; Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine

2016-01-01

Nanostructured photoanodes were prepared via a novel combination of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and mesoporous carbon (C). Four different photoanodes were synthesized by sol-gel spin coating onto a glassy substrate of fluorine-doped tin oxide. The photocatalytic activities of TiO2, TiO2/C/TiO2, TiO2/C/C/TiO2, and TiO2/C/TiO2/C/TiO2 photoanodes were evaluated by exposing the synthesized photoanodes to UV-visible light. The photocurrent density observed in these photoanodes confirmed that an additional layer of mesoporous carbon could successfully increase the photocurrent density. The highest photocurrent density of ~1.022 mA cm(-2) at 1 V/saturated calomel electrode was achieved with TiO2/C/C/TiO2 under an illumination intensity of 100 mW cm(-2) from a solar simulator. The highest value of surface roughness was measured for a TiO2/C/C/TiO2 combination owing to the presence of two continuous layers of mesoporous carbon. The resulting films had a thickness ranging from 1.605 µm to 5.165 µm after the calcination process. The presence of double-layer mesoporous carbon resulted in a 20% increase in the photocurrent density compared with the TiO2/C/TiO2 combination when only a single mesoporous carbon layer was employed. The improved performance of these photoanodes can be attributed to the enhanced porosity and increased void space due to the presence of mesoporous carbon. For the first time, it has been demonstrated here that the photoelectrochemical performance of TiO2 can be improved by integrating several layers of mesoporous carbon. Comparison of the rate of removal of humic acid by the prepared photoanodes showed that the highest performance from TiO2/C/C/TiO2 was due to the highest photocurrent density generated. Therefore, this study showed that optimizing the sequence of mesoporous carbon layers can be a viable and inexpensive method for enhanced humic acid removal.

Synthesis, characterization, and performance evaluation of multilayered photoanodes by introducing mesoporous carbon and TiO2 for humic acid adsorption

PubMed Central

Hosseini, Soraya; Jahangirian, Hossein; Webster, Thomas J; Soltani, Salman Masoudi; Aroua, Mohamed Kheireddine

2016-01-01

Nanostructured photoanodes were prepared via a novel combination of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and mesoporous carbon (C). Four different photoanodes were synthesized by sol–gel spin coating onto a glassy substrate of fluorine-doped tin oxide. The photocatalytic activities of TiO2, TiO2/C/TiO2, TiO2/C/C/TiO2, and TiO2/C/TiO2/C/TiO2 photoanodes were evaluated by exposing the synthesized photoanodes to UV–visible light. The photocurrent density observed in these photoanodes confirmed that an additional layer of mesoporous carbon could successfully increase the photocurrent density. The highest photocurrent density of ~1.022 mA cm−2 at 1 V/saturated calomel electrode was achieved with TiO2/C/C/TiO2 under an illumination intensity of 100 mW cm−2 from a solar simulator. The highest value of surface roughness was measured for a TiO2/C/C/TiO2 combination owing to the presence of two continuous layers of mesoporous carbon. The resulting films had a thickness ranging from 1.605 µm to 5.165 µm after the calcination process. The presence of double-layer mesoporous carbon resulted in a 20% increase in the photocurrent density compared with the TiO2/C/TiO2 combination when only a single mesoporous carbon layer was employed. The improved performance of these photoanodes can be attributed to the enhanced porosity and increased void space due to the presence of mesoporous carbon. For the first time, it has been demonstrated here that the photoelectrochemical performance of TiO2 can be improved by integrating several layers of mesoporous carbon. Comparison of the rate of removal of humic acid by the prepared photoanodes showed that the highest performance from TiO2/C/C/TiO2 was due to the highest photocurrent density generated. Therefore, this study showed that optimizing the sequence of mesoporous carbon layers can be a viable and inexpensive method for enhanced humic acid removal. PMID:27574426

VizieR Online Data Catalog: BV(RI)c light curves of DD Indi (Samec+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samec, R. G.; Norris, C. L.; van Hamme, W.; Faulkner, D. R.; Hill, R. L.

2017-01-01

Our photometry was taken with the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA South) Telescope at Cerro Tololo InterAmerican Observatory (CTIO) in remote mode. The 24 inch F/11 Boller and Chivens reflector was used on five nights, 2013 June 21, July 30, August 01 and 29, and September 01 with the ARC Camera cooled to -110°C. Sample nightly B, V, and B-V color light curves are given for 2013 July 30, August 29, and September 01 using standard BVRcIc Johnson-Cousins filters in Figures 2(a), (b), and (c) in the paper. The precision of a single observation was excellent, 4, 7, 5, and 6mmag in Ic, Rc, V, and B, respectively. The observations included, 313 in B, and 310 in V, 301 in Rc and 261 in Ic. Exposure times varied from 40 to 60s in B, 16 to 25s in V, and 20s in R and I. Our complete set of observations is given in Table1. (1 data file).

The Dark Energy Survey and Operations: Years 1 to 3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Diehl, H. T.

2016-01-01

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is an operating optical survey aimed at understanding the accelerating expansion of the universe using four complementary methods: weak gravitational lensing, galaxy cluster counts, baryon acoustic oscillations, and Type Ia supernovae. To perform the 5000 sq-degree wide field and 30 sq-degree supernova surveys, the DES Collaboration built the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a 3 square-degree, 570-Megapixel CCD camera that was installed at the prime focus of the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). DES has completed its third observing season out of a nominal five. This paper describes DES “Year 1”more » (Y1) to “Year 3” (Y3), the strategy, an outline of the survey operations procedures, the efficiency of operations and the causes of lost observing time. It provides details about the quality of the first three season's data, and describes how we are adjusting the survey strategy in the face of the El Niño Southern Oscillation« less

Links | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

MNRAS New Astronomy New Scientist PASP SAO/NASA ADS Science StarHeads (people) Newsletters, Newspapers & Other Links 4th Region Info Astronomy Pic of the Day AstroWeb CDS AstroResources STScI BBC news

Unravelling the role of SW Sextantis stars in the evolution of cataclysmic variables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Araujo-Betancor, Sofia; Gansicke, Boris; Long, Knox; Rodriguez-Gil, Pablo

2005-08-01

SW Sextantis stars are a relatively large group of cataclysmic variables whose properties contradict all predictions made by the current CV evolution theories. Very little is known about the properties of their accreting white dwarfs and their donor stars, as the stellar components are usually outshone by an extremely bright accretion flow. Consequently, a proper assessment of their evolutionary state is illusionary. There is one particular behavior of the SW Sex stars that can allow us to overcome this problem: SW Sex stars exhibit low states during which accretion onto the white dwarf decreases or shuts off completely. Only during this rare occasions we can directly observe the white dwarf and the donor star in these systems, and measurements of the white dwarf temperature, spectral type of the donor, mass and distance to the system can be carried out. With this aim in mind, we have set up a long-term monitoring of a group of five SW Sex stars using the 1.3 m telescope at CTIO. Here we propose to activate follow-up TOOs to obtain optical spectra of the low states to accurately determine the fundamental properties of these systems.

Twenty-Three High-Redshift Supernovae from the Institute for Astronomy Deep Survey: Doubling the Supernova Sample at z > 0.7

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barris, Brian J.; Tonry, John L.; Blondin, Stéphane; Challis, Peter; Chornock, Ryan; Clocchiatti, Alejandro; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Garnavich, Peter; Holland, Stephen T.; Jha, Saurabh; Kirshner, Robert P.; Krisciunas, Kevin; Leibundgut, Bruno; Li, Weidong; Matheson, Thomas; Miknaitis, Gajus; Riess, Adam G.; Schmidt, Brian P.; Smith, R. Chris; Sollerman, Jesper; Spyromilio, Jason; Stubbs, Christopher W.; Suntzeff, Nicholas B.; Aussel, Hervé; Chambers, K. C.; Connelley, M. S.; Donovan, D.; Henry, J. Patrick; Kaiser, Nick; Liu, Michael C.; Martín, Eduardo L.; Wainscoat, Richard J.

2004-02-01

We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of 23 high-redshift supernovae (SNe) spanning a range of z=0.34-1.03, nine of which are unambiguously classified as Type Ia. These SNe were discovered during the IfA Deep Survey, which began in 2001 September and observed a total of 2.5 deg2 to a depth of approximately m~25-26 in RIZ over 9-17 visits, typically every 1-3 weeks for nearly 5 months, with additional observations continuing until 2002 April. We give a brief description of the survey motivations, observational strategy, and reduction process. This sample of 23 high-redshift SNe includes 15 at z>=0.7, doubling the published number of objects at these redshifts, and indicates that the evidence for acceleration of the universe is not due to a systematic effect proportional to redshift. In combination with the recent compilation of Tonry et al. (2003), we calculate cosmological parameter density contours that are consistent with the flat universe indicated by the cosmic microwave background (Spergel et al. 2003). Adopting the constraint that Ωtotal=1.0, we obtain best-fit values of (Ωm,ΩΛ)=(0.33,0.67) using 22 SNe from this survey augmented by the literature compilation. We show that using the empty-beam model for gravitational lensing does not eliminate the need for ΩΛ>0. Experience from this survey indicates great potential for similar large-scale surveys while also revealing the limitations of performing surveys for z>1 SNe from the ground. CFHT: Based in part on observations obtained at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), which is operated by the National Research Council of Canada, the Institut National des Science de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of France, and the University of Hawaii. CTIO: Based in part on observations taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Keck: Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. Magellan: Based in part on observations from the 6.5 m Baade telescope operated by the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington for the Magellan Consortium, a collaboration between the Carnegie Observatories, the University of Arizona, Harvard University, the University of Michigan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. UH: Based in part on observations with the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii. VLT: Based in part on observations obtained at the European Southern Observatory, Paranal, Chile, under programs ESO 68.A-0427. Based in part on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. This research is primarily associated with proposal GO-09118.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Luminous of high-z QSOs with SDSS and WISE. II (Yang+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, J.; Wang, F.; Wu, X.-B.; Fan, X.; McGreer, I. D.; Bian, F.; Yi, W.; Yang, Q.; Ai, Y.; Dong, X.; Zuo, W.; Green, R.; Jiang, L.; Wang, S.; Wang, R.; Yue, M.

2018-03-01

Our SDSS+WISE selection technique and spectroscopic follow-up observations were discussed in detail in Wang et al. (2016, Cat. J/ApJ/819/24). Our spectroscopic follow-up campaign started in 2013 October with the Lijiang 2.4m telescope (LJT) and Xinglong 2.16m telescope in China, the Kitt Peak 2.3m Bok telescope and 6.5m MMT telescope in the U.S., as well as the 2.3m ANU telescope in Australia. (1 data file).

Polish and European SST Assets: the Solaris-Panoptes Global Network of Robotic Telescopes and the Borowiec Satellite Laser Ranging System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konacki, M.; Lejba, P.; Sybilski, P.; Pawłaszek, R.; Kozłowski, S.; Suchodolski, T.; Litwicki, M.; Kolb, U.; Burwitz, V.; Baader, J.; Groot, P.; Bloemen, S.; Ratajczak, M.; Helminiak, K.; Borek, R.; Chodosiewicz, P.

2016-09-01

We present the assets of the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Space Research Center (both of the Polish Academy of Sciences), two Polish companies Sybilla Technologies, Cillium Engineering and a non-profit research foundation Baltic Institute of Technology. These assets are enhanced by telescopes belonging to The Open University (UK), the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and in the future the Radboud University. They consist of the Solaris-Panoptes global network of optical robotic telescopes and the satellite laser ranging station in Borowiec, Poland. These assets will contribute to the Polish and European Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) program. The Solaris component is composed of four autonomous observatories in the Southern Hemisphere. Solaris nodes are located at the South African Astronomical Observatory (Solaris-1 and Solaris-2), Siding Spring Observatory, Australia (Solaris-3) and Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito, Argentina (Solaris-4). They are equipped with 0.5-m telescopes on ASA DDM-160 direct drive mounts, Andor iKon-L cameras and housed in 3.5-m Baader Planetarium (BP) clamshell domes. The Panoptes component is a network of telescopes operated by software from Sybilla Technologies. It currently consists of 4 telescopes at three locations, all on GM4000 mounts. One 0.36-m (Panoptes-COAST, STL- 1001E camera, 3.5 BP clamshell dome) and one 0.43-m (Panoptes-PIRATE, FLI 16803 camera, 4.5-m BP clamshell dome, with planned exchange to 0.63-m) telescope are located at the Teide Observatory (Tenerfie, Canary Islands), one 0.6-m (Panoptes-COG, SBIG STX 16803 camera, 4.5-m BP clamshell dome) telescope in Garching, Germany and one 0.5-m (Panoptes-MAM, FLI 16803 camera, 4.5-m BP slit dome) in Mammendorf, Germany. Panoptes-COAST and Panoptes-PIRATE are owned by The Open University (UK). Panoptes-COG is owned by the Max Planck Institute

Observing facilities at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile for cometary observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schnur, G. F. O.; Kohoutek, L.; Rahe, J.

1981-01-01

The (ESO) is located on the mountain La Silla (geographical coordinates: 4h42m55s10 west, -29 deg 15' 25".8 south, 2400 m elevation. The size of the telescopes ranges from a 40 cm Astrograph to the 3.6 m Richey-Chretien telescope. Future telescopes are discussed: a 2.2 m RC-Telescope which will be identical with the German 2.2 m telescope on Calor Alto in SE-Spain, and a 3.5 m telescope, the New Technology Telescope. In addition to these telescopes, a great number of auxiliary instrumentation are operational. Because ESO has to serve all requests of the visiting astronomers these instruments are designed for very different applications. The telescopes and auxiliary instruments that are especially suited for cometary observations are discussed. The dicussion is divided into three parts: photography, photometry-polarimetry and spectroscopy.

Supernovae study: Context of the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Brajesh; Pandey, Shashi Bhushan; Pandey, Kanhaiya Lal; Anapuma, Gadiyara Chakrapani; Surdej, Jean

2018-04-01

The upcoming 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) facility will perform deep imaging (in single scan g' 22 mag) of a narrow strip of sky each clear night in the Time Delayed Integration mode. A cadence of one day observation will provide unique opportunities to discover different types of supernovae (SNe) along with many other types of variable sources. We present the approach to discover SNe with the 4-m ILMT and discuss the follow-up strategy in the context of other existing observational facilities. The advantages of liquid mirror telescope observations over the traditional glass mirror telescopes are also discussed.

The 3.5-m all-SiC telescope for SPICA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toulemont, Yves; Breysse, Jacques; Pierot, Dominique; Sein, Emmanuel; Nakagawa, Takao; Kaneda, Hidehiro; Onaka, Takashi; Hirabayashi, Masayuki; Narasaki, Katsuhiro; Sakuta, Hironobu; Miura, Shinji

2004-10-01

Placed on the L2 Lagrangian point, the Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) will operate in the 5 to 200 μm wavelength range, at 4.5K. The large aperture telescope (3.5m diameter in a single piece) requires a strong manufacturing mastering, associated with high technical performances. The background acquired by EADS-Astrium (France) on the 3.5m Silicone Carbide Herschel Telescope is a key for the success of the SPICA development. EADS-Astrium has been awarded by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Sumitomo Heavy Industries to assess the feasibility of the 3.5m all SiC telescope through a design phase contract. The Telescope driving requirements are the large diameter of 3.5m especially critical for the manufacturing aspects, and the Wave Front Error which has to be kept below 350nm rms over a large temperature range from ambient to the operational temperature of 4.5K which requires a strong mastering of the distortions.

LM1-64: a Newly Reported Lmc-Pn with WR Nucleus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pena, M.; Olguin, L.; Ruiz, M. T.; Torres-Peimbert, S.

1993-05-01

The object LM1-64 was reported by Lindsay & Mullan (1963, Irish Astron. J., 5, 51) as a probable PN in the LMC. Optical and UV spectra taken by us confirm that suggestion. LM1-64 is a high excitation planetary nebulae which shows evidence of having a WC central star. Broad stellar emission at lambda 4650 is detected in the optical spectrum obtained with the CTIO 4m telescope, in 1989. A UV spectrum in the range from 1200 Angstroms to 2000 Angstroms was obtained with IUE in 1990. We have measured all the emission line fluxes available and determined values for the physical conditions and chemical abundances of the nebular ionized gas. The derived values are T(OIII) = 14000K, log He/H = 11.05, log C/H = 9.48, log O/H = 8.55 and log Ne/H = 7.94. LM1-64 shows a large C enhancement in the envelope as result of the central star activity, while He, O and Ne are comparable to the average values reported for the LMC-PNe (Monk, Barlow & Clegg, 1988, MNRAS, 234, 583). We have estimated the He II Zanstra temperature of the central star to be ~ 80,000 K. This temperature is much higher than the values reported for the known LMC-PNe with WR nucleus that Monk et al. have classified as W4 to W8. The only other high temperature WR nucleus in a LMC-PN is N66 which recently showed evidence of undergoing a WR episode (Torres-Peimbert, Ruiz, Peimbert & Pe\\ na, 1993, IAU Symp. 155, eds. A. Acker & R. Weinberger, in press).

Obituary: Richard Joseph Elston, 1960-2004

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jannuzi, Buell Tomasson; Bechtold, Jill

2004-12-01

Richard Joseph Elston, known for his development of innovative astronomical instrumentation, died on 26 January 2004 in Gainesville, Florida, after a four-year battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma. A professor of astronomy at the University of Florida, Richard had an unusually broad range of interests and skills, and a willingness to share his passion for astronomy with others, which made him a highly valued member of the astronomical community. Born 1 July 1960, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Richard was the son of a geologist father and journalist mother. His childhood interest in astronomy and instrumentation matured as he majored in physics and astronomy at the University of New Mexico (BS, 1983) under the mentorship of Michael Zeilik. Richard pursued his PhD in astronomy at the University of Arizona and earned his degree in 1988. He pioneered the use of IR arrays for deep imaging surveys of the sky to study galaxy formation, and completed his thesis Search for Rapidly Forming Galaxies at High Redshift under the direction of George Rieke. Richard's graduate work included the first detection of galaxies at intermediate redshifts with evolved populations too red to have been identifiable from optical imaging surveys alone. In the Astrophysical Journal Letters in 1988, he, George Rieke, and Marcia Rieke reported the discovery of this new class of galaxies, now known as EROs (Extremely Red Objects), important as the possible progenitors of present day elliptical galaxies. Following post-doctoral positions at Kitt Peak National Observatory from 1988 to 1991 and at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington from 1991 to 1992, Richard joined the scientific staff of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, part of the NSF's National Optical Astronomy Observatory. By 1994, he had become head of CTIO's IR instrumentation program and was leading the development of new instruments for the US astronomical community. In 1996, Richard married astronomer Elizabeth Lada, and both joined the faculty of the University of Florida. They worked closely together and with their colleagues to develop the department into a leading center for astronomical research. Richard assembled a strong near-IR instrument team whose most recently completed instrument was FLAMINGOS, the FLoridA Multi-object Imaging Near-IR Grism Observational Spectrometer. FLAMINGOS serves as both a wide-field IR imager and multi-object spectrograph. Successfully used at the 6.5-m MMT Observatory, 8-m Gemini South telescope, and KPNO 2.1-m and Mayall 4-m telescopes, FLAMINGOS allows scientists to complete observations in one night that would previously have required 100 nights. FLAMINGOS is the primary instrument for several major survey programs that are studying topics ranging from how individual stars and planets form to how the largest structures in the Universe evolve. One of Richard's innovations with FLAMINGOS was the use of a separate "pre-dewar" that maintains at cryogenic temperatures the multi-slit masks required to select the targets for observation, but can be thermally cycled more quickly than the entire instrument. This feature allows the changing of masks on a nightly basis. New instruments having the innovations pioneered with FLAMINGOS are under construction and are to be used at several of the world's largest telescopes in the decades ahead. Richard was involved in getting both the University of Florida and the U.S. astronomical community on the path toward larger telescope facilities. He played a crucial role in the University of Florida's joining the team building the10.4-m Grand Telescope of the Canary Islands. As a member of the panel that studied optical/near-IR astronomy from the ground for the most recent (2000) National Academies decadal review of astronomy, Richard was a passionate advocate for open access to the next large (30-m class) telescope to be built. The final report included a recommendation for a public role in such a telescope. Richard's work as a researcher and educator was recognized in 2000, when he was named a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. With the birth of his son, Joseph, in 1999, Richard's life reached an important milestone. During his battle with cancer, Richard awed everyone with his ability to be productive professionally and still be so devoted to his family. He and his son shared a love for the outdoors and adventure. Richard was an expert SCUBA instructor, skier, hiker, wind surfer, airplane pilot, and sailor. Joseph is already a "proto-naturalist." Richard will be best remembered as a wonderful father, beloved husband, loving brother, son, uncle, friend and inspiration to all whose lives he touched. Reprinted with permission from Physics Today, Vol. 57, No.7, pp. 76-77. Copyright 2004, American Institute of Physics.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Arp 102B spectral optical monitoring (Shapovalova+, 2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shapovalova, A. I.; Popovic, L. C.; Burenkov, A. N.; Chavushyan, V. H.; Ilic, D.; Kollatschny, W.; Kovacevic, A.; Bochkarev, N. G.; Valdes, J. R.; Torrealba, J.; Patino-Alvarez, V.; Leon-Tavares, J.; Benitez, E.; Carrasco, L.; Dultzin, D.; Mercado, A.; Zhdanova, V. E.

2013-10-01

Spectra of Arp 102B (during 142 nights) were taken with the 6-m and 1-m telescopes of the SAO RAS (Russia, 1998-2010), the INAOE 2.1-m telescope of the Guillermo Haro Observatory (GHO) at Cananea, Sonora, Mexico (1998-2007), the 2.1-m telescope of the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional at San Pedro Martir (OAN-SPM), Baja California, Mexico (2005-2007), and the 3.5-m and 2.2-m telescopes of Calar Alto observatory, Spain (1987-1994). (4 data files).

Science Staff | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

since been a NOAO/CTIO post doctoral fellow. His interests include observational cosmology, galaxy Outreach for the Observatory. Cesar Briceño Associate Scientist Research interests and expertise: Star area of interest over the past years has been observational studies of young stellar populations: star

Imaging spectrophotometry of the nuclear outflow of NGC 1068

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cecil, Gerald

1990-01-01

This observational program (in conjunction with R. B. Tully (IfA, Honolulu), and J. Bland (Rice U., Houston)) aims to constrain the kinematic organization and dominant excitation mechanisms of ionized gas in active galaxies. More generally, researchers are interested in the dynamics of radiative, supersonic flows in the Interstellar Medium (ISM). Imaging Fabry-Perot interferometers and low-noise Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) are used for complete spatial coverage of the complex gas distribution in circumnuclear narrow-line regions (NLRs). Extranuclear emission line widths in NLRs can exceed 3000 km s(-1), so to avoid inter-order confusion researchers use an etalon of 4000 km s(-1) free spectral range to map (N II) lambda lambda 6548, 6583 and H alpha. To maximize spatial resolution, researchers select nearby active systems independent of luminosity but known to possess interesting morphologies and/or high-velocity extranuclear ionized gas. Monochromatic images Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) approx. 65 km s(-1) have thus far been obtained in 1 second or better seeing at the U. Hawaii 2.2m, CFH 3.6m, and CTIO 4.0m telescopes. These are stacked into grids of line profiles, of spectrophotometric quality, at sub-arcsecond increments across a 3 second field. To handle the approx. 20,000 to 300,000 useful spectra that arise from a typical night's work, researchers have developed a complete analysis and reduction package for VAX and Sun image workstations. Reduction involves parametrization of approx. 10 to the 8th raw data points to a few maps (e.g., velocities of each kinematic subsystem, continuum-free line fluxes) containing approx. 10 to the 5th pixels. Researchers identify kinematic and structural symmetries by examining these maps and the point to point variations of the synthesized line profiles. The combination of monochromatic images and full spatial sampling of line profiles has allowed them to isolate such symmetries and has led to reliable kinematic deprojections.

Testing the Prediction of Iron Alteration Minerals on Low Albedo Asteroids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jarvis, K. S.; Vilas, Faith; Howell, E.; Kelley, M.; Cochran, A.

1999-01-01

Absorption features centered near 0.60 - 0.65 and 0.80 - 0.90 micron were identified in the spectra of three low-albedo main-belt (165, 368, 877) and two low-albedo outer-belt (225, 334) asteroids (Vilas et al., Icarus, v. 109,274,1994). The absorption features were attributed to charge transfer transitions in iron alteration minerals such as goethite, hematite, and jarosite, all products of aqueous alteration. Concurrently, Jarvis et al. (LPSC XXIV, 715, 1993) presented additional spectra of low-albedo asteroids that had absorption features centered near 0.60 - 0.65 micron without the longer wavelength feature. Since these two features in iron oxides originate from the same ground state, and the longer wavelength feature requires less energy to exist, the single shorter wavelength feature cannot be caused by the iron alteration minerals. In addition, spectra of minerals such as hematite and goethite show a rapid increase in reflectance beginning near 0.5 micron absent in the low-albedo asteroid spectra. The absence of this rise has been attributed to its suppresion from opaques in the surface material. Spectra on more than one night were available for only one of these five asteroids, 225 Henrietta, and showed good repeatability of the 0.65-micron feature. We have acquired additional spectra of all five asteroids in order to test the repeatability of the 0.65-micron feature, and the presence and repeatability of the features centered near 0.8 - 0.9 micron. We specifically will test the possibility that longer wavelength features could be caused by incomplete removal of telluric water. Asteroid 877 Walkure is a member of the Nysa-Hertha family, and will be compared to spectra of other members of that family. Data were acquired in 1996 and 1999 on the 2.1-m telescope with a facility cassegrain spectrograph, McDonald Observatory, Univ. Of Texas, and the 1.5-m telescope with facility cassegrain spectrograph at CTIO. This research is supported by the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program.

Library | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications , and books, most of which can be found at CTIO's La Serena library branch. Electronic Resources Access

Economic Feasibility of a Siderostat-fed Liquid Mirror Telescope for Surveillance of Space

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-01

in 1979 [11], and the 4.1 m Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research, SOAR , telescope cost $28M USD to construct [12]). The issue with LMTs is...relationship, a 4 m class telescope would cost roughly $30M USD, in line with the costs of the CFHT and SOAR provided in Section 1. In Table 1 the component...quality of the HET is less than that of SOAR because HET is exclusively a spectroscopic instrument, while SALT is more general purpose and will be

First Results from the Lyman Alpha Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (LAGER) Survey: Cosmological Reionization at z ∼ 7

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zheng, Zhen-Ya; Jiang, Chunyan; Wang, Junxian

2017-06-20

We present the first results from the ongoing Lyman Alpha Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization (LAGER) project, which is the largest narrowband survey for z ∼ 7 galaxies to date. Using a specially built narrowband filter NB964 for the superb large-area Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the NOAO/CTIO 4 m Blanco telescope, LAGER has collected 34 hr NB964 narrowband imaging data in the 3 deg{sup 2} COSMOS field. We have identified 23 Ly α Emitter candidates at z = 6.9 in the central 2-deg{sup 2} region, where DECam and public COSMOS multi-band images exist. The resulting luminosity function (LF)more » can be described as a Schechter function modified by a significant excess at the bright end (four galaxies with L {sub Lyα∼} 10{sup 43.4±0.2} erg s{sup −1}). The number density at L {sub Ly} {sub α} ∼ 10{sup 43.4±0.2} erg s{sup −1} is little changed from z = 6.6, while at fainter L {sub Lyα} it is substantially reduced. Overall, we see a fourfold reduction in Ly α luminosity density from z = 5.7 to z = 6.9. Combined with a more modest evolution of the continuum UV luminosity density, this suggests a factor of ∼3 suppression of Ly α by radiative transfer through the z ∼ 7 intergalactic medium (IGM). It indicates an IGM neutral fraction of x {sub Hi} ∼ 0.4–0.6 (assuming Ly α velocity offsets of 100–200 km s{sup −1}). The changing shape of the Ly α LF between z ≲ 6.6 and z = 6.9 supports the hypothesis of ionized bubbles in a patchy reionization at z ∼ 7.« less

Triggered massive star formation associated with the bubble Hii region Sh2-39 (N5)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duronea, N. U.; Cappa, C. E.; Bronfman, L.; Borissova, J.; Gromadzki, M.; Kuhn, M. A.

2017-09-01

Aims: We perform a multiwavelength analysis of the bubble Hii region Sh2-39 (N5) and its environs with the aim of studying the physical properties of Galactic IR bubbles and exploring their impact in triggering massive star formation. Methods: To analyze the molecular gas, we used CO(3-2) and HCO+(4-3) line data obtained with the on-the-fly technique from the ASTE telescope. To study the distribution and physical characteristics of the dust, we made use of archival data from ATLASGAL, Herschel, and MSX, while the ionized gas was studied making use of an NVSS image. We used public WISE, Spitzer, and MSX point source catalogs to search for infrared candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) in the region. To investigate the stellar cluster [BDS2003]6 we used IR spectroscopic data obtained with the ARCoIRIS spectrograph, mounted on Blanco 4 m Telescope at CTIO, and new available IR Ks band observations from the VVVeXtended ESO Public Survey (VVVX). Results: The new ASTE observations allowed the molecular gas component in the velocity range from 30 km s-1 to 46 km s-1, associated with Sh2-39, to be studied in detail. The morphology of the molecular gas suggests that the ionized gas is expanding against its parental cloud. We identified four molecular clumps, which were likely formed by the expansion of the ionization front, and determined some of their physical and dynamical properties. Clumps with HCO+ and 870 μm counterparts show evidence of gravitational collapse. We identified several candidate YSOs across the molecular component. Their spatial distribution and the fragmentation time derived for the collected layers of the molecular gas suggest that massive star formation might have been triggered by the expansion of the nebula via the collect and collapse mechanism. The spectroscopical distance obtained for the stellar cluster [BDS2003]6, placed over one of the collapsing clumps in the border of the Hii region, reveals that this cluster is physically associated with the nebula and gives more support to the triggered massive star formation scenario. A radio continuum data analysis indicates that the nebula is older and expands at lower velocity than typical IR Galactic bubbles. The ASTE data cubes and ARCoIRIS spectrum are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/606/A8

CTIO Historic Highlights | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Astronomy. March 1971: NASA, the U. of Chile, and the Smithsonian Institution install on Cerro Morado a "norma luminica", which provides a legal foundation for the effort to protect astronomy in ; Chilean law to protect the future of astronomy in northern Chile (DS 686/98) comes into force. 2000s 2000

The stellar occultation by the dwarf planet Haumea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos-Sanz, Pablo; Ortiz, Jose Luis; Sicardy, Bruno; Rossi, Gustavo; Berard, Diane; Morales, Nicolas; Duffard, Rene; Braga-Ribas, Felipe; Hopp, Ulrich; Ries, Christoph; Nascimbeni, Valerio; Marzari, Francesco; Granata, Valentina; Pál, András; Kiss, Csaba; Pribulla, Theodor; Milan Komzík, Richard; Hornoch, Kamil; Pravec, Petr; Bacci, Paolo; Maestripieri, Martina; Nerli, Luca; Mazzei, Leonardo; Bachini, Mauro; Martinelli, Fabio; Succi, Giacomo; Ciabattari, Fabrizio; Mikuz, Herman; Carbognani, Albino; Gaehrken, Bernd; Mottola, Stefano; Hellmich, Stephan; Rommel, Flavia; Fernández-Valenzuela, Estela; Campo Bagatin, Adriano; Haumea occultation international Collaboration: https://cloud.iaa.csic.es/public.php?service=files&t=d9276f8ab1a316cef13bee28bef75add

2017-10-01

The dwarf planet Haumea is a very peculiar Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) with unique and exotic characteristics. It is currently classified as one of the five dwarf planets of the solar system, and it is the only one for which size, shape, albedo, density and other basic properties were not accurately known. To solve that we predicted an occultation of the star GaiaDR1 1233009038221203584 by Haumea and organized observations within the expected shadow path. Medium/large telescopes were needed to record the occultation with enough signal to noise ratio because the occulted star is of similar brightness as Haumea (R~17.7 mag). We will report results derived from this successful stellar occultation by Haumea on 2017 January 21st. The occultation was positive from 12 telescopes at 10 observing stations in Europe: the Asiago Observatory 1.8m telescope (Italy), the Mount Agliale Observatory 0.5m telescope (Italy), the Lajatico Astronomical Centre 0.5m telescope (Italy), the S.Marcello Pistoiese Observatory 0.6m telescope (Italy), the Crni Vrh Observatory 0.6m telescope (Slovenia), the Ondrejov Observatory 0.65m telescope (Czech Republic), the Bavarian Public Observatory 0.81m telescope (Germany), the Konkoly Observatory 1m and 0.6m telescopes (Hungary), the Skalnate Pleso Observatory 1.3m telescope (Slovakia), and the Wendelstein Observatory 2m and 0.4m telescopes (Germany). This is the occultation by a TNO with the largest number of chords ever recorded.Part of this work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 687378.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Space telescope RM project. V. NGC5548 sp. monitoring (Pei+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pei, L.; Fausnaugh, M. M.; Barth, A. J.; Peterson, B. M.; Bentz, M. C.; De Rosa, G.; Denney, K. D.; Goad, M. R.; Kochanek, C. S.; Korista, K. T.; Kriss, G. A.; Pogge, R. W.; Bennert, V. N.; Brotherton, M.; Clubb, K. I.; Dalla Bonta, E.; Filippenko, A. V.; Greene, J. E.; Grier, C. J.; Vestergaard, M.; Zheng, W.; Adams, S. M.; Beatty, T. G.; Bigley, A.; Brown, J. E.; Brown, J. S.; Canalizo, G.; Comerford, J. M.; Coker, C. T.; Corsini, E. M.; Croft, S.; Croxall, K. V.; Deason, A. J.; Eracleous, M.; Fox, O. D.; Gates, E. L.; Henderson, C. B.; Holmbeck, E.; Holoien, T. W.-S.; Jensen, J. J.; Johnson, C. A.; Kelly, P. L.; Kim, S.; King, A.; Lau, M. W.; Li, M.; Lochhaas, C.; Ma, Z.; Manne-Nicholas, E. R.; Mauerhan, J. C.; Malkan, M. A.; McGurk, R.; Morelli, L.; Mosquera, A.; Mudd, D.; Sanchez, F. M.; Nguyen, M. L.; Ochner, P.; Ou-Yang, B.; Pancoast, A.; Penny, M. T.; Pizzella, A.; Poleski, R.; Runnoe, J.; Scott, B.; Schimoia, J. S.; Shappee, B. J.; Shivvers, I.; Simonian, G. V.; Siviero, A.; Somers, G.; Stevens, D. J.; Strauss, M. A.; Tayar, J.; Tejos, N.; Treu, T.; van Saders, J.; Vican, L.; Villanueva, S.; Yuk, H.; Zakamska, N. L.; Zhu, W.; Anderson, M. D.; Arevalo, P.; Bazhaw, C.; Bisogni, S.; Borman, G. A.; Bottorff, M. C.; Brandt, W. N.; Breeveld, A. A.; Cackett, E. M.; Carini, M. T.; Crenshaw, D. M.; de Lorenzo-Caceres, A.; Dietrich, M.; Edelson, R.; Efimova, N. V.; Ely, J.; Evans, P. A.; Ferland, G. J.; Flatland, K.; Gehrels, N.; Geier, S.; Gelbord, J. M.; Grupe, D.; Gupta, A.; Hall, P. B.; Hicks, S.; Horenstein, D.; Horne, K.; Hutchison, T.; Im, M.; Joner, M. D.; Jones, J.; Kaastra, J.; Kaspi, S.; Kelly, B. C.; Kennea, J. A.; Kim, M.; Kim, S. C.; Klimanov, S. A.; Lee, J. C.; Leonard, D. C.; Lira, P.; Macinnis, F.; Mathur, S.; McHardy, I. M.; Montouri, C.; Musso, R.; Nazarov, S. V.; Netzer, H.; Norris, R. P.; Nousek, J. A.; Okhmat, D. N.; Papadakis, I.; Parks, J. R.; Pott, J.-U.; Rafter, S. E.; Rix, H.-W.; Saylor, D. A.; Schnulle, K.; Sergeev, S. G.; Siegel, M.; Skielboe, A.; Spencer, M.; Starkey, D.; Sung, H.-I.; Teems, K. G.; Turner, C. S.; Uttley, P.; Villforth, C.; Weiss, Y.; Woo, J.-H.; Yan, H.; Young, S.; Zu, Y.

2017-10-01

Spectroscopic data were obtained from five telescopes: the McGraw-Hill 1.3m telescope at the MDM Observatory (4225-5775Å; median S/N=118), the Shane 3m telescope at the Lick Observatory (Kast Double Spectrograph: 3250-7920Å; median S/N=194), the 1.22m Galileo telescope at the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory (3250-7920Å; median S/N=160), the 3.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory (APO; Dual Imaging Spectrograph: 4180-5400Å, median S/N =160), and the 2.3m telescope at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO; 5599-4399Å; median S/N=217). The optical spectroscopic monitoring targeting NGC 5548 began on 2014 January 4 and continued through 2014 July 6 with approximately daily cadence. MDM contributed the largest number of spectra with 143 epochs. (1 data file).

A space imaging concept based on a 4m structured spun-cast borosilicate monolithic primary mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

West, S. C.; Bailey, S. H.; Bauman, S.; Cuerden, B.; Granger, Z.; Olbert, B. H.

2010-07-01

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMC) tasked The University of Arizona Steward Observatory (UASO) to conduct an engineering study to examine the feasibility of creating a 4m space telescope based on mature borosilicate technology developed at the UASO for ground-based telescopes. UASO has completed this study and concluded that existing launch vehicles can deliver a 4m monolithic telescope system to a 500 km circular orbit and provide reliable imagery at NIIRS 7-8. An analysis of such an imager based on a lightweight, high-performance, structured 4m primary mirror cast from borosilicate glass is described. The relatively high CTE of this glass is used to advantage by maintaining mirror shape quality with a thermal figuring method. Placed in a 290 K thermal shroud (similar to the Hubble Space Telescope), the orbit averaged figure surface error is 6nm rms when earth-looking. Space-looking optical performance shows that a similar thermal conditioning scheme combined with a 270 K shroud achieves primary mirror distortion of 10 nm rms surface. Analysis shows that a 3-point bipod mount will provide launch survivability with ample margin. The primary mirror naturally maintains its shape at 1g allowing excellent end-to-end pre-launch testing with e.g. the LOTIS 6.5m Collimator. The telescope includes simple systems to measure and correct mirror shape and alignment errors incorporating technologies already proven on the LOTIS Collimator. We have sketched a notional earth-looking 4m telescope concept combined with a wide field TMA concept into a DELTA IV or ATLAS 552 EELV fairing. We have combined an initial analysis of launch and space performance of a special light-weighted honeycomb borosilicate mirror (areal density 95 kg/m2) with public domain information on the existing launch vehicles.

Las Cumbres Observatory 1-Meter Global Science Telescope Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pickles, Andrew; Dubberley, M.; Haldeman, B.; Haynes, R.; Posner, V.; Rosing, W.; staff, LCOGT

2009-05-01

We present the optical, mechanical and electronic design of the LCOGT 1-m telescope. These telescopes are planned to go in pairs to each of 6 sites worldwide, complementing 0.4m telescopes and 2-m telescopes at two existing sites. This science network is designed to provide continuously available photometric monitoring and spectroscopy of variable sources. The 1-m optical design is an f/8 quasi-RC system, with a doublet corrector and field flattener to provide good image quality out to 0.8 degrees. The field of view of the Fairchild 4K science CCD is 27 arcmin, with 0.39 arcsec pixels. The mechanical design includes a stiff C-ring equatorial mount and friction drive rollers, mounted on a triangular base that can be adjusted for latitude. Another friction drive is coupled at the Declination axis to the M1 mirror cell, that forms the main Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) structural element. The OTA design includes a stiff carbon fiber truss assembly, with offset vanes to an M2 drive that provides remote focus, tilt and collimation. The tube assembly weighs about 600 Kg, including Hextek mirrors, 4K science CCD, filter wheel, autoguiders and medium resolution spectrograph pick-off fiber. The telescopes will be housed in domes at existing observatory sites. They are designed to operate remotely and reliably under centralized control for automatic, optimized scheduling of observations with available hardware.

The design of 1-wire net meteorological observatory for 2.4 m telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Gao-Feng; Wei, Ka-Ning; Fan, Yu-Feng; Xu, Jun; Qin, Wei

2005-03-01

The weather is an important factor to affect astronomical observations. The 2.4 m telescope can not work in Robotic Mode without the weather data input. Therefore it is necessary to build a meteorological observatory near the 2.4 m telescope. In this article, the design of the 1-wire net meteorological observatory, which includes hardware and software systems, is introduced. The hardware system is made up of some kinds of sensors and ADC. A suited power station system is also designed. The software system is based on Windows XP operating system and MySQL data management system, and a prototype system of browse/server model is developed by JAVA and JSP. After being tested, the meteorological observatory can register the immediate data of weather, such as raining, snowing, and wind speed. At last, the data will be stored for feature use. The product and the design can work well for the 2.4 m telescope.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Mission Accessible Near-Earth Objects Survey (Thirouin+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thirouin, A.; Moskovitz, N.; Binzel, R. P.; Christensen, E.; DeMeo, F. E.; Person, M. J.; Polishook, D.; Thomas, C. A.; Trilling, D.; Willman, M.; Hinkle, M.; Burt, B.; Avner, D.; Aceituno, F. J.

2017-06-01

The data were obtained with the 4.3m Lowell Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT), the 4.1m Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, the 4m Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope, the 2.1m at Kitt Peak Observatory, the 1.8m Perkins telescope, the 1.5m Sierra Nevada Observatory (OSN), and the 1.3m SMARTS telescope between 2013 August and 2015 October. The DCT is forty miles southeast of Flagstaff at the Happy Jack site (Arizona, USA). Images were obtained using the Large Monolithic Imager (LMI), which is a 6144*6160 CCD. The total field of view is 12.5*12.5 with a plate scale of 0.12''/pixel (unbinned). Images were obtained using the 3*3 or 2*2 binning modes. Observations were carried out in situ. The SOAR telescope is located on Cerro Pachon, Chile. Images were obtained using the Goodman High Throughput Spectrograph (Goodman-HTS) instrument in its imaging mode. The instrument consists of a 4096*4096 Fairchild CCD, with a 7.2' diameter field of view (circular field of view) and a plate scale of 0.15''/pixel. Images were obtained using the 2*2 binning mode. Observations were conducted remotely. The Mayall telescope is a 4m telescope located at the Kitt Peak National Observatory (Tucson, Arizona, USA). The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) CCD Mosaic-1.1 is a wide field imager composed of an array of eight CCD chips. The field of view is 36'*36', and the plate scale is 0.26''/pixel. Observations were performed remotely. The 2.1m at Kitt Peak Observatory was operated with the STA3 2k*4k CCD, which has a plate scale of 0.305''/pixel and a field of view of 10.2'*6.6'. The instrument was binned 2*2 and the observations were conducted in situ. The Perkins 72'' telescope is located at the Anderson Mesa station at Lowell Observatory (Flagstaff, Arizona, USA). We used the Perkins ReImaging SysteM (PRISM) instrument, a 2*2k Fairchild CCD. The PRISM plate scale is 0.39''/pixel for a field of view of 13'*13'. Observations were performed in situ. The 1.5m telescope located at the OSN at Loma de Dilar in the National Park of Sierra Nevada (Granada, Spain) was operated in situ. Observations were carried out with a 2k*2k CCD, with a total field of view of 7.8'*7.8'. We used 2*2 binning mode, resulting in an effective plate scale of 0.46''/pixel. The 1.3m SMARTS telescope is located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (Coquimbo region, Chile). This telescope is equipped with a camera called ANDICAM (A Novel Dual Imaging CAMera). ANDICAM is a Fairchild 2048*2048 CCD. The pixel scale is 0.371''/pixel, and the field of view is 6'*6'. Observations were carried out in queue mode. (2 data files).

The Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cline, J. Donald; Castelaz, M.

2009-01-01

Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute is a not-for-profit foundation located at a former NASA tracking station in the Pisgah National Forest in western North Carolina. PARI is celebrating its 10th year. During its ten years, PARI has developed and implemented innovative science education programs. The science education programs are hands-on experimentally based, mixing disciplines in astronomy, computer science, earth and atmospheric science, engineering, and multimedia. The basic tools for the educational programs include a 4.6-m radio telescope accessible via the Internet, a StarLab planetarium, the Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA), a distributed computing online environment to classify stars called SCOPE, and remotely accessible optical telescopes. The PARI 200 acre campus has a 4.6-m, a 12-m and two 26-m radio telescopes, optical solar telescopes, a Polaris monitoring telescope, 0.4-m and 0.35-m optical research telescopes, and earth and atmospheric science instruments. PARI is also the home of APDA, a repository for astronomical photographic plate collections which will eventually be digitized and made available online. PARI has collaborated with visiting scientists who have developed their research with PARI telescopes and lab facilities. Current experiments include: the Dedicated Interferometer for Rapid Variability (Dennison et al. 2007, Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions, 26, 557); the Plate Boundary Observatory operated by UNAVCO; the Clemson University Fabry-Perot Interferometers (Meriwether 2008, Journal of Geophysical Research, submitted) measuring high velocity winds and temperatures in the Thermosphere, and the Western Carolina University - PARI variable star program. Current status of the education and research programs and instruments will be presented. Also, development plans will be reviewed. Development plans include the greening of PARI with the installation of solar panels to power the optical telescopes, a new distance learning center, and enhancements to the atmospheric and earth science suite of instrumentation.

The CTIO Acquisition CCD-TV camera design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Ricardo E.

1990-07-01

A CCD-based Acquisition TV Camera has been developed at CTIO to replace the existing ISIT units. In a 60 second exposure, the new Camera shows a sixfold improvement in sensitivity over an ISIT used with a Leaky Memory. Integration times can be varied over a 0.5 to 64 second range. The CCD, contained in an evacuated enclosure, is operated at -45 C. Only the image section, an area of 8.5 mm x 6.4 mm, gets exposed to light. Pixel size is 22 microns and either no binning or 2 x 2 binning can be selected. The typical readout rates used vary between 3.5 and 9 microseconds/pixel. Images are stored in a PC/XT/AT, which generates RS-170 video. The contrast in the RS-170 frames is automatically enhanced by the software.

First-light instrument for the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope: 4Kx4K CCD Imager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandey, Shashi Bhushan; Yadav, Rama Kant Singh; Nanjappa, Nandish; Yadav, Shobhit; Reddy, Bheemireddy Krishna; Sahu, Sanjit; Srinivasan, Ramaiyengar

2018-04-01

As a part of in-house instrument developmental activity at ARIES, the 4Kx4K CCD Imager is designed and developed as a first-light instrument for the axial port of the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT). The f/9 beam of the telescope having a plate-scale of 6.4"/mm is utilized to conduct deeper photom-etry within the central 10' field of view. The pixel size of the blue-enhanced liquid nitrogen cooled STA4150 4Kx4K CCD chip is 15 μm, with options to select gain and speed values to utilize the dynamic range. Using the Imager, it is planned to image the central 6.5'x6.5' field of view of the telescope for various science goals by getting deeper images in several broad-band filters for point sources and objects with low surface brightness. The fully assembled Imager along with automated filter wheels having Bessel UBV RI and SDSS ugriz filters was tested in late 2015 at the axial port of the 3.6-m DOT. This instrument was finally mounted at the axial port of the 3.6-m DOT on 30 March 2016 when the telescope was technically activated jointly by the Prime Ministers of India and Belgium. It is expected to serve as a general purpose multi-band deep imaging instrument for a variety of science goals including studies of cosmic transients, active galaxies, star clusters and optical monitoring of X-ray sources discovered by the newly launched Indian space-mission called ASTROSAT, and follow-up of radio bright objects discovered by the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope.

Innovative telescope architectures for future large space observatories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polidan, Ronald S.; Breckinridge, James B.; Lillie, Charles F.; MacEwen, Howard A.; Flannery, Martin R.; Dailey, Dean R.

2016-10-01

Over the past few years, we have developed a concept for an evolvable space telescope (EST) that is assembled on orbit in three stages, growing from a 4×12-m telescope in Stage 1, to a 12-m filled aperture in Stage 2, and then to a 20-m filled aperture in Stage 3. Stage 1 is launched as a fully functional telescope and begins gathering science data immediately after checkout on orbit. This observatory is then periodically augmented in space with additional mirror segments, structures, and newer instruments to evolve the telescope over the years to a 20-m space telescope. We discuss the EST architecture, the motivation for this approach, and the benefits it provides over current approaches to building and maintaining large space observatories.

Facilities for High Resolution Imaging of the Sun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von der Lühe, Oskar

2018-04-01

The Sun is the only star where physical processes can be observed at their intrinsic spatial scales. Even though the Sun in a mere 150 million km from Earth, it is difficult to resolve fundamental processes in the solar atmosphere, because they occur at scales of the order of the kilometer. They can be observed only with telescopes which have apertures of several meters. The current state-of-the-art are solar telescopes with apertures of 1.5 m which resolve 50 km on the solar surface, soon to be superseded by telescopes with 4 m apertures with 20 km resolution. The US American 4 m DSI Solar Telescope is currently constructed on Maui, Hawaii, and is expected to have first light in 2020. The European solar community collaborates intensively to pursue the 4 m European Solar Telescope with a construction start in the Canaries early in the next decade. Solar telescopes with slightly smaller are also in the planning by the Russian, Indian and Chinese communities. In order to achieve a resolution which approaches the diffraction limit, all modern solar telescopes use adaptive optics which compensates virtually any scene on the solar disk. Multi-conjugate adaptive optics designed to compensate fields of the order on one minute of arc have been demonstrated and will become a facility feature of the new telescopes. The requirements for high precision spectro-polarimetry – about one part in 104 – makes continuous monitoring of (MC)AO performance and post-processing image reconstruction methods a necessity.

Synthesis and characterization of C-doped TiO2 thin films for visible-light-induced photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassan, Mohamed Elfatih; Cong, Longchao; Liu, Guanglong; Zhu, Duanwei; Cai, Jianbo

2014-03-01

C-TiO2 thin films were synthesized by a modified sol-gel route based on the self-assembly technique exploiting Tween80 (T80) as a pore directing agent and carbon source. The effect of calcination time on the photocatalytic activity of C-doped TiO2 catalyst was studied. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectra (PL). The XRD results showed that C-TiO2 sample calcined at 400 °C for various times exhibited anatase phase and no other crystal phase was identified. C-TiO2 exhibited a shift in an absorption edge of samples in the visible region than that of conventional or reference TiO2. The XPS results showed an existence of C in the TiO2 catalysts and C might be existed as Csbnd Osbnd Ti group. Moreover, the C-TiO2 thin film calcined at 400 °C for 30 min showed the lowest PL intensity due to a decrease in the recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes under UV light irradiation. Also the photocatalytic activity of synthesized catalyst was evaluated by decomposition of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the optimum preparations of C-TiO2 thin films were found to be under calcination temperature of 400, calcination time of 30 min, and with preparation 9 layers film.

Tololo and Tourism | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications ‹› You are here CTIO Home » Outreach » Tololo and Tourism Tololo and Tourism Visits to Cerro

Facile fabrication of transparent TiO2-C@TiO2-C free-standing film for visible-light photocatalytic application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Luyang; Zhang, Yumin; Zhang, Shanmei; Li, Benxia

2017-02-01

A transparent TiO2-C@TiO2-C free-standing film has been synthesized by two-step hydrothermal method and subsequent thermal annealing. The chemical composition and morphological features of the TiO2-C@TiO2-C film are characterized using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and N2 adsorption-desorption measurement. The results indicate that the flower-like micro/nanostructure TiO2-C particle layers are intimately inhered to porous TiO2-C fibers. The fibers in film are interconnected each other to form a three-dimensional reticulate microstructure, and exhibit intense visible light absorption and high adsorptivity of dye molecules. The interaction between TiO2 and its surface carbon layer in TiO2-C particle promotes the generation of Ti-O-C bonds, which leads to effective charge transfer. Under visible-light irradiation, TiO2-C@TiO2-C film presents enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of methylene blue. This work may provide a new viewpoint for designing transparent photocatalytic film for promising applications in heterogeneous photocatalysis.

Eta Carinae's 2014.6 spectroscopic event: Clues to the long-term recovery from its Great Eruption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehner, A.; Davidson, K.; Humphreys, R. M.; Walter, F. M.; Baade, D.; de Wit, W. J.; Martin, J.; Ishibashi, K.; Rivinius, T.; Martayan, C.; Ruiz, M. T.; Weis, K.

2015-06-01

Aims: Every 5.5 years, η Car's light curve and spectrum change remarkably across all observed wavelength bands. These so-called spectroscopic events are most likely caused by the close approach of a companion. We compare the recent spectroscopic event in mid-2014 to the events in 2003 and 2009 and investigate long-term trends. Methods: Eta Car was observed with HST STIS, VLT UVES, and CTIO 1.5 m CHIRON for a period of more than two years in 2012-2015. Archival observations with these instruments cover three orbital cycles and the events of 2003.5, 2009.1, and 2014.6. The STIS spectra provide high spatial resolution and include epochs during the 2014 event when observations from most ground-based observatories were not feasible. The strategy for UVES observations allows for a multidimensional analysis, because each location in the reflection nebula is correlated with a different stellar latitude. Results: Important spectroscopic diagnostics during η Car's events show significant changes in 2014 compared to previous events. While the timing of the first He ii λ4686 flash was remarkably similar to previous events, the He ii equivalent widths were slightly larger, and the line flux increased by a factor of ~7 compared to 2003. The second He ii peak occurred at about the same phase as in 2009, but was stronger. The He i line flux grew by a factor of ~8 in 2009-2014 compared to 1998-2003. The N ii emission lines also increased in strength. On the other hand, Hα and Fe ii lines show the smallest emission strengths ever observed in η Car. The optical continuum brightened by a factor of ~4 in the past 10-15 years.The polar spectrum shows fewer changes in the broad wind emission lines: the Fe ii emission strength decreased by a factor of ~2 (compared to a factor of ~4 in our direct line of sight). The He ii equivalent widths at FOS4 were larger in 2009 and 2014 than during the 2003 event. Conclusions: The basic character of η Car's spectroscopic events has changed in the past two to three cycles. The ionizing UV radiation dramatically weakened during each pre-2014 event but not in 2014. The strengthening of He i and N ii emission and the weakening of the lower-excitation Hα and Fe ii wind featuresin our direct line of sight implies a substantial change in the physical parameters of the emitting regions. The polar spectrum at FOS4 shows fewer changes in the broad wind emission lines, which may be explained by the latitude-dependent wind structure of η Car. The quick and strong recovery of the He ii emission in 2014 supports a scenario, in which the wind-wind shock may not have completely collapsed as was proposed for previous events. As a result, the companion did not accrete as much material as in previous events. All this may be the consequence of just one elementary change, namely a strong decrease in the primary's mass-loss rate. This would mark the beginning of a new phase, in which the spectroscopic events can be described as an occultation by the primary's wind. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained (from the Data Archive) at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with programmes #7302, 8036, 8327, 8483, 8619, 9083, 9242, 9337, 9420, 9973, 11506, 11612, 12013, 12508, 12750, 13377, and 13789. Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile under Prog-IDs: 60.A-9022(A), 70.D-0607(A), 71.D-0168(A), 072.D-0524(A), 074.D-0141(A), 077.D-0618(A), 380.D-0036(A), 381.D-0004(A), 282.D-5073(A,B,C,D,E), 089.D-0024(A), 592.D-0047(A,B,C). Based in part on data obtained with the SMARTS/CTIO 1.5 m, operated by the SMARTS Consortium.Tables 1-3 are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

Estrogen-Mediated Breast Carcinogenesis: The Role of Sulfation Pharmacogenetics

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-05-01

Final (1 May 99 - 30 Apr 02) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5 . FUNDING NUMBERS Estrogen-Mediated Breast Carcinogenesis: The DAMD17-99-1-9281 Role of Sulfation...Pharmacogenetics 6 . AUTHOR(S) Araba Adjei, Ph.D. 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER Mayo...4 IN TR O D U CTIO N ................................................................................................... 5 B O D Y

Scientific planning for the VLT and VLTI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leibundgut, B.; Berger, J.-P.

2016-07-01

An observatory system like the VLT/I requires careful scientific planning for operations and future instruments. Currently the ESO optical/near-infrared facilities include four 8m telescopes, four (movable) 1.8m telescopes used exclusively for interferometry, two 4m telescopes and two survey telescopes. This system offers a large range of scientific capabilities and setting the corresponding priorities depends good community interactions. Coordinating the existing and planned instrumentation is an important aspect for strong scientific return. The current scientific priorities for the VLT and VLTI are pushing for the development of the highest angular resolution imaging and astrometry, integral field spectroscopy and multi-object spectroscopy. The ESO 4m telescopes on La Silla will be dedicated to time domain spectroscopy and exo-planet searches with highly specialized instruments. The next decade will also see a significant rise in the scientific importance of massive ground and space-based surveys. We discuss how future developments in astronomical research could shape the VLT/I evolution.

Wide Field Infra-Red Survey Telescope (WFIRST) 2.4-Meter Mission Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Content, D.; Aaron, K.; Alplanalp, L.; Anderson, K.; Capps, R.; Chang, Z.; Dooley, J.; Egerman, R.; Goullioud, R.; Klein, D.;

A dispersed fringe sensor prototype for the Giant Magellan Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frostig, Danielle; McLeod, Brian A.; Kopon, Derek

2017-01-01

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will employ seven 8.4m primary mirror segments and seven 1m secondary mirror segments to achieve the diffraction limit of a 25.4m aperture. One challenge of the GMT is keeping the seven pairs of mirror segments in phase. We present a conceptual opto mechanical design for a prototype dispersed fringe sensor. The prototype, which operates at J-band and incorporates an infrared avalanche photodiode array, will be deployed on the Magellan Clay Telescope to verify the sensitivity and accuracy of the planned GMT phasing sensor.

Hiding in plain sight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riedel, Adric Richard

2012-05-01

Since the first successful measurements of stellar trigonometric parallax in the 1830s, the study of nearby stars has focused on the highest proper motion stars (micro > 0.18″ yr-1). Those high proper motion stars have formed the backbone of the last 150 years of study of the Solar Neighborhood and the composition of the Galaxy. Statistically speaking, though, there is a population of stars that will have low proper motions when their space motions have been projected onto the sky. At the same time, over the last twenty years, populations of relatively young stars (less than ˜ 100 Myr), most of them with low proper motions, have been revealed near (< 100 pc) the Sun. This dissertation is the result of two related projects: A photometric search for nearby (< 25pc) southern-hemisphere M dwarf stars with low proper motions (micro < 0.18″ yr-1), and a search for nearby (< 100 pc) pre-main-sequence (< 125 Myr old) M dwarf systems. The projects rely on a variety of photometric, spectroscopic, and astrometric analyses (including parallaxes from our program) using data from telescopes at CTIO via the SMARTS Consortium and at Lowell Observatory. Within this dissertation, I describe the identification and confirmation of 23 new nearby low proper motion M dwarf systems within 25 pc, 8 of which are within 15 pc (50% of the anticipated low-proper-motion 15 pc sample). I also report photometric, spectroscopic, and astrometric parameters and identifications for a selection of 25 known and new candidate nearby young M dwarfs, including new low-mass members of the TW Hydra, beta Pictoris, Tucana-Horologium, Argus, and AB Doradus associations, following the methods of my Riedel et al. (2011) paper and its discovery of AP Col, the closest pre-main-sequence star to the Solar System. These low proper motion and nearby star discoveries are put into the context of the Solar Neighborhood as a whole by means of the new RECONS 25 pc Database, to which I have now added (including my Riedel et al. (2010) paper) 81 star systems (4% of the total). INDEX WORDS: Astronomy, Astrometry, Photometry, Spectroscopy, Kinematics, Proper motion, Parallax, Nearby stars, Low-mass stars, Young stars, Pre-main-sequence stars.

K-KIDS: K Dwarfs and Their Companions. First Results from Radial Velocity Survey with CHIRON Spectrograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paredes, Leonardo; Henry, Todd; Nusdeo, Daniel; Winters, J.; Dincer, Tolga

2018-01-01

We present the K-KIDS project, an effort to survey a large sample of K dwarfs and their companions, the KIDS. We are observing a carefully vetted equatorial sample (DEC = -30 to +30) of more than 1000 K dwarfs within 50 pc to make a comprehensive assessment of stellar, substellar and planetary companions with separations of 0.1 to 10,000 AU.The initial sample of 1048 stars has been compiled using astrometric data from Hipparcos and photometric data from Tycho-2 and 2MASS. Four different imaging and spectroscopic surveys are underway. Here we present the strategy and initial results for our high-precision radial velocity survey for the closest companions using the CHIRON spectrograph on the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m telescope. Individual measurements with CHIRON at R = 80,000 using ThAr wavelength calibration, indicate that for K dwarf radial velocity standards with V = 5.8, 7.0 and 8.0 yield precisions over 6 weeks of observing of 7.4 m/s, 9.8 m/s and 5.7 m/s. In the first two months, a core sample of 42 K dwarfs, including carefully selected calibration systems as well as previously unobserved stars, was observed every few nights to detect the radial velocity signals of close companions. In our calibration stellar systems, we have confirmed the suitability of CHIRON for our studies, by having found periodic radial velocity perturbations consistent with hot Jupiter and stellar companions previously detected. This set forms the foundation of our one-year survey of 100 K dwarfs with magnitudes as faint as V = 11.5, for which we should detect companions with masses as low as Jupiter.In light of the promising performance and efficiency of the CHIRON spectrograph for a long-term radial velocity survey, we have expanded our initial sample using Gaia Data Release 1 to 1824 K dwarfs within 50 pc. Ultimately, the combination of all four surveys will provide an unprecedented portrait of K dwarfs and their kids.This effort has been supported by the NSF through grant AST-1517413, and via observations made possible by the SMARTS Consortium.

The LSST Optical System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, M.; Seppala, L.; Sweeney, D.; LSST Project Team

2005-12-01

The 8.4m Large Synoptic Survey Telescope facility will digitally survey the entire visible sky. It will explore the nature of dark matter and dark energy, open the faint optical transient time window and catalog earth-crossing asteroids > 300m diameter. We present the design of an f/1.25 modified Paul-Baker or Laux telescope with etendue (A--Ω product) of >318m2 deg2 , >50× beyond any existing facility. The optical design, over a 3.5-degree diameter field of view (9.62 deg2), delivers superb ˜ 0.2 arcsec FWHM images over 6 spectral bands covering 325--1000 nm. The flat focal surface has a plate scale of 51 microns/arcsec, matching the 10 microns pixels of a large 0.65 m diameter mosaic digital detector. The f/1.17 primary can be made using polishing techniques and metrology methods pioneered at the University of Arizona Mirror Lab for the 8.4 m f/1.1 Large Binocular Telescope primaries. The 3.4 m convex secondary is twice the size of the largest convex secondary yet manufactured; the 1.7 m MMT f/5 secondary. We show a fabrication and testing plan for this optic, which has less than 40 microns asphericity from best fit sphere. Five separate null test or alignment tests are built in as part of the optimization of the entire telescope: the three lenses separately, the combination of the first two lenses and the three mirror telescope system, without the camera corrector optics. All five tests help to ensure practicable telescope design.

Euro50: Proposal for a 50 m Optical and Infrared Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ardeberg, Arne; Andersen, Torben; Rodriguez Espinosa, Jose Miguel

Staff from Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Lund Observatory, Physics Department and Larmor Research Institute at Galway, and Tuorla Observatory is collaborating on studies for a 50 m optical and infrared telescope. The telescope concepts are based on the work on extremely large telescopes carried out during 1991-2000 at Lund Observatory, and on the experience from the 10.4 m segmented Grantecan telescope presently under construction. The proposed 50 m telescope is a fully adaptive Nasmyth telescope with a Ritchey Chretien configuration. It will have an aspherical, segmented primary mirror with 2 m large segments and a deformable secondary. Adaptive optics will be implemented in several steps. From the beginning, there will be single-conjugate adaptive optics for the K-band. Next, and within the first year of operation, the telescope will have single-conjugate adaptive optics for visible wavelengths. As a third step, and another year of operation, dual-conjugate adaptive optics will be made available for the K-band. The telescope will be housed in a co-rotating enclosure at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory on La Palma. Further studies are in progress aiming at preparation of a proposal during the first half of 2002.

Lunar-based optical telescopes: Planning astronomical tools of the twenty-first century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hilchey, J. D.; Nein, M. E.

1995-02-01

A succession of optical telescopes, ranging in aperture from 1 to 16 m or more, can be deployed and operated on the lunar surface over the next half-century. These candidates to succeed NASA's Great Observatories would capitalize on the unique observational advantages offered by the Moon. The Lunar Telescope Working Group and the LUTE Task Team of the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) have assessed the feasibility of developing and deploying these facilities. Studies include the 16-m Large Lunar Telescope (LLT); the Lunar Cluster Telescope Experiment (LCTE), a 4-m precursor to the LLT; the 2-m Lunar Transit Telescope (LTT); and its precursor, the 1-m Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope Experiment (LUTE). The feasibility of developing and deploying each telescope was assessed and system requirements and options for supporting technologies, subsystems, transportation, and operations were detailed. Influences of lunar environment factors and site selection on telescope design and operation were evaluated, and design approaches and key tradeoffs were established. This paper provides an overview of the study results. Design concepts and brief system descriptions are provided, including subsystem and mission options selected for the concepts.

Unraveling the Helix Nebula: Its Structure and Knots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Dell, C. R.; McCullough, Peter R.; Meixner, Margaret

2004-11-01

Through Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of the inner part of the main ring of the Helix Nebula, together with CTIO 4 m images of the fainter outer parts, we have a view of unprecedented quality of the nearest bright planetary nebula. These images have allowed us to determine that the main ring of the nebula is composed of an inner disk of about 499" diameter (0.52 pc) surrounded by an outer ring (in reality a torus) of 742" diameter (0.77 pc) whose plane is highly inclined to the plane of the disk. This outer ring is surrounded by an outermost ring of 1500" (1.76 pc) diameter, which is flattened on the side colliding with the ambient interstellar medium. The inner disk has an extended distribution of low-density gas along its rotational axis of symmetry, and the disk is optically thick to ionizing radiation, as is the outer ring. Published radial velocities of the knots provide support for the two-component structure of the main ring of the nebula and for the idea that the knots found there are expanding along with the nebular material from which they recently originated. These velocities indicate a spatial expansion velocity of the inner disk of 40 and 32 km s-1 for the outer ring, which yields expansion ages of 6560 and 12,100 yr, respectively. The outermost ring may be partially ionized through scattered recombination continuum from the inner parts of the nebula, but shocks certainly are occurring in it. This outermost ring probably represents a third period of mass loss by the central star. There is one compact, outer object that is unexplained, showing shock structures indicating a different orientation of the gas flow from that of the nebula. There is a change in the morphology of the knots as a function of the distance from the local ionization front. This supports a scenario in which the knots are formed in or near the ionization front and are then sculpted by the stellar radiation from the central star as the ionization front advances beyond them. Based in part on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Based in part on observations obtained at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation.

Tourism in Chile | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications ‹› You are here CTIO Home » Outreach » Tourism » Tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Map of

Astro Tourism in Chile | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications ‹› You are here CTIO Home » Outreach » Tourism » Astro Tourism in Chile Astro Tourism in

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Texas-Oxford NVSS (TONS) radio galaxies (Brand+, 2005)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brand, K.; Rawlings, S.; Hill, G. J.; Tufts, J. R.

2005-10-01

Optical spectra were obtained during the period 2000 October-2003 May on the 2.6-m Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) using the Andalucia faint object spectrograph, the 4.2-m William Herschel telescope (WHT) using ISIS, the 2.7-m Smith reflector at McDonald with the Imaging Grism Instrument (IGI), and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) using the Marcario low-resolution spectrograph (LRS). (3 data files).

New Candidate Supernova Remnants in the Small Magellanic Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winkler, P. F.; Lewinter, R.

1992-12-01

We have surveyed six 30(') times 30(') fields in the Small Magellanic Cloud, using the Curtis Schmidt telescope at CTIO with a Thomson CCD, to search for previously undetected supernova remnants (SNRs). Narrow-band images are obtained in lines of [S II] (lambda lambda \\ 6716,31), Hα , and a nearby continuum band. The ratio of [S II]/Hα \\ emission discriminates well between shock-heated material charcteristic of SNRs and photo-ionized material such as H II regions. This technique has proved highly effective in surveys of other galaxies (e.g. Long et al., Ap J Supp, 72, 61). Deep emission-line images and a continuum band closely matched in wavelength enable us to subtract virtually the entire stellar contribution and thus achieve high sensitivity to faint, diffuse emission. We have identified 13 objects, all of which have [S II]/Hα \\ ratios > 0.4\\ and a full or partial shell-like morphology, making them extremely strong SNR candidates. Several other diffuse objects have high [S II]/Hα \\ ratios, and many of these may also be SNRs. Compared with the 12 previously known remnants of Mathewson et al., (Ap J Supp 51, 345; 55, 189), the new candidates are generally larger and have lower surface brightness. An investigation of the cumulative number vs diameter relation for our larger sample indicates a slope significantly steeper than the value near unity originally found by Mathewson et al., and is more consistent with standard models for SNR evolution. Selection effects may well have led to an excess of small, bright objects in the earlier samples. This work was supported in part by NSF grant AST-9114935 and by the W.M. Keck Foundation through the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium.

Comparing Stellar Populations Across the Hubble Sequence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loeffler, Shane; Kaleida, Catherine C.; Parkash, Vaishali

2015-01-01

Previous work (Jansen et al., 2000, Taylor et al., 2005) has revealed trends in the optical wavelength radial profiles of galaxies across the Hubble Sequence. Radial profiles offer insight into stellar populations, metallicity, and dust concentrations, aspects which are deeply tied to the individual evolution of a galaxy. The Nearby Field Galaxy Survey (NFGS) provides a sampling of nearby galaxies that spans the range of morphological types, luminosities, and masses. Currently available NFGS data includes optical radial surface profiles and spectra of 196 nearby galaxies. We aim to look for trends in the infrared portion of the spectrum for these galaxies, but find that existing 2MASS data is not sufficiently deep. Herein, we expand the available data for the NGFS galaxy IC1639 deeper into the infrared using new data taken with the Infrared Sideport Imager (ISPI) on the 4-m Blanco Telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. Images taken in J, H, and Ks were reduced using standard IRAF and IDL procedures. Photometric calibrations were completed by using the highest quality (AAA) 2MASS stars in the field. Aperture photometry was then performed on the galaxy and radial profiles of surface brightness, J-H color, and H-Ks color were produced. For IC1639, the new ISPI data reveals flat color gradients and surface brightness gradients that decrease with radius. These trends reveal an archetypal elliptical galaxy, with a relatively homogeneous stellar population, stellar density decreasing with radius, and little-to-no obscuration by dust. We have obtained ISPI images for an additional 8 galaxies, and further reduction and analysis of these data will allow for investigation of radial trends in the infrared for galaxies across the Hubble Sequence.

Using Variability to Search for Lensed Quasars in the Dark Energy Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth J.; Dark Energy Survey Collaboration

2014-01-01

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) has just started its first season of a 5 year program using the DECam instrument on the Blanco 4m telescope at CTIO. Over the course of the 5 year survey we expect to discover about 120 lensed quasars brighter than i=21, including 20 high information-content quads (third brightest image required to be i<21). Strongly lensed quasars can be used to measure cosmological parameters. The time delays between the multiple images can be measured via dedicated monitoring campaigns, while the gravitational potential of the lensing galaxy and of structures along the line of sight can be modeled and measured using deep high resolution imaging and spectroscopy. The combination of these observables enables a distance, known as the time-delay distance (a combination of angular diameter distances) to be measured, which in turn can be converted into a measurement of cosmological parameters including those describing the Dark Energy equation of state. The first step in this measurement is to identify the lensed quasars. Traditionally, quasar candidates have been identified by their blue u-g color which allows them to be separated from the much more numerous stellar contaminants. However, the Dark Energy Survey does not take data in the u-band so other techniques must be employed. One such technique is based on the instrinsic variability of quasars (Schmidt et al, 2010, ApJ 714 1194). We have simulated what we would expect for the DES observing cadence in the first two seasons where we expect four visits to a given patch of sky spread over the two years. We will show results from the simulations as well as a first look at the data from the Science Verification phase of DES.

First light on a new fully digital camera based on SiPM for CTA SST-1M telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

della Volpe, Domenico; Al Samarai, Imen; Alispach, Cyril; Bulik, Tomasz; Borkowski, Jerzy; Cadoux, Franck; Coco, Victor; Favre, Yannick; Grudzińska, Mira; Heller, Matthieu; Jamrozy, Marek; Kasperek, Jerzy; Lyard, Etienne; Mach, Emil; Mandat, Dusan; Michałowski, Jerzy; Moderski, Rafal; Montaruli, Teresa; Neronov, Andrii; Niemiec, Jacek; Njoh Ekoume, T. R. S.; Ostrowski, Michal; Paśko, Paweł; Pech, Miroslav; Rajda, Pawel; Rafalski, Jakub; Schovanek, Petr; Seweryn, Karol; Skowron, Krzysztof; Sliusar, Vitalii; Stawarz, Łukasz; Stodulska, Magdalena; Stodulski, Marek; Travnicek, Petr; Troyano Pujadas, Isaac; Walter, Roland; Zagdański, Adam; Zietara, Krzysztof

2017-08-01

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will explore with unprecedented precision the Universe in the gammaray domain covering an energy range from 50 GeV to more the 300 TeV. To cover such a broad range with a sensitivity which will be ten time better than actual instruments, different types of telescopes are needed: the Large Size Telescopes (LSTs), with a ˜24 m diameter mirror, a Medium Size Telescopes (MSTs), with a ˜12 m mirror and the small size telescopes (SSTs), with a ˜4 m diameter mirror. The single mirror small size telescope (SST-1M), one of the proposed solutions to become part of the small-size telescopes of CTA, will be equipped with an innovative camera. The SST-1M has a Davies-Cotton optical design with a mirror dish of 4 m diameter and focal ratio 1.4 focussing the Cherenkov light produced in atmospheric showers onto a 90 cm wide hexagonal camera providing a FoV of 9 degrees. The camera is an innovative design based on silicon photomultipliers (SiPM ) and adopting a fully digital trigger and readout architecture. The camera features 1296 custom designed large area hexagonal SiPM coupled to hollow optical concentrators to achieve a pixel size of almost 2.4 cm. The SiPM is a custom design developed with Hamamatsu and with its active area of almost 1 cm2 is one of the largest monolithic SiPM existing. Also the optical concentrators are innovative being light funnels made of a polycarbonate substrate coated with a custom designed UV-enhancing coating. The analog signals coming from the SiPM are fed into the fully digital readout electronics, where digital data are processed by high-speed FPGAs both for trigger and readout. The trigger logic, implemented into an Virtex 7 FPGA, uses the digital data to elaborate a trigger decision by matching data against predefined patterns. This approach is extremely flexible and allows improvements and continued evolutions of the system. The prototype camera is being tested in laboratory prior to its installation expected in fall 2017 on the telescope prototype in Krakow (Poland). In this contribution, we will describe the design of the camera and show the performance measured in laboratory.

DAG telescope site studies and infrastructure for possible international co-operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yerli, Sinan K.; Yeşilyaprak, Cahit; Keskin, Onur; Alis, Sinan

2016-07-01

The selected site for the 4 m DAG (Eastern Anatolian Observatory in Turkish) telescope is at "Karakaya Ridge", at 3170 m altitude (3150 m after summit management). The telescope's optical design is performed by the DAG technical team to allow infrared observation at high angular resolution, with its adaptive optics system to be built in Turkey. In this paper; a brief introduction about DAG telescope design; planned instrumentation; the meteorological data collected from 2008, clear night counts, short-term DIMM observations; current infrastructure to hold auxiliary telescopes; auxiliary buildings to assist operations; the observatory design; and coating unit plans will be presented along with possible collaboration possibilities in terms of instrumentation and science programs.

Potential Large Decadal Missions Enabled by Nasas Space Launch System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.; Schnell, Andrew; Smith, David Alan; Jackman, Angela; Warfield, Keith R.

2016-01-01

Large space telescope missions have always been limited by their launch vehicle's mass and volume capacities. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was specifically designed to fit inside the Space Shuttle and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is specifically designed to fit inside an Ariane 5. Astrophysicists desire even larger space telescopes. NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-m Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultra-high-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. AURA's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-m class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. NASA's "Planning for the 2020 Decadal Survey" calls for a Habitable Exoplanet Imaging (HabEx) and a LUVOIR as well as Far-IR and an X-Ray Surveyor missions. Packaging larger space telescopes into existing launch vehicles is a significant engineering complexity challenge that drives cost and risk. NASA's planned Space Launch System (SLS), with its 8 or 10-m diameter fairings and ability to deliver 35 to 45-mt of payload to Sun-Earth-Lagrange-2, mitigates this challenge by fundamentally changing the design paradigm for large space telescopes. This paper reviews the mass and volume capacities of the planned SLS, discusses potential implications of these capacities for designing large space telescope missions, and gives three specific mission concept implementation examples: a 4-m monolithic off-axis telescope, an 8-m monolithic on-axis telescope and a 12-m segmented on-axis telescope.

Designing astrophysics missions for NASA's Space Launch System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.; Schnell, Andrew; Smith, David Alan; Jackman, Angela; Warfield, Keith R.

2016-10-01

Large space telescope missions have always been limited by their launch vehicle's mass and volume capacities. The Hubble Space Telescope was specifically designed to fit inside the Space Shuttle and the James Webb Space Telescope was specifically designed to fit inside an Ariane 5. Astrophysicists desire even larger space telescopes. NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-m Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultrahigh-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-m class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. NASA's "Planning for the 2020 Decadal Survey" calls for a Habitable Exoplanet Imaging (HabEx) and an LUVOIR as well as Far-IR and an X-ray Surveyor missions. Packaging larger space telescopes into existing launch vehicles is a significant engineering complexity challenge that drives cost and risk. NASA's planned Space Launch System (SLS), with its 8- or 10-m diameter fairings and ability to deliver 35 to 45 mt of payload to Sun-Earth-Lagrange-2, mitigates this challenge by fundamentally changing the design paradigm for large space telescopes. This paper introduces the mass and volume capacities of the planned SLS, provides a simple mass allocation recipe for designing large space telescope missions to this capacity, and gives three specific mission concept implementation examples: a 4-m monolithic off-axis telescope, an 8-m monolithic on-axis telescope, and a 12-m segmented on-axis telescope.

Potential large missions enabled by NASA's space launch system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip; Hopkins, Randall C.; Schnell, Andrew; Smith, David A.; Jackman, Angela; Warfield, Keith R.

2016-07-01

Large space telescope missions have always been limited by their launch vehicle's mass and volume capacities. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was specifically designed to fit inside the Space Shuttle and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is specifically designed to fit inside an Ariane 5. Astrophysicists desire even larger space telescopes. NASA's "Enduring Quests Daring Visions" report calls for an 8- to 16-m Large UV-Optical-IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission to enable ultra-high-contrast spectroscopy and coronagraphy. AURA's "From Cosmic Birth to Living Earth" report calls for a 12-m class High-Definition Space Telescope to pursue transformational scientific discoveries. NASA's "Planning for the 2020 Decadal Survey" calls for a Habitable Exoplanet Imaging (HabEx) and a LUVOIR as well as Far-IR and an X-Ray Surveyor missions. Packaging larger space telescopes into existing launch vehicles is a significant engineering complexity challenge that drives cost and risk. NASA's planned Space Launch System (SLS), with its 8 or 10-m diameter fairings and ability to deliver 35 to 45-mt of payload to Sun-Earth-Lagrange-2, mitigates this challenge by fundamentally changing the design paradigm for large space telescopes. This paper reviews the mass and volume capacities of the planned SLS, discusses potential implications of these capacities for designing large space telescope missions, and gives three specific mission concept implementation examples: a 4-m monolithic off-axis telescope, an 8-m monolithic on-axis telescope and a 12-m segmented on-axis telescope.

The single mirror small size telescope (SST-1M) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguilar, J. A.; Bilnik, W.; Borkowski, J.; Cadoux, F.; Christov, A.; della Volpe, D.; Favre, Y.; Heller, M.; Kasperek, J.; Lyard, E.; Marszałek, A.; Moderski, R.; Montaruli, T.; Porcelli, A.; Prandini, E.; Rajda, P.; Rameez, M.; Schioppa, E., Jr.; Troyano Pujadas, I.; Zietara, K.; Blocki, J.; Bogacz, L.; Bulik, T.; Frankowski, A.; Grudzinska, M.; Idźkowski, B.; Jamrozy, M.; Janiak, M.; Lalik, K.; Mach, E.; Mandat, D.; Michałowski, J.; Neronov, A.; Niemiec, J.; Ostrowski, M.; Paśko, P.; Pech, M.; Schovanek, P.; Seweryn, K.; Skowron, K.; Sliusar, V.; Stawarz, L.; Stodulska, M.; Stodulski, M.; Toscano, S.; Walter, R.; WiÈ©cek, M.; Zagdański, A.

2016-07-01

The Small Size Telescope with Single Mirror (SST-1M) is one of the proposed types of Small Size Telescopes (SST) for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The CTA south array will be composed of about 100 telescopes, out of which about 70 are of SST class, which are optimized for the detection of gamma rays in the energy range from 5 TeV to 300 TeV. The SST-1M implements a Davies-Cotton optics with a 4 m dish diameter with a field of view of 9°. The Cherenkov light produced in atmospheric showers is focused onto a 88 cm wide hexagonal photo-detection plane, composed of 1296 custom designed large area hexagonal silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) and a fully digital readout and trigger system. The SST-1M camera has been designed to provide high performance in a robust as well as compact and lightweight design. In this contribution, we review the different steps that led to the realization of the telescope prototype and its innovative camera.

The single mirror small sized telescope for the Cherenkov telescope array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heller, M.; Schioppa, E., Jr.; Porcelli, A.; Pujadas, I. Troyano; Ziętara, K.; Della Volpe, D.; Montaruli, T.; Cadoux, F.; Favre, Y.; Aguilar, J. A.; Christov, A.; Prandini, E.; Rajda, P.; Rameez, M.; Bilnik, W.; Błocki, J.; Bogacz, L.; Borkowski, J.; Bulik, T.; Frankowski, A.; Grudzińska, M.; Idźkowski, B.; Jamrozy, M.; Janiak, M.; Kasperek, J.; Lalik, K.; Lyard, E.; Mach, E.; Mandat, D.; Marszałek, A.; Miranda, L. D. Medina; Michałowski, J.; Moderski, R.; Neronov, A.; Niemiec, J.; Ostrowski, M.; Paśko, P.; Pech, M.; Schovanek, P.; Seweryn, K.; Sliusar, V.; Skowron, K.; Stawarz, Ł.; Stodulska, M.; Stodulski, M.; Walter, R.; Więcek, M.; Zagdański, A.; CTA Consortium

2017-01-01

The Small Size Telescope with Single Mirror (SST-1M) is one of the proposed types of Small Size Telescopes (SST) for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). About 70 SST telescopes will be part the CTA southern array which will also include Medium Sized Telescopes (MST) in its threshold configuration. Optimized for the detection of gamma rays in the energy range from 5 TeV to 300 TeV, the SST-1M uses a Davies-Cotton optics with a 4 m dish diameter with a field of view of 9°. The Cherenkov light resulting from the interaction of the gamma-rays in the atmosphere is focused onto a 88 cm side-to-side hexagonal photo-detection plane. The latter is composed of 1296 hollow light guides coupled to large area hexagonal silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). The SiPM readout is fully digital readout as for the trigger system. The compact and lightweight design of the SST-1M camera offiers very high performance ideal for gamma-ray observation requirement. In this contribution, the concept, design, performance and status of the first telescope prototype are presented.

pt5m - a 0.5 m robotic telescope on La Palma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardy, L. K.; Butterley, T.; Dhillon, V. S.; Littlefair, S. P.; Wilson, R. W.

2015-12-01

pt5m is a 0.5 m robotic telescope located on the roof of the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) building, at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma. Using a five-position filter wheel and CCD detector, and bespoke control software, pt5m provides a high-quality robotic observing facility. The telescope first began robotic observing in 2012, and is now contributing to transient follow-up and time-resolved astronomical studies. In this paper, we present the scientific motivation behind pt5m, as well as the specifications and unique features of the facility. We also present an example of the science we have performed with pt5m, where we measure the radius of the transiting exoplanet WASP-33b. We find a planetary radius of 1.603 ± 0.014RJ.

Production of the 4.26 m ZERODUR mirror blank for the Advanced Technology Solar telescope (ATST)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jedamzik, Ralf; Werner, Thomas; Westerhoff, Thomas

2014-07-01

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST, formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope, ATST) will be the most powerful solar telescope in the world. It is currently being built by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) in a height of 3000 m above sea level on the mountain Haleakala of Maui, Hawaii. The primary mirror blank of diameter 4.26 m is made of the extremely low thermal expansion glass ceramic ZERODUR® of SCHOTT AG Advanced Optics. The DKIST primary mirror design is extremely challenging. With a mirror thickness of only 78 to 85 mm it is the smallest thickness ever machined on a mirror of 4.26 m in diameter. Additionally the glassy ZERODUR® casting is one of the largest in size ever produced for a 4 m class ZERODUR® mirror blank. The off axis aspherical mirror surface required sophisticated grinding procedures to achieve the specified geometrical tolerance. The small thickness of about 80 mm required special measures during processing, lifting and transport. Additionally acid etch treatment was applied to the convex back-surface and the conical shaped outer diameter surface to improve the strength of the blank. This paper reports on the challenging tasks and the achievements on the material property and dimensional specification parameter during the production of the 4.26 m ZERODUR® primary mirror blank for AURA.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Long-term optical monitoring of E1821+643 (Shapovalova+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shapovalova, A. I.; Popovic, L. C.; Chavushyan, V. H.; Burenkov, A. N.; Ilic, D.; Kollatschny, W.; Kovacevic, A.; Valdes, J. R.; Patino-Alvarez, V.; Leon-Tavares, J.; Torrealba, J.; Zhdanova, V. E.

2016-03-01

The photometry in BVR filters of E1821+643 was performed at the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science (SAO RAS) during the 2003-2014 period (98 nights) with the 1m Zeiss telescope. The photometric system of this instrument resembles those of Johnson in the B and V filters and of Cousins in the R filter. Spectra of E1821+643 (~140 nights) were acquired with two telescopes (6m and 1m) at SAO RAS, Russia (during 1998-2014), one telescope (INAOE's 2.1m) at Guillermo Haro Observatory (GHO) Cananea, Sonora, Mexico (during 1998-2007 and 2013), and two telescopes (3.5m and 2.2m) at Calar Alto Observatory, Spain (during 1990-1994). (4 data files).

THE SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD. XXVI. AP Col: THE CLOSEST (8.4 pc) PRE-MAIN-SEQUENCE STAR

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Riedel, Adric R.; Henry, Todd J.; Jao, Wei-Chun

2011-10-15

We present the results of a multi-technique investigation of the M4.5Ve flare star AP Col, which we discover to be the nearest pre-main-sequence star. These include astrometric data from the CTIO 0.9 m, from which we derive a proper motion of 342.0 {+-} 0.5 mas yr{sup -1}, a trigonometric parallax of 119.21 {+-} 0.98 mas (8.39 {+-} 0.07 pc), and photometry and photometric variability at optical wavelengths. We also provide spectroscopic data, including radial velocity (22.4 {+-} 0.3 km s{sup -1}), lithium equivalent width (EW) (0.28 {+-} 0.02 A), H{alpha} EW (-6.0 to -35 A), vsin i (11 {+-} 1more » km s{sup -1}), and gravity indicators from the Siding Spring 2.3 m WiFeS, Lick 3 m Hamilton echelle, and Keck-I HIRES echelle spectrographs. The combined observations demonstrate that AP Col is the closer of only two known systems within 10 pc of the Sun younger than 100 Myr. Given its space motion and apparent age of 12-50 Myr, AP Col is likely a member of the recently proposed {approx}40 Myr old Argus/IC 2391 Association.« less

VizieR Online Data Catalog: VI photometry and spectroscopy in h+{chi} Per (Currie+, 2010)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Currie, T.; Hernandez, J.; Irwin, J.; Kenyon, S. J.; Tokarz, S.; Balog, Z.; Bragg, A.; Berlind, P.; Calkins, M.

2010-04-01

Optical VI photometry of h and {chi} Persei were taken with the Mosaic Imager at the 4m Mayall telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory on 2006 October 13-16 and 27-30. We acquired low-resolution optical spectroscopy of Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)-detected stars within 1deg2 of the cluster centers. For faint stars, we used the multiobject, fiber-fed spectrograph Hectospec on the 6.5m MMT. Brighter stars were observed with the fiber-fed spectrograph Hydra on the 3.5m WIYN telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory and single-slit FAST spectrograph on the 1.5m Tillinghast telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. (4 data files).

Site Description | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Preserving the Dark Skies La Oficina de Protección de la Calidad del Cielo del Norte de Chile - OPCC Light view Cerro Pachón CTIO/AURA La Serena Facilities The "El Totoral" Reserve, Cerro Tololo and . back to top Sky Brightness over Cerro Pachón and Cerro Tololo Light pollution from nearby cities (La

Little Stars Don't Like Big Planets: An Astrometric Search for Super-Jupiters Around Red Dwarfs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lurie, John C.; Henry, T. J.; Jao, W.; Koerner, D. W.; Riedel, A. R.; Subasavage, J.; RECONS

2013-01-01

The astrometric detection and characterization of extrasolar planets presents considerable technical challenges, but also promises to greatly enhance our understanding of these systems. Nearly all currently confirmed exoplanets have been discovered using transit or radial velocity techniques. The former is geometrically biased towards planets with small orbits, while the latter is biased towards massive planets with short periods that exert large gravitational accelerations on their host stars. Astrometric techniques are limited by the minimum detectable perturbation of a star's position due to a planet, but allow for the determination of orbit inclination and an accurate planetary mass. Here we present astrometric solutions for five nearby stars with known planets: four M dwarfs (GJ 317, GJ 581, GJ 849, and GJ 1214) and one K dwarf (BD -10 3166). Observations have baselines of three to thirteen years, and were made using the 0.9 m telescope at CTIO as part of the RECONS long-term astrometry program. We provide improved parallaxes for the stars and find that there are no planets of several Jupiter masses or brown dwarfs orbiting these stars with periods up to twice the length of the astrometric coverage. In the broader context, these results are consistent with the paucity of super-Jupiter and brown dwarf companions we find among the roughly 200 red dwarfs searched in our astrometric program. This effort has been supported by the National Science Foundation via grant AST 09-08402 and the long-term cooperative efforts of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories and the members of the SMARTS Consortium.

GISOT: a giant solar telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammerschlag, Robert H.; von der Lühe, Oskar F.; Bettonvil, Felix C.; Jägers, Aswin P.; Snik, Frans

2004-10-01

A concept is presented for an extremely large high-resolution solar telescope with an aperture of 11 m and diffraction limited for visual wavelengths. The structure of GISOT will be transparent to wind and placed on a transparent stiff tower. For efficient wind flushing, all optics, including the primary mirror, will be located above the elevation axis. The aperture will be of the order of 11 m, not rotatively symmetrical, but of an elongated shape with dimensions 11 x 4 m. It consists of a central on-axis 4 m mirror with on both sides 3 pieces of 2 m mirrors. The optical layout will be kept simple to guarantee quality and minimize stray light. A Coudé room for instruments is planned below the telescope. The telescope will not be housed in a dome-like construction, which interferes with the open principle. Instead the telescope will be protected by a foldable tent construction with a diameter of the order of 30 m, which doesn"t form any obstruction during observations, but can withstand the severe weather circumstances on mountain sites. Because of the nature of the solar scene, extremely high resolution in only one dimension is sufficient to solve many exciting problems in solar physics and in this respect the concept of GISOT is very promising.

Large Binocular Telescope Observations of Europa Occulting Io's Volcanoes at 4.8 μm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skrutskie, Michael F.; Conrad, Albert; Resnick, Aaron; Leisenring, Jarron; Hinz, Phil; de Pater, Imke; de Kleer, Katherine; Spencer, John; Skemer, Andrew; Woodward, Charles E.; Davies, Ashley Gerard; Defrére, Denis

2015-11-01

On 8 March 2015 Europa passed nearly centrally in front of Io. The Large Binocular Telescope observed this event in dual-aperture AO-corrected Fizeau interferometric imaging mode using the mid-infrared imager LMIRcam operating behind the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) at a broadband wavelength of 4.8 μm (M-band). Occultation light curves generated from frames recorded every 123 milliseconds show that both Loki and Pele/Pillan were well resolved. Europa's center shifted by 2 kilometers relative to Io from frame-to-frame. The derived light curve for Loki is consistent with the double-lobed structure reported by Conrad et al. (2015) using direct interferometric imaging with LBTI.

Spectroscopic investigations on the simulated solar light induced photodegradation of 4-nitrophenol by using three novel copper(II) porphyrin-TiO2 photocatalysts.

PubMed

Lü, Xiang-fei; Sun, Wan-jun; Li, Jun; Xu, Wei-xia; Zhang, Feng-xing

2013-07-01

Three porphyrins containing different functional groups (-OH, C-O2C2H5, -COOH), 5-(4-hydroxy) phenyl-10,15,20-triphenyl porphyrin (1a), 5-(4-ethylacetatatomethoxy) phenyl-10,15,20-triphenyl porphyrin (1b), 5-(4-carboxylatomethoxy) phenyl-10,15,20-triphenyl porphyrin (1c), were synthesized and characterized spectroscopically. The CuPp(2a, 2b, 2c)-TiO2 photocatalysts were then prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis-DRS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The photocatalytic activities of the photocatalysts were investigated by carrying out the photodegradation of 4-nitrophenol in aqueous solution under simulated solar irradiation. It was found that the CuPp(2a, 2b, 2c)-TiO2 enhanced the photocatalytic efficiency of bare TiO2 in photodegrading the 4-NP due to the interaction between CuPp(2a, 2b, 2c) and TiO2, resulted in the enhancement of the photogenerated electron-hole separation. The reasons of this enhanced photocatalytic activity were also discussed. Based on the present study, it could be considered as a promising photocatalyst for the further industrial application. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: The ELM survey. VI. 11 new ELM WD binaries (Gianninas+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gianninas, A.; Kilic, M.; Brown, W. R.; Canton, P.; Kenyon, S. J.

2016-02-01

We used the 6.5m MMT telescope equipped with the Blue Channel spectrograph, the 200 inch Hale telescope equipped with the Double spectrograph, the Kitt Peak National Observatory 4m telescope equipped with the R-C spectrograph, and more recently with Kitt Peak Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph (KOSMOS), to obtain spectroscopy of our 11 targets in several observing runs. We have also been obtaining radial-velocity measurements for candidates from other sources including the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Spectroscopy Telescope (LAMOST). Those 11 new Extremely low-mass white dwarf (ELM WD) binaries bring the total of ELM WDs identified by the ELM Survey up to 73. (4 data files).

Affordable spectroscopy for 1m-class telescopes: recent developments and applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Csák, B.; Kovács, J.; Szabó, Gy. M.; Kiss, L. L.; Dózsa, Á.; Sódor, Á.; Jankovics, I.

2014-03-01

Doppler observations of exoplanet systems have been a very expensive technique, mainly due to the high costs of high-resolution stable spectrographs. Recent advances in instrumentation enable affordable Doppler planet detections with surprisingly small optical telescopes. We investigate the possibility of measuring Doppler reflex motion of planet hosting stars with small-aperture telescopes that have traditionally been neglected for this kind of studies. After thoroughly testing the recently developed and commercially available Shelyak eShel echelle spectrograph, we demonstrated that it is routinely possible to achieve velocity precision at the 100 m s-1 level, reaching down to ¬± 50 m s-1 for the best cases. We describe our off-the-shelf instrumentation, including a new 0.5m RC telescope at the Gothard Astrophysical Observatory of Loránd E&ötv&ös University equipped with an intermediate resolution fiber-fed echelle spectrograph. We present some follow-up radial velocity measurements of planet hosting stars and point out that updating the orbital solution of Doppler-planets is a very important task that can be fulfilled with sub-meter sized optical telescopes without requesting very expensive telescope times on 2—4 m (or larger) class telescopes.

HPF: The Habitable Zone Planet Finder at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, Jason T.; Mahadevan, Suvrath; Hearty, Fred; Monson, Andy; Stefansson, Gudmundur; Ramsey, Larry; Ninan, Joe; Bender, Chad; Kaplan, Kyle; Roy, Arpita; Terrien, Ryan; Robertson, Paul; Halverson, Sam; Schwab, Christian; Kanodia, Shubham

2018-01-01

The Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF) is an ultra-stable NIR (ZYJ) high resolution echelle spectrograph on the 10-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope capable of 1-3 m/s Doppler velocimetry on nearby late M dwarfs (M4-M9). This precision is sufficient to detect terrestrial planets in the Habitable Zones of these relatively unexplored stars. Here we present its capabilities and early commissioning results.

Fabrication and testing of 4.2m off-axis aspheric primary mirror of Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Chang Jin; Lowman, Andrew E.; Smith, Greg A.; Su, Peng; Huang, Run; Su, Tianquan; Kim, Daewook; Zhao, Chunyu; Zhou, Ping; Burge, James H.

2016-07-01

Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (formerly known as Advanced Technology Solar Telescope) will be the largest optical solar telescope ever built to provide greatly improved image, spatial and spectral resolution and to collect sufficient light flux of Sun. To meet the requirements of the telescope the design adopted a 4m aperture off-axis parabolic primary mirror with challenging specifications of the surface quality including the surface figure, irregularity and BRDF. The mirror has been completed at the College of Optical Sciences in the University of Arizona and it meets every aspect of requirement with margin. In fact this mirror may be the smoothest large mirror ever made. This paper presents the detail fabrication process and metrology applied to the mirror from the grinding to finish, that include extremely stable hydraulic support, IR and Visible deflectometry, Interferometry and Computer Controlled fabrication process developed at the University of Arizona.

Hypatia: a 4m active space telescope concept and capabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devaney, Nicholas; Goncharov, A.; Goy, M.; Reinlein, C.; Lange, N.

2017-09-01

While ambitious plans are being developed for giant, segmented telescopes in space, we feel that a large monolithic mirror telescope would have several advantages in the near term. In particular, the risk involved in deploying the optics will be significantly reduced, and the telescope can provide excellent image quality without the need for precise segment alignment and phasing.

Aberration caused by the errors of alignment and adjustment in reflecting telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Hui-Song

The 2-mirror Cassegrain geometry has firmly become a standard tool for modern astronomical research. The alignment and adjustment of aplanatic (RC) Cassegrain telescope is therefore by far the most important aspect. The errors that arise in telescope through maladjustment are discussed and the aberrations are calculated for the 2.4 m telescope which will be mounted at Gaomeigu.

STS-109 MS Grunsfeld and Linnehan stow old solar array from payload bay

NASA Image and Video Library

2002-03-04

STS109-E-5244 (4 March 2002) --- Astronauts John M. Grunsfeld (red stripes on suit), payload commander, and Richard M. (Rick) Linnehan, mission specialist, participate in the first of their assigned STS-109 space walks to perform work on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The two went on to replace the giant telescope’s starboard solar array. Their seven-hour space walk ended at 7:38 a.m. (CST) or 13:38 GMT March 4, 2002.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: 5 exoplanet light and RV curves (Mancini+, 2018)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mancini, L.; Esposito, M.; Covino, E.; Southworth, J.; Biazzo, K.; Bruni, I.; Ciceri, S.; Evans, D.; Lanza, A. F.; Poretti, E.; Sarkis, P.; Smith, A. M. S.; Brogi, M.; Affer, L.; Benatti, S.; Bignamini, A.; Boccato, C.; Bonomo, A. S.; Borsa, F.; Carleo, I.; Claudi, R.; Cosentino, R.; Damasso, M.; Desidera, S.; Giacobbe, P.; Gonzalez-Alvarez, E.; Gratton, R.; Harutyunyan, A.; Leto, G.; Maggio, A.; Malavolta, L.; Maldonado, J.; Martinez-Fiorenzano, A.; Masiero, S.; Micela, G.; Molinari, E.; Nascimbeni, V.; Pagano, I.; Pedani, M.; Piotto, G.; Rainer, M.; Scandariato, G.; Smareglia, R.; Sozzetti, A.; Andreuzzi, G.; Henning, T.

2018-02-01

Radial velocity measurements of HAT-P-3, HAT-P-12, HAT-P-22, WASP-39, and WASP-60 obtained with HARPS-N at the 3.5m TNG telescope. Light curves of transit events of the extrasolar planet HAT-P-3b, HAT-P-12b and WASP-60b. Two of the datasets were obtained using the Cassini 1.52m Telescope (Gunn r and Gunn i) at the Astronomical Observatory of Bologna in Loiano (Italy). Ten of the datasets were obtained using the Zeiss 1.23m telescope (Cousins R and Cousins I) at the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre at Calar Alto (Spain). Four of the datasets were obtained using the 2.2m telescope (Stromgren u, Gunn g, Gunn r, Johnson I) at the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre at Calar Alto (Spain). One of the datasets was obtained using the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) in La Palma (Spain). (4 data files).

The First Precision CCD Observations of the Near Contact Binary, UY Muscae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKenzie, R.; Stoddard, M. L.; Samec, R. G.; Faulkner, D. R.

2003-05-01

As a part of our study of solar type stars with gas streams we observed UY Muscae [Star "y" (Oosterhoff, BAIN #148, 1928) GSC 8987 392, α (2000) = 12h 30m 47s , δ (2000) = -66° 01' 52.8"]. The observations were taken at CTIO in Chili with the 0.9-m reflector on 18, 19, 20, 23 May 2001, by RGS and DRF. The CFIM T2K CCD camera with standard UBVRcIc filters in quad mode were used. More than 200 observations were taken in each pass band. The stars (GSC 8987 1279 α (2000) = 12h30m43.7s, δ (2000) = -65°59 '45") and (GSC 8987 1884, α (2000) = 12h30m45.7s, δ (2000) = -66°01 '5") were used as comparison and check stars, respectively. Two mean epochs of minimum light were determined from primary and secondary eclipses, HJD = 2452047.6239(0.0017) and 2452049.5918(0.0005) . Standard errors are given in parentheses. We calculated the following ephemeris from our data: HJD Tmin I = 2452047.6240(0.0003) + 0.562273(0.000151)d*E . A UBVRI synthetic light curve solution was calculated using the Wilson Code. It indicates the primary (more massive) component is under-filling its Roche lobe [fill-out = 94.4(0.001) critical lobe. This is similar to an Algol system. The final parameters include a mass ratio, m2/m1 = 0.551(0.001) , and a temperature difference T1-T2 = 1280(3)K. Two spots were modeled: a stream spot with a temperature factor of 1.060(0.002) very near the L1 point of the primary component and a solar type dark spot of radius 25.2(0.3)° with a T factor of 0.970( 0.001). Large night to night variations in the light curve lead us to believe that the components are saturated with magnetic activity. It is possible that the system was previously in contact and is undergoing TRO oscillations. Our model indicates that the components are currently separating. Further results of this study will be presented. We wish to thank CTIO for their allocation of observing time, and a small research grant from the American Astronomical Society which supported this run.

X Persei - correlation between H-alpha and X-ray variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zamanov, R.; Stoyanov, K. A.; Petrov, N.; Nikolov, Y.; Marchev, D.; Wolter, U.

2018-03-01

We performed H-alpha spectroscopic observations of the Be/X-ray binary X Per, optical counterpart of the slow X-ray pulsar 4U 0352+30, using the 2.0m telescope of the Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory, Bulgaria and the 1.2m TIGRE telescope located in Mexico.

Real-Time Adaptive Control of Mixing in a Plane Shear Layer

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-01-01

ODAT1 3*as ypt AND OAIU COVusa3 Ja 192A6ua Technical 15 Jan 91 - 14 Jan 𔃼 rrlTLAND SUR0(U) T a 192= Pij. m F N IEu M Real-Time Adaptive Control of...0465 Submitted to Air Force Office of Scientific Research Boiling Air Force Base, Building 410 Washington, D.C. 20332 Submitted by A. Glezer Acc&:io n F1...t ibu_:ion i ... ..... ... . Aw ilfbility Cc.C’ Dist Spec I A-1 92-05643 92 1 3a 12 TABLE OF CONTENTS IN TRO D U CTIO N

New outburst of GX 339-4 detected by Faulkes Telescope South

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russell, David M.; Lewis, Fraser; Gandhi, Poshak

2017-09-01

We have been monitoring the black hole X-ray binary GX 339-4 with the 2-m Faulkes Telescope South (at Siding Spring, Australia) since September 2007 (e.g. ATel #1586; #1962, #2459, #2547, #3191, #4162, Cadolle Bel et al. 2011).

Fizeau interferometric imaging of Io volcanism with LBTI/LMIRcam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leisenring, J. M.; Hinz, P. M.; Skrutskie, M.; Skemer, A.; Woodward, C. E.; Veillet, C.; Arcidiacono, C.; Bailey, V.; Bertero, M.; Boccacci, P.; Conrad, A.; de Kleer, K.; de Pater, I.; Defrère, D.; Hill, J.; Hofmann, K.-H.; Kaltenegger, L.; La Camera, A.; Nelson, M. J.; Schertl, D.; Spencer, J.; Weigelt, G.; Wilson, J. C.

2014-07-01

The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) houses two 8.4-meter mirrors separated by 14.4 meters on a common mount. Coherent combination of these two AO-corrected apertures via the LBT Interferometer (LBTI) produces Fizeau interferometric images with a spatial resolution equivalent to that of a 22.8-meter telescope and the light- gathering power of single 11.8-meter mirror. Capitalizing on these unique capabilities, we used LBTI/LMIRcam to image thermal radiation from volcanic activity on the surface of Io at M-Band (4.8 μm) over a range of parallactic angles. At the distance of Io, the M-Band resolution of the interferometric baseline corresponds to a physical distance of ~135 km, enabling high-resolution monitoring of Io volcanism such as ares and outbursts inaccessible from other ground-based telescopes operating in this wavelength regime. Two deconvolution routines are used to recover the full spatial resolution of the combined images, resolving at least sixteen known volcanic hot spots. Coupling these observations with advanced image reconstruction algorithms demonstrates the versatility of Fizeau interferometry and realizes the LBT as the first in a series of extremely large telescopes.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Variables in Centaurus field F170 (Pietrukowicz+, 2012)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietrukowicz, P.; Minniti, D.; Alonso-Garcia; J.; Hempel, M.

2011-10-01

VJHKs photometry of stars in two VIMOS disc fields: F167 and F170. Data table with 333 variables detected in the field F170 in Centaurus. The optical observations were taken with the 8.2-m Unit Telescope 3 + VIMOS imager with a scale of 0.205"/pix at ESO Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory. Date of the observations: Apr 11-12, 2005. The infrared observations were obtained with the 4.1-m VISTA telescope + VIRCAM with a scale of 0.34"/pix also at Paranal Observatory. Date of the observations: Mar-Apr 2010. (4 data files).

3D Spectroscopic Surveys of Late-Type Nearby Galaxies in the Optical

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amram, Philippe

2011-12-01

Two classes of spectro-imagers are available, the first one, usually based on grisms, allows to cover intermediate fields of view and wide spectral ranges (decreasing when the spectral resolution increases) while the second one, usually based on tunable filters (like Fabry-Perot), is generally able to cover larger fields of view but on narrow spectral ranges (also depending on the spectral resolution). Both families of instrument have access to low or high spectral resolution and are used in seeing limited conditions for observing nearby galaxies. Spectro-imagers provide data cubes consisting of a spectrum for each spatial sample on the sky. From these spectra, using both emission and absorption lines, combined with the continuum emission, the history of the stars and the interstellar medium in nearby galaxies, encoded in different physical quantities, such as chemical abundances, kinematics properties, is deciphered. Only a few surveys of galaxies using spectro-imagers have been led up to now and mainly using 4-m class or smaller telescopes. This includes the case of nearby late-type galaxies surveyed in the optical. Two large surveys of some 600 galaxies each have just been launched, one on the Magellan 6m telescope (CGS) and the other one on the William Herschel 4.2m telescope (CALIFA). Surveys containing a smaller number of galaxies have been conducted elsewhere, for instance on the WIYN and Calar Alto 3.5m telescopes (the DiskMass survey, 146 galaxies); on the ESO and CFHT 3.6m telescopes (CIGALE, 269 galaxies); on the OHP 1.92m telescope (GHASP, 203 galaxies); on the mont Mégantic 1.6m telescope (107 galaxies) and on the San Pedro Mártir 2.1m telescope (79 galaxies). Other programs surveying less then 50 galaxies have been also led, like VENGA, SAURON, PINGS or GHaFaS. The scientific drivers of these surveys are broad, they span from the study of the structural properties, star formation histories, AGN content, to mass profiles and uncertainties in rotation-curve decompositions, nature and formation of bulges and disks components.

New Capabilities of One-Meter Schmidt Telescope of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory after modernization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Movsessian, T. A.; Dodonov, S. N.; Gabrielyan, V. V.; Kotov, S. S.; Gevorgyan, M. H.

2017-12-01

Within the framework of cooperation between Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory and Special Astrophysical Observatory during 2013-2015 y the 1-m Schmidt telescope of the Byurakan Astrophysical was upgraded. We completely redesigned the control system of the telescope: we replaced the actuating mechanisms, developed telescope control software, and made the guiding system. In the Special Astrophysical Observatory, the 4k×4k Apogee (USA) liquid-cooled CCD was reworked and prepared. Detector was mounted in the focus of the telescope and provides 1-degree field of view with pixel-size of 0.868, and RON 11e-. The detector is equipped with a turret with 5 holes for filters. The 20 intermediate-band filters (FWHM= 250A) uniformly covering the 4000&-9000Å wavelength range, five broadband filters (u, g, r, i, z SDSS), and three narrow-band filters. During the first year of test operation of the 1-m telescope we performed pilot observations within the framework of three programs: search for young stellar objects, AGN evolution, and stellar composition of galaxy disks. We confirmed the possibility of efficiently selecting of young objects using observations performed in narrow-band Hα and [S II] filters and the intermediate-band 7500Å filter. Three-hours long exposures with SDSS g, r, and i band filters allow us to reach the surface brightness level of 28m from square arcsecond when investigating the stellar content of galaxy disks for a sample of nine galaxies. We used observations performed with the 1-m telescope in five broadband (SDSS u, g, r, i, and z) and 15 intermediate-band filters (4000-7500Å) to construct a sample of quasar candidates with 0.5

One-meter Schmidt telescope of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory: New capabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dodonov, S. N.; Kotov, S. S.; Movsesyan, T. A.; Gevorkyan, M.

2017-10-01

In 2013-2015 the Laboratory of spectroscopy and photometry of extragalactic objects (LS-PEO) of the Special Astrophysical Observatory together with Armenian specialists upgraded the 1-m Schmidt telescope of the Byurakan Astrophysical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. We completely redesigned the control system of the telescope: we replaced the actuating mechanisms, developed telescope control software, and made the guiding system. We reworked and prepared a 4k × 4k Apogee (USA) liquid-cooled CCD with RON 11.1 e -, a pixel size of 0.″868, and field of view of about 1□°, and in October 2015 mounted it in the focus of the telescope. The detector is equipped with a turret bearing 20 intermediate-band filters ( FWHM = 250 Å) uniformly covering the 4000-9000 Å wavelength range, five broadband filters ( u, g, r, i, z SDSS), and three narrow-band filters (5000 Å, 6560 Å and 6760 Å, FWHM = 100 Å). During the first year of test operation of the 1-m telescope we performed pilot observations within the framework of three programs: search for young stellar objects, AGNevolution, and stellar composition of galaxy disks.We confirmed the possibility of efficiently selecting of young objects using observations performed in narrow-band H α and [SII] filters and the intermediate-band 7500 Å filter. Three-hours long exposures with SDSS g-, r-, and i-band filters allow us to reach the surface brightness level of 28m/□″ when investigating the stellar content of galaxy disks for a sample of nine galaxies. We used observations performed with the 1-m telescope in five broadband (SDSS u, g, r, i, and z) and 15 intermediate-band filters (4000-7500 Å) to construct a sample of quasar candidates with 0.5 < z < 5 (330 objects) in about one-sq. degree SA68 field complete down to R AB = 23m. Spectroscopic observations of 29 objects (19.m5 < R < 22m) carried out at the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences confirmed the quasar nature of 28 objects.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Wide-field photometry of the GC Palomar 5 (Ibata+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibata, R. A.; Lewis, G. F.; Martin, N. F.

2016-05-01

The primary source of photometry for this project was obtained with the MegaCam instrument at the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) during the 2006-2008 spring observing seasons. We also secured photometric observations of the cluster and its stream using the Mosaic II imager on the Mayall 4m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) on 2010 June 4-8. (2 data files).

Improvements to the Hubble Space Telescope COS/FUV Wavelength Calibration at Lifetime Position 4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plesha, Rachel; Ake, Thomas B.; De Rosa, Gisella; Oliveira, Cristina M.; Penton, Steven V.; Snyder, Elaine M.

2018-06-01

The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) was installed on the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009, and the FUV detector is currently operating at the 4th lifetime position (LP4). The COS team at the Space Telescope Science Institute has been improving the wavelength calibration of the FUV channel at each lifetime position. For the LP4 solution we obtained special calibration data as well as new lamp spectra to update the lamp template used at LP4 with the goal of achieving a wavelength calibration accuracy of ± 3 pixels. Additionally, we derived a new solution for the G130M/1222 cenwave which we expect to be more frequently used at this lifetime position due to the COS2025 policy in place on the other G130M settings. Here we present the results and methodology behind the wavelength calibration solutions at LP4.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Radial velocities of 7 cataclysmic binaries (Halpern+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halpern, J. P.; Thorstensen, J. R.

2016-04-01

Our instrumentation, and reduction and analysis procedures are essentially identical to those described in Paper I (Thorstensen et al. 2013, cat. J/AJ/146/107). All of our optical data are from the MDM Observatory (http://mdm.kpno.noao.edu/index/Instrumentation.html), which comprises the 1.3m McGraw-Hill telescope and the 2.4m Hiltner telescope, both on the southwest ridge of Kitt Peak, Arizona. With a single exception, the radial velocity studies to search for the orbital periods were done on the 2.4m, while high-cadence photometry sensitive to spin periods was carried out on the 1.3m. All of our radial velocity studies used the modular spectrograph, as described in Paper I (Thorstensen et al. 2013, cat. J/AJ/146/107). Most of our velocities are from the the 2.4m telescope. Some spectra of Swift J2124.6+0500, and all the data we used for Swift J0939.7-3224, are from the McGraw-Hill 1.3m telescope, again with the modular spectrograph. For four newly identified objects we have only single spectra that were obtained on two observing runs on the 2.4m. These used the Boller and Chivens CCD spectrograph (CCDS) and the Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph (OSMOS). Descriptions of these instruments can be found on the MDM Observatory web page (http://mdm.kpno.noao.edu/index/Instrumentation.html). The objects observed are listed in Table1. Table2 lists the radial velocity data, and Table3 gives parameters of the best-fit sinusoids. (3 data files).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Imaging observations of iPTF 13ajg (Vreeswijk+, 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vreeswijk, P. M.; Savaglio, S.; Gal-Yam, A.; De Cia, A.; Quimby, R. M.; Sullivan, M.; Cenko, S. B.; Perley, D. A.; Filippenko, A. V.; Clubb, K. I.; Taddia, F.; Sollerman, J.; Leloudas, G.; Arcavi, I.; Rubin, A.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Cao, Y.; Yaron, O.; Tal, D.; Ofek, E. O.; Capone, J.; Kutyrev, A. S.; Toy, V.; Nugent, P. E.; Laher, R.; Surace, J.; Kulkarni, S. R.

2017-08-01

iPTF 13ajg was imaged with the Palomar 48 inch (P48) Oschin iPTF survey telescope equipped with a 12kx8k CCD mosaic camera (Rahmer et al. 2008SPIE.7014E..4YR) in the Mould R filter, the Palomar 60 inch and CCD camera (Cenko et al. 2006PASP..118.1396C) in Johnson B and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) gri, the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope (on La Palma, Canary Islands) with the Andalucia Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (ALFOSC) in SDSS ugriz, the 4.3 m Discovery Channel Telescope (at Lowell Observatory, Arizona) with the Large Monolithic Imager (LMI) in SDSS r, and with LRIS (Oke et al. 1995PASP..107..375O) and the Multi-Object Spectrometer for Infrared Exploration (MOSFIRE; McLean et al. 2012SPIE.8446E..0JM), both mounted on the 10 m Keck-I telescope (on Mauna Kea, Hawaii), in g and Rs with LRIS and J and Ks with MOSFIRE. (1 data file).

Monitoring non-periodic comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS using Joan Oró 0.8 m robotic telescope at OAdM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trigo-Rodríguez, J. M.; Rodríguez, D.; Lacruz, J.; Sánchez, A.

2013-09-01

Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS was discovered in June 2011 by R. Wainscoat and D. Tholen using the Pan-STARRS telescope located near the summit of Haleakala, on the island of Maui in Hawaii (USA) [1]. Once its orbit was computed it was noticed its non-periodic nature and the favorable geometry during its approach to perihelion in March 2013. It first became visible to the naked eye from the Southern hemisphere, and later on it started to be seen during mid-March from the Northern one. Due to the limited observational period in right conditions we introduce here some observations obtained taken from robotic 0.8 m Telescope Joan Oró (JO) from the Observatori Astronòmic del Montsec (OAdM: www.oadm.cat) and other Spanish observatories.

System concepts for a large UV/optical/IR telescope on the moon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nein, Max E.; Davis, Billy

1991-01-01

To assess the systems and technological requirements for constructing lunar telescopes in conjunction with the buildup of a lunar base for scientific exploration and as a waypoint for travel to Mars, the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center conducted concept studies of a 16-m-aperture large lunar telescope (LLT) and a 4-m-aperture precursor telescope, both operating in the UV/visible/IR spectral region. The feasibility of constructing a large telescope on the lunar surface is assessed, and its systems and subsystems are analyzed. Telescope site selection, environmental effects, and launch and assembly scenarios are also evaluated. It is argued that key technical drivers for the LLT must be tested in situ by precursor telescopes to evaluate such areas as the operations and long-term reliability of active optics, radiation protection of instruments, lunar dust mitigation, and thermal shielding of the telescope systems. For a manned lunar outpost or an LLT to become a reality, a low-cost dependable transportation system must be developed.

The Solar Neighborhood. 23. CCD Photometric Distance Estimates of SCR Targets-77 M Dwarf Systems Within 25 pc

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

These distances are estimated using a combination of new VRI photometry acquired at CTIO and JHK magnitudes extracted from 2MASS . The estimates are...Survey ( 2MASS ) to reveal new nearby red objects in the southern sky (Deacon et al. 2005; Deacon & Hambly 2007). This paper focuses specifically on new...more complete discussions). As we entered the 21st century, large sky surveys such as 2MASS (Skrutskie et al. 2006), DENIS (The Denis Consortium 2005

Protection of Existing and Potential Astronomical Sites in Chile - an Update.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, M. G.; Sanhueza, P.; Norman, D.; Schwarz, H.; Orellana, D.

2002-12-01

The IAU's Working Group on Controlling Light Pollution (iauwg) has declared Mauna Kea and a wide strip of Northern Chile between Antofagasta and Chajnanator as top priorities for its efforts to protect existing and potential sites in the Northern and Southern hemispheres respectively. This report provides an update on the iauwg's co-ordinated efforts to protect areas around the major international optical observatories in Chile, as well as the "Chilean Special Zone" (CSZ) mentioned above. This zone is of current and potential interest for the installation of extremely large optical telescopes and includes the ALMA radio-astronomy site. The CSZ is potentially vulnerable to adverse effects of mining in the region. Progess has been made in demonstrating to local mining interests within the CSZ the economic advantages of quality lighting. Educational and outreach activities to a variety of target audiences are building on legislation covering dark skies - itself part of work by the Chilean government to protect the natural heritage of Chile. Substantial good will was generated by an international, bilingual conference held last March in Chile. Just in the region around AURA's Observatory in Chile (Gemini South, CTIO and SOAR), a portable planetarium has been used to reach out to over 600 teachers and 65,000 pupils in the RedLaSer schools network within the last three years. This has attracted the direct interest of Chile's Ministry of Education. Videoconferencing over Internet2 is being used for educational purposes between Chile and various sites in the US. The NSF- initiated Mamalluca municipal observatory now receives more visitors than all the international observatories in Chile combined and is the focus of an expanding local industry of astronomical eco-tourism. Most of this work was supported by funding from, or via, the US NSF through CTIO and Gemini, and from ESO, OCIW, CONAMA and the IDA.

Jürgen Stock: From One End of the Andes to the Other

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vivas, A. K.; Stock, M. J.

2015-05-01

Jürgen Stock (1923-2004) will always be remembered for his work on astronomical site testing. He led the efforts to find the best place for CTIO, and his work had a large influence in the setting of other observatories in Chile. He was the first director of CTIO (1963-1966). After his time in Chile, he moved to the other end of the Andes and was in charge of the site selection and the construction of the only professional observatory in Venezuela, the Llano del Hato National Observatory.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Photometry and spectroscopy of KELT-11 (Pepper+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pepper, J.; Rodriguez, J. E.; Collins, K. A.; Johnson, J. A.; Fulton, B. J.; Howard, A. W.; Beatty, T. G.; Stassun, K. G.; Isaacson, H.; Colon, K. D.; Lund, M. B.; Kuhn, R. B.; Siverd, R. J.; Gaudi, B. S.; Tan, T. G.; Curtis, I.; Stockdale, C.; Mawet, D.; Bottom, M.; James, D.; Zhou, G.; Bayliss, D.; Cargile, P.; Bieryla, A.; Penev, K.; Latham, D. W.; Labadie-Bartz, J.; Kielkopf, J.; Eastman, J. D.; Oberst, T. E.; Jensen, E. L. N.; Nelson, P.; Sliski, D. H.; Wittenmyer, R. A.; McCrady, N.; Wright, J. T.; Relles, H. M.; Stevens, D. J.; Joner, M. D.; Hintz, E.

2017-08-01

KELT-11b is located in the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT)-South field 23, which is centered at J2000 α=10h43m48s, δ=-20°00'00''. This field was monitored from UT 2010 March 12 to UT 2014 July 9, resulting in 3910 images after post-processing and removal of bad images. We obtained follow-up time-series photometry of KELT-11b. We obtained nine full or partial transits in multiple bands between 2015 January and 2016 February. We observed an ingress of KELT-11b from the Westminster College Observatory (WCO), PA, on UT 2015 January 1 in the I filter. The observations employed a 0.35m f/11 Celestron C14 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and SBIG STL-6303E CCD with a 3k*2k array of 9μm pixels, yielding a 24'*16' field of view and 1.4''/pixel image scale at 3*3 pixel binning. We observed a partial transit of KELT-11b using an 0.6m RCOS telescope at the Moore Observatory (MORC), operated by the University of Louisville. The telescope has an Apogee U16M 4K*4K CCD, giving a 26'*26' field of view and 0.39''/pixel. We observed the transit on UT 2015 February 08 in alternating Sloan g and i filters from before the ingress and past the mid-transit. We observed a transit of KELT-11b in the Sloan i-band using one of the Miniature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA) Project telescopes (Swift et al. 2015JATIS...1b7002S) on the night of UT 2015 February 08. MINERVA used four 0.7m PlaneWave CDK-700 telescopes that are located on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, at the Fred L. Whipple Observatory. While the four telescopes are normally used to feed a single spectrograph to discover and characterize exoplanets through radial velocity measurements, for the KELT-11 observations, we used a single MINERVA telescope in its photometric imaging mode. That telescope had an Andor iKON-L 2048*2048 camera, which gave a field of view of 20.9'*20.9' and a plate scale of 0.6''/pixel. The camera has a 2048*2048 back-illuminated deep depletion sensor with fringe suppression. Due to the brightness of KELT-11, we heavily defocused for our observations, such that the image of KELT-11 was a "donut" approximately 20 pixels in diameter. On UT 2015 March 08, we observed a partial transit from the Perth Exoplanet Survey Telescope (PEST) Observatory, located in Perth, Australia. The observations were taken with a 0.3m Meade LX200 telescope working at f/5, and with a 31'*21' field of view. The camera is an SBIG ST-8XME, with 1530*1020 pixels, yielding 1.2''/pixel. An ingress was observed using a Cousins I filter. On UT 2015 March 03, we observed a partial transit at the Ivan Curtis Observatory (ICO), located in Adelaide, Australia. The observations were taken with a 0.235m Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with an Antares 0.63x focal reducer, giving an overall focal ratio of f/6.3. The camera is an Atik 320e, which uses a cooled Sony ICX274 CCD of 1620*1220 pixels. The field of view is 16.6'*12.3', with a resolution of 0.62''/pixel. An egress was observed using a Johnson R filter. We observed an ingress in the Sloan z-band at the Swarthmore College Peter van de Kamp Observatory (PvdK) on 2015 March 18. The observatory uses a 0.6m RCOS Telescope with an Apogee U16M 4K*4K CCD, giving a 26'*26' field of view. Using 2*2 binning, it has 0.76''/pixel. We observed an egress of KELT-11b in the Sloan i-band during bright time on UT 2015 May 04, using one of the 1m telescopes in the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) network (http://lcogt.net/) located at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Sutherland, South Africa. The LCOGT telescopes at SAAO have 4K*4K SBIG Science cameras and offer a 16'*16' field of view and an unbinned pixel scale of 0.23''/pixel. We observed one full transit of KELT-11b using the Manner-Vanderbilt Ritchey-Chretien (MVRC) telescope located at the Mt. Lemmon summit of the Steward Observatory, Arizona, on UT 2016 February 22 in the r' filter. The observations employed a 0.6m f/8 RC Optical Systems Ritchey-Chretien telescope and SBIG STX-16803 CCD with a 4k*4k array of 9μm pixels, yielding a 26.6'*26.6' field of view and 0.39''/pixel image scale. The telescope was heavily defocused, resulting in a typical "donut" shaped stellar PSF with a diameter of ~25''. We obtained spectroscopic observations of KELT-11. The observations that provide radial velocity measurements are listed in Table6. We obtained a spectrum with Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph (TRES), on the 1.5m telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, on UT 2015 January 28. The spectrum has a resolution of R=44000, a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N)=100.4. Well before KELT observations of this star began, the radial velocity of HD93396 had been monitored at the Keck Observatory using KECK High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) starting in 2007 as part of the "Retired A Stars" program (Johnson et al. 2006ApJ...652.1724J, 2011ApJS..197...26J). Observations were conducted using the standard setup of the California Planet Survey (Howard et al. 2010ApJ...721.1467H; Johnson et al. 2010PASP..122..149J) using the B5 decker and the iodine cell. Radial velocity measurements were made with respect to a high S/N, iodine-free template observation (Butler et al. 1996PASP..108..500B), which we also use to measure the stellar properties. Exposure times ranged from 50 to 120s depending on the seeing, with an exposure meter ensuring that all exposures reached S/N{simeq}150 per pixel at 550nm. To supplement the HIRES radial velocity spectra, we also observed KELT-11 with the Levy spectrograph on the Automated Planet Finder (APF) telescope at Lick Observatory. We collected 16 radial velocity measurements between 2015 January 12 and 2015 November 4. The observational setup was similar to the setup used for the APF observations described in Fulton et al. (2015ApJ...810...30F). We observed the star through a cell of gaseous iodine using the standard 1''*3'' slit for a spectral resolution of R{simeq}100000, and collected an iodine-free template spectrum using the 0.75''*8'' slit (R{simeq}120000, Vogt et al. 2014PASP..126..359V). Exposure times ranged from 18 to 30 minutes depending on seeing and transparency to obtain S/N{simeq}100pixel-1 at 550nm. (4 data files).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: H2CO and CO in 4 molecular clouds (Tang+, 2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, X. D.; Esimbek, J.; Zhou, J. J.; Wu, G.; Ji, W. G.; Okoh, D.

2017-11-01

From September 2010 to August 2011, we observed the H2CO lin H110α line, and the 6cm continuum with the Nanshan 25m radio telescope of Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory. >From 15 to 26 May 2011, the 12CO and 13CO observations of the four regions were carried out with the 13.7m millimeter wave telescope of Purple Mountain Observatory in Delingha. (4 data files).

Results from the 2010 Feb 14 and July 4 Pluto Occultations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, Leslie; Sicardy, B.; Widemann, T.; Brucker, M. J.; Buie, M. W.; Fraser, B.; Van Heerden, H.; Howell, R. R.; Lonergan, K.; Olkin, C. B.; Reitsema, H. J.; Richter, A.; Sepersky, T.; Wasserman, L. H.; Young, E. F.

2010-10-01

The Portable High-speed Occultation Telescope (PHOT) group observed two occultations by Pluto in 2010. The first, of a I=9.3 magnitudue star on 2010 Feb 14, was organized by the Meudon occultation group, with the PHOT group as collaborators. For this bright but low-elevation event, we deployed to three sites in Europe: Obs. Haute Provence, France (0.8-m; L. Young, H. Reitsema), Leopold Figl, Austria (1.5-m; E. Young), and Apline Astrovillage, Lu, Switzerland (0.36-m; C. Olkin, L. Wasserman). We obtained a lightcurve at Lu under clear conditions, which will be combined with two other lightcurves from the Meudon group, from Sisteron and Pic du Midi, France. We observed the second Pluto occultation, of a I=13.2 star on 2010 July 4 UT, from four sites in South Africa: with our portable telescope near Upington (0.36-m; M. Buie, L. Wasserman), the Boyden telescope in Bloemfontein (1.5-m; L. Young, M. Brucker), the Innes telescope in Johannesburg (0.67-m; T. Sepersky, B. Fraser), and the telescope at Aloe Ridge north of Johannesburg (0.62-m; R. Howell, K. Lonergan, A. Richter). Upington was cloudy, Boyden had heavy scattered clouds, and Innes suffered from haze and telescope mechanical problems. A lightcurve was obtained from Aloe Ridge under clear conditions. Data was also obtained by Karl-Ludwig Bath & Thomas Sauer at Hakos, Namibia and by Berto Monard of ASSA near Pretoria, South Africa. The length of the Aloe Ridge chord suggests it is nearly central. These observations give us four contiguous years in which we observed one or more Pluto occultations, providing constraints on the seasonal evolution of Pluto's atmosphere. Thanks are due to Marcelo Assafin and Jim Elliot for sharing predictions prior to the July event. This work was supported, in part, by NASA PAST NNX08A062G.

Unique Roll-Off Roof for Housing 1.3 m Telescope at Devasthal, Nainital

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bangia, Tarun

2017-06-01

Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) had set up a 1.3 m telescope at Devasthal, Nainital, India in the year 2010. Country's largest roll-off roof was indigenously designed, fabricated and installed on top of a building (17 × 8 m) for housing 1.3 m telescope. Telescope was supplied by M/s DFM Engineering Inc., USA to ARIES and was installed in the building with unique roll-off roof to protect it from external environment. Roll-off roof was designed and fabricated considering various parameters and available manpower and resources at ARIES. This paper presents mechanical development work, simple but distinct design approach and innovative selection of materials to economically manufacture roll-off roof of large size (8 × 8 × 4 m) at hilly remote site of Devasthal situated in Central Himalayan region. All operations in the roof viz. opening of shutters and rolling of roof were motorized to facilitate observers during night observations.

The 30 Doradus Nebula: An Imaging Study of Molecular and Ionized Hydrogen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeh, Sherry; Seaquist, E. R.; Matzner, C. D.

2013-01-01

We present the very first, fully calibrated H2 1--0 S(1) image of the entire 30 Doradus nebula. The observations were carried out using the NOAO Extremely Wide Field Infrared Imager on the CTIO 4-meter telescope. Together with a Brγ image of 30 Dor taken by NEWFIRM, our images reveal the morphologies of the warm molecular gas and ionized gas in 30 Doradus. Based on the morphologies of H2 and Brγ, line ratio H2 to Brγ, and Cloudy models, we found that the H2 emission is formed inside the photodissociation regions of 30 Doradus, very close to the surface in association with the ionization front of the HII region. We also suggest that the bright H2-emitting area, which expands from the northeast to the southwest of R136, is a photodissociation region viewed face-on, while many clumps and elephant trunk features located at the outer shells of 30 Doradus are also photodissociation regions viewed edge-on. The characteristic radiation to gas pressure ratio is evaluated at selected regions in 30 Doradus, and we conclude that radiation pressure is not the dominating force at the current phase of 30 Doradus, while the pressurization of stellar winds and the injection of photoevaporative flows are likely the major feedback mechanisms acting to reduce the observed ionization parameter in 30 Doradus.

Large Space Optics: From Hubble to JWST and Beyond

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stahl, H. Philip

2008-01-01

If necessity truly is the mother of invention, then advances in lightweight space mirror technology have been driven by launch vehicle mass and volume constraints. In the late 1970 s, at the start of Hubble development, the state of the art in ground based telescopes was 3 to 4 meter monolithic primary mirrors with masses of 6000 to 10,000 kg - clearly too massive for the planned space shuttle 25,000 kg capability to LEO. Necessity led Hubble to a different solution. Launch vehicle mass constraints (and cost) resulted in the development of a 2.4 meter lightweight eggcrate mirror. At 810 kg (180 kg/m2), this mirror was approximately 7.4% of HST s total 11,110 kg mass. And, the total observatory structure at 4.3 m x 13.2 m fit snuggly inside the space shuttle 4.6 m x 18.3 m payload bay. In the early 1990 s, at the start of JWST development, the state of the art in ground based telescopes was 8 meter class monolithic primary mirrors (16,000 to 23,000 kg) and 10 meter segmented mirrors (14,400 kg). Unfortunately, launch vehicles were still constrained to 4.5 meter payloads and 25,000 kg to LEO or 6,600 kg to L2. Furthermore, science now demanded a space telescope with 6 to 8 meter aperture operating at L2. Mirror technology was identified as a critical capability necessary to enable the next generation of large aperture space telescopes. Specific telescope architectures were explored via three independent design concept studies conducted during the summer of 1996 (1). These studies identified two significant architectural constraints: segmentation and areal density. Because the launch vehicle fairing payload dynamic envelop diameter is approximately 4.5 meters, the only way to launch an 8 meter class mirror is to segment it, fold it and deploy it on orbit - resulting in actuation and control requirements. And, because of launch vehicle mass limits, the primary mirror allocation was only 1000 kg - resulting in a maximum areal density of 20 kg/m2. At the inception of JWST in 1996, such a capability did not exist. A highly successful technology development program was initiated resulting in matured and demonstrated mirror technology for JWST (2, 3). Today, the JWST 6.5 meter primary mirror has an areal density of 25 kg/m2 for a total mass of 625 kg or 9.6% of the total JWST observatory mass of 6,500 kg. Looking into the future, science requires increasing larger collecting apertures. Ground based telescopes are already moving towards 30+ meter mirrors. The only way to meet this challenge for space telescopes is via even lower areal density mirrors or on-orbit assembly or larger launch vehicles (4). The planned NASA Ares V with its 10 meter fairing and 55,000 kg payload to L2 eliminates this constraint (5).

The AMANDA neutrino telescope

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Andres, E.C.; Askebjer, P.; Barwick, S.W.

1999-04-01

With an effective telescope area of order 10(4) m(2) for TeVneutrinos, a threshold near similar to 50 GeV and a pointing accuracy of2.5 degrees per muon track, the AMANDA detector represents the first of anew generation of high energy neutrino telescopes, reaching a scaleenvisaged over 25 years ago. We describe early results on the calibrationof natural deep ice as a particle detector as well as on AMANDA'sperformance as a neutrino telescope.

The Large Binocular Telescope's ARGOS ground-layer AO system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hart, M.; Rabien, S.; Busoni, L.; Barl, L.; Bechmann, U.; Bonaglia, M.; Boose, Y.; Borelli, J.; Bluemchen, T.; Carbonaro, L.; Connot, C.; Deysenroth, M.; Davies, R.; Durney, O.; Elberich, M.; Ertl, T.; Esposito, S.; Gaessler, W.; Gasho, V.; Gemperlein, H.; Hubbard, P.; Kanneganti, S.; Kulas, M.; Newman, K.; Noenickx, J.; Orban de Xivry, G.; Qirrenback, A.; Rademacher, M.; Schwab, C.; Storm, J.; Vaitheeswaran, V.; Weigelt, G.; Ziegleder, J.

2011-09-01

ARGOS, the laser-guided adaptive optics system for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), is now under construction at the telescope. By correcting atmospheric turbulence close to the telescope, the system is designed to deliver high resolution near infrared images over a field of 4 arc minute diameter. ARGOS is motivated by a successful prototype multi-laser guide star system on the 6.5 m MMT telescope, results from which are presented in this paper. At the LBT, each side of the twin 8.4 m aperture is being equipped with three Rayleigh laser guide stars derived from six 18 W pulsed green lasers and projected into two triangular constellations matching the size of the corrected field. The returning light is to be detected by wavefront sensors that are range gated within the seeinglimited depth of focus of the telescope. Wavefront correction will be introduced by the telescope’s deformable secondary mirrors driven on the basis of the average wavefront errors computed from the respective guide star constellation. Measured atmospheric turbulence profiles from the site lead us to expect that by compensating the ground-layer turbulence, ARGOS will deliver median image quality of about 0.2 arc sec in the near infrared bands. This will be exploited by a pair of multi-object near-IR spectrographs, LUCI1 and LUCI2, each with 4 arc minute field already operating on the telescope. In future, ARGOS will also feed two interferometric imaging instruments, the LBT Interferometer operating in the thermal infrared, and LINC-NIRVANA, operating at visible and near infrared wavelengths. Together, these instruments will offer very broad spectral coverage at the diffraction limit of the LBT’s combined aperture, 23 m in size.

Astrometry of the Orcus/Vanth occultation on UT 7 March 2017

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bosh, Amanda S.; Zuluaga, Carlos; Levine, Stephen; Sickafoose, Amanda A.; Genade, Anja; Schindler, Karsten; Lister, Tim; Person, Michael J.

2017-10-01

On UT 7 March 2017, Orcus was predicted to occult a star with m=14.3. Observations were made at five observatories: the 0.6-m Astronomical Telescope of the University of Stuttgart (ATUS) at Sierra Remote Observatories (SRO), California; Las Cumbres Observatory’s 1-m telescope (ELP) at McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Texas; NASA’s 3-m InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; the 4.1-m Southern Astrophysical Research telescope (SOAR) on Cerro Pachón, Chile; and the 0.6-m Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy telescope (SARA-CT) at Cerro Tololo, Chile. While observations at all sites were successful, only two—ELP and IRTF—observed solid-body occultation signatures. We will discuss the various predictions for this event and the reasons for the differences among them, including an offset of 130 mas for the star position from the position in the Gaia catalog. The sum of the positive and negative detections place constraints on the geometry of the Orcus/Vanth system, and we present our astrometric results for the geometric solution for this occultation. The implications of the light curve analyses are presented by Sickafoose et al., this conference.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Transits of HAT-P-16 and WASP-21 (Ciceri+, 2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciceri, S.; Mancini, L.; Southworth, J.; Nikolov, N.; Bozza, V.; Bruni, I.; Calchi Novati, S.; D'Ago, G.; Henning, T.

2013-07-01

For both planetary systems, we observed one transit event simultaneously with two telescopes (Figs. 1 and 2). These observations were carried out between September and October 2012 with the 1.52m Cassini telescope from the Loiano observatory and with the 1.23m Calar Alto telescope. An additional transit of HAT-P-16 was observed on October 29th 2010 from Loiano during the PLAN microlensing campaign towards M31 (Calchi Novati et al. 2009ApJ...695..442N, 2010ApJ...717..987C). Another transit of HAT-P-16 was observed in Calar Alto on August 22th 2011. In total we present six new light curves, five of them being from defocussed 1.2-1.5m telescopes (see table 1). File contain the data used to plot the lightcurves in Fig. 3 and 4 in the paper. (7 data files).

A cryogenically cooled, multidetector spectrometer for infrared astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Witteborn, F. C.; Bregman, J. D.

1984-01-01

A liquid helium-cooled, 24 detector grating spectrometer was developed and used for low resolution astronomical observations in the 5 to 14 micron spectral range. The instrument operated on the 91 cm Kuiper Airborne Observatory, the 3 m IRTF (Mauna Kea), the 3 m Shane telescope Observatory, the 3 m Shane telescope (Lick Observatory), and the 152 cm NASA and University of Arizona telescope. The detectors are discrete Si:Bi photoconductors with individual metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor preamplifiers operating at 4 K. The system uses a liquid helium-cooled slit, order-sorter filter, collimator mirror, grating, and camera mirror arranged in a Czerny-Turner configuration with a cold stop added between the collimator mirror and the grating. The distances between components are chosen so that the collimator mirror images the secondary mirror of the telescope onto the cold stop, thus providing a very effective baffle. Scattered radiation is effectively reduced by using liquid helium-cooled, black baffles to divide the spectrometer into three separate compartments. The system noise-equivalent flux density, when used on the 152 cm telescope from 8 to 13 microns with a resolving power of 50, is 4.4 x 10 to the minus 17th power W/sq cm micron square root of Hz. The main applications are for measuring continuum radiation levels and solid state emission and absorption features in regions of star and planet formation.

M Dwarf Mysteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henry, Todd J.; Jao, Wei-Chun; Irwin, Jonathan; Dieterich, Sergio; Finch, Charlie T.; Riedel, Adric R.; Subasavage, John P.; Winters, Jennifer; RECONS Team

2017-01-01

During RECONS' 17-year (so far) astrometry/photometry program at the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9m, we have observed thousands of the ubiquitous red dwarfs in the solar neighborhood. During this reconnaissance, a few mysterious characters have emerged ...The Case of the Mercurial Stars: One M dwarf has been fading steadily for more than a decade, at last measure 6% fainter than when it was first observed. Another has grown brighter by 7% over 15 years. Are these brightness changes part of extremely long stellar cycles, or something else entirely?The Case of Identical Stellar Twins that Aren't: Two M dwarfs seem at first to be identical siblings traveling together through the Galaxy. They have virtually identical spectra at optical wavelengths and identical colors throughout the VRIJHK bands. Long-term astrometry indicates that they are, indeed, at the same distance via parallax measurements, and their proper motions match precisely. Yet, one of the twins is FOUR times brighter than the other. Followup work has revealed that the brighter component is a very close spectroscopic double, but no other stars are seen. So, the mystery may be half solved, but why do the close stars remain twice as bright as their widely-separated twin?The Case of the Great Kaboom!: After more than 1000 nights of observing on the reliable 0.9m telescope, with generally routine frames reading out upon the screen, one stellar system comprised of five red dwarfs flared in stunning fashion. Of the two distinct sources, the fainter one (an unresolved double) surpassed the brightness of the brighter one (an unresolved triple), increasing by more than three full magnitudes in the V filter. Which component actually flared? Is this magnificent outburst an unusual event, or in fact typical for this system and other M dwarfs?At the AAS meeting, we hope to probe the cognoscenti who study the Sun's smaller cousins to solve these intriguing M Dwarf Mysteries.This effort has been supported by the NSF through grants AST-0908402, AST-1109445, and AST-1412026, and via observations made possible by the SMARTS Consortium.

Conceptual design and structural analysis for an 8.4-m telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendoza, Manuel; Farah, Alejandro; Ruiz Schneider, Elfego

2004-09-01

This paper describes the conceptual design of the optics support structures of a telescope with a primary mirror of 8.4 m, the same size as a Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) primary mirror. The design goal is to achieve a structure for supporting the primary and secondary mirrors and keeping them joined as rigid as possible. With this purpose an optimization with several models was done. This iterative design process includes: specifications development, concepts generation and evaluation. Process included Finite Element Analysis (FEA) as well as other analytical calculations. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) matrix was used to obtain telescope tube and spider specifications. Eight spiders and eleven tubes geometric concepts were proposed. They were compared in decision matrixes using performance indicators and parameters. Tubes and spiders went under an iterative optimization process. The best tubes and spiders concepts were assembled together. All assemblies were compared and ranked according to their performance.

Planet detection and spectroscopy in visible light with a single aperture telescope and a nulling coronagraph

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shao, Michael; Serabyn, Eugene; Levine, Bruce Martin; Beichman, Charles; Liu, Duncan; Martin, Stefan; Orton, Glen; Mennesson, Bertrand; Morgan, Rhonda; Velusamy, Thangasamy;

The secondary mirror concept for the European Extremely Large Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mueller, Michael; Cayrel, Marc; Bonnet, Henri; Ciattaglia, Emanuela; Esselborn, Michael; Koch, Franz; Kurlandczyk, Herve; Pettazzi, Lorenzo; Rakich, Andrew; Sedghi, Babak

2014-07-01

The E-ELT is an active and adaptive 39-m telescope, with an anastigmat optical solution (5 mirrors including two flats), currently being developed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The convex 4-metre-class secondary mirror (M2) is a thin Zerodur meniscus passively supported by an 18 point axial whiffletree. A warping harness system allows to correct low order deformations of the M2 Mirror. Laterally the mirror is supported on 12 points along the periphery by pneumatic jacks. Due to its high optical sensitivity and the telescope gravity deflections, the M2 unit needs to allow repositioning the mirror during observation. Considering its exposed position 30m above the primary, the M2 unit has to provide good wind rejection. The M2 concept is described and major performance characteristics are presented.

Ultra-Stable Segmented Telescope Sensing and Control Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feinberg, Lee; Bolcar, Matthew; Knight, Scott; Redding, David

2017-01-01

The LUVOIR team is conducting two full architecture studies Architecture A 15 meter telescope that folds up in an 8.4m SLS Block 2 shroud is nearly complete. Architecture B 9.2 meter that uses an existing fairing size will begin study this Fall. This talk will summarize the ultra-stable architecture of the 15m segmented telescope including the basic requirements, the basic rationale for the architecture, the technologies employed, and the expected performance. This work builds on several dynamics and thermal studies performed for ATLAST segmented telescope configurations. The most important new element was an approach to actively control segments for segment to segment motions which will be discussed later.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: GSC04778-00152 photometry and spectroscopy (Tuvikene+, 2008)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuvikene, T.; Sterken, C.; Eenmae, T.; Hinojosa-Goni, R.; Brogt, E.; Longa Pena, P.; Liimets, T.; Ahumada, M.; Troncoso, P.; Vogt, N.

2012-04-01

CCD photometry of GSC04778-00152 was carried out on 54 nights during 9 observing runs. In January 2006 the observations were made with the 41-cm Meade telescope at Observatorio Cerro Armazones (OCA), Chile, using an SBIG STL-6303E CCD camera (3072x2048 pixels, FOV 23.0'x15.4') and Johnson V filter. On 3 nights in December 2006 and on 2 nights in October 2007 we used the 2.4-m Hiltner telescope at the MDM Observatory, Arizona, USA, equipped with the 8kx8k Mosaic imager (FOV 23.6'x23.6'). In December 2006 and January 2007, we also used the 41-cm Meade telescope at OCA, using an SBIG ST-7XME CCD camera (FOV 5.9'x3.9') with no filter. Figure 3 shows all OCA light curves obtained with this configuration. At Tartu Observatory the observations were carried out in December 2006 and January 2007, using the 60-cm telescope with a SpectraSource Instruments HPC-1 camera (1024x1024 pixels, FOV 11.2'x11.2') and V filter. >From January to March 2007 the system was observed using the 1.0-m telescope at SAAO, Sutherland, South Africa with an STE4 CCD camera (1024x1024 pixels, FOV 5.3'x5.3') and UBVRI filters. Spectroscopic observations were carried out at the Tartu Observatory, Estonia, using the 1.5-m telescope with the Cassegrain spectrograph ASP-32 and an Andor Newton CCD camera. (3 data files).

Scientific Summary of the First BINA Workshop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sagar, Ram

2018-04-01

Scientific summary of the first Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy & Astrophysics (BINA) work-shop is presented here. In the workshop, invited talks were supplemented with the contributory talks and poster paper presentations. The talks presented during the workshop provide latest information on the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) and 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) projects. These observing fa-cilities are built jointly by the astronomical communities of India and Belgium. In the ILMT, reseachers from Canada, Poland and Uzbekistan are also actively participating. Preliminary results obtained from the on sky test indicate that 3.6-m DOT is capable of resolving binary stars separated by 0.4 arc second. CCD observations obtained with the telescope indicate that atmospheric conditions at Devasthal are very good for optical observations and the site can be considered internationally competitive. Buildings and telescope houses constructed at Devasthal have not deteriorated natural seeing conditions observed at the site 2 decades ago during 1997¬1999. Pointing and tracking accuracies of the 3.6-m DOT are as per specifications. All these indicate that on sky performance of the newly installed 3.6-m DOT is better than the specifications prescribed at the time of placing order. It is therefore capable of providing internationally competitive science with the modern backend instruments and also have global importance due to their geographical location particularly for the time domain and multi-wavelength astrophysical studies. A large number of talks and poster papers presented during the workshop discussed astrophysical potential of the Indian largest size (4 meter class) new technology optical telescopes located at Devasthal. All these indicate beyond doubt that there are enormous opportunities for the growth of astronomy in India.

Coevality in Young Eclipsing Binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simon, M.; Toraskar, Jayashree

2017-06-01

The ages of the components in very short period pre-main-sequence (PMS) binaries are essential to an understanding of their formation. We considered a sample of seven PMS eclipsing binaries (EBs) with ages 1-6.3 MY and component masses 0.2-1.4 {M}⊙ . The very high precision with which their masses and radii have been measured and the capability provided by the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics to calculate their evolutionary tracks at exactly the measured masses allows the determination of age differences of the components independent of their luminosities and effective temperatures. We found that the components of five EBs, ASAS J052821+0338.5, Parenago 1802, JW 380, CoRoT 223992193, and UScoCTIO 5, formed within 0.3 MY of each other. The parameters for the components of V1174 Ori imply an implausible large age difference of 2.7 MY and should be reconsidered. The seventh EB in our sample, RX J0529.4+0041 fell outside the applicability of our analysis.

SPM-Twin Telescopes: Project Overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González, J. J.

2007-06-01

The SPM-Twin Project is an international initiative for a pair of 6.5-m telescopes, at the San Pedro Mártir Observatory (SPM), to provide a limber, and highly competitive, platform for discovery by focusing on scientific niches technically difficult for existing or planned larger aperture telescopes, and by exploiting the superiority of the SPM site. The telescopes are based on the proven and highly efficient Magellan concept, but each with a distinct optimization to cover two complementary but mutually exclusive aspects: (a) the "Standard Field Telescope" would have a field of view of 15'- 30', capable of observing in the optical through the thermal infrared (0.4 - 24 μm) and prepared for adaptive optics, and (b) the "Wide Field Telescope" (WFT) with a field of view of 1.5° or more, capable of multi-object fiber spectroscopy, integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopy, and potentially narrow-band imaging as well. The WFT spectroscopy would extend from 0.36 to 1.8 μm, and would contain several thousand fibers. We present a general overview of the project.

History of initial fifty years of ARIES: A Major National Indian Facility for Optical Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanwal, Basant Ballabh; Pandey, Anil Kumar; Uddin, Wahab; Kumar, Brijesh; Joshi, Santosh

2018-04-01

The idea of starting an astronomical observatory in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India germinated through the initiative of a scholarly statesman Babu Sampurnanandji. His interest in astrology coupled with his academic bent of mind got him interested in modern astronomy. Being then Education Minister and later Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he established an astronomical observatory at Varanasi on April 20, 1954. Later on it was shifted to Manora Peak, Nainital. Four reflectors were commissioned at Manora Peak. For solar research an H alpha petrol unit and a horizontal solar spectrograph was setup. A detailed project report for installation of a 4-m class optical telescope was prepared indigenously in late 1980, however, the project could not take off. With the generous support of the Department of Science and Technology, the institute established a 3.6-m new technology optical telescope and a 1.3-m wide field optical telescope at a new observing site called Devasthal. Now a 4-m liquid mirror telescope is also being installed at the same observing site. I present here a brief journey of the observatory beginning right from its birth in 1954 till now.

Telecom and scintillation first data analysis for DOMINO: laser communication between SOTA, onboard SOCRATES satellite, and MEO optical ground station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phung, D.-H.; Samain, E.; Maurice, N.; Albanesse, D.; Mariey, H.; Aimar, M.; M. Lagarde, G.; Artaud, G.; Issler, J.-L.; Vedrenne, N.; Velluet, M.-T.; Toyoshima, M.; Akioka, M.; Kolev, D.; Munemasa, Y.; Takenaka, H.; Iwakiri, N.

2016-03-01

In collaboration between CNES, NICT, Geoazur, the first successful lasercom link between the micro-satellite SOCRATES and an OGS in Europe has been established. This paper presents some results of telecom and scintillation first data analysis for 4 successful links in June & July 2015 between SOTA terminal and MEO optical ground station (OGS) at Caussols France. The telecom and scintillation data have been continuously recorded during the passes by using a detector developed at the laboratory. An irradiance of 190 nW/m2 and 430 nW/m2 has been detected for 1549 nm and 976 nm downlinks at 35° elevation. Spectrums of power fluctuation measured at OGS are analyzed at different elevation angles and at different diameters of telescope aperture to determine fluctuations caused by pointing error (due to satellite & OGS telescope vibrations) and caused by atmospheric turbulence. Downlink & Uplink budgets are analyzed, the theoretical estimation matches well to measured power levels. Telecom signal forms and bit error rates (BER) of 1549 nm and 976 nm downlink are also shown at different diameters of telescope aperture. BER is 'Error Free' with full-aperture 1.5m telescope, and almost in `good channel' with 0.4 m sub-aperture of telescope. We also show the comparison between the expected and measured BER distributions.

IYA2009 newspaper insert in your community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harvey, J.

2008-06-01

The Gemini PIO (Public Information Officer) offers suggestions on how to approach your local newspaper about a newspaper insert for your community being published during IYA2009. Local government support, articles by astronomers, advertisers, and appointing someone within your organisation to manage the content will be discussed. We will explain the timeline required, the number of personnel hours required, developmental stages and income a local newspaper would have to generate to produce a quality, table-top supplement. In 2003, over 30,000 copies of Stars over Mauna Kea, a special supplement in tabloid format were produced and distributed in the local newspapers in Hilo, Hawaii. The publication, 48 pages in total, featured profiles of the observatories on Mauna Kea, stories about the geology and legends of Mauna Kea, and historical information about the evolution of astronomy in Hawaii. In additionthe publication included a series of essays titled In their own words. These articles were written by key members of the astronomy community. Sixty thousand copies of Stars over Mauna Kea II were printed as a follow-up to the first edition in 2005. This second edition included an article on the `Imiloa Astronomy Education Center, explanations about the types of telescopes on Mauna Kea and columns written by scientists about the fascinating and significant discoveries made on Hawaii. Personal stories about careers in astronomy were also highlighted. In Chile, a similar eight-page supplement, featuring Gemini, CTIO and SOAR telescopes, was published in 2005 and 5000 copies were distributed throughout the country.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: PTF 12dam & iPTF 13dcc follow-up (Vreeswijk+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vreeswijk, P. M.; Leloudas, G.; Gal-Yam, A.; De Cia, A.; Perley, D. A.; Quimby, R. M.; Waldman, R.; Sullivan, M.; Yan, L.; Ofek, E. O.; Fremling, C.; Taddia, F.; Sollerman, J.; Valenti, S.; Arcavi, I.; Howell, D. A.; Filippenko, A. V.; Cenko, S. B.; Yaron, O.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Cao, Y.; Ben-Ami, S.; Horesh, A.; Rubin, A.; Lunnan, R.; Nugent, P. E.; Laher, R.; Rebbapragada, U. D.; Wozniak, P.; Kulkarni, S. R.

2017-08-01

Spectroscopic follow-up observations of PTF 12dam were performed with the Kast Spectrograph at the Lick 3m Shane telescope, and the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (LRIS) at the Keck-I 10m telescope (on Mauna Kea, Hawaii) on 2012 May 20, 21, and 22. The full spectroscopic sequence of PTF 12dam will be presented by R. M. Quimby et al. (2016, in preparation). PTF 12dam was imaged with the Palomar Oschin 48 inch (P48) (i)PTF survey telescope in the Mould R filter, the Palomar 60 inch (P60) and CCD camera in Johnson B and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) gri, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) in SDSS r, and LRIS mounted on the 10m Keck-I telescope in Rs. iPTF 13dcc has not had any exposure in the literature yet. It was flagged as a transient source on 2013 August 29. Spectroscopic follow-up observations spanning 2013 Nov 26 to 2014 Jan 16 were performed with the Double Spectrograph (DBSP) at the Palomar 200 inch (P200), LRIS at Keck-I, and the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera & Spectrograph (IMACS) at the Magellan Baade telescope, showing iPTF 13dcc to be an SLSN at z=0.4305. iPTF 13dcc was imaged with the P48 Oschin (i)PTF survey telescope in the Mould R filter, the P60 in SDSS gri, the 4.3m Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT, at Lowell Observatory, Arizona) with the Large Monolithic Imager (LMI) in SDSS ri, and finally with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Wide-Field Camera using filter F625W (under program GO-13858; P.I. A. De Cia). (3 data files).

Development status of the mid-infrared two-field camera and spectrograph MIMIZUKU for the TAO 6.5-m Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamizuka, Takafumi; Miyata, Takashi; Sako, Shigeyuki; Ohsawa, Ryou; Okada, Kazushi; Uchiyama, Masahito S.; Mori, Kiyoshi; Yamaguchi, Jumpei; Asano, Kentaro; Uchiyama, Mizuho; Sakon, Itsuki; Onaka, Takashi; Kataza, Hirokazu; Hasegawa, Sunao; Usui, Fumihiko; Takato, Naruhisa; Aoki, Tsutomu; Doi, Mamoru; Kato, Natsuko M.; Kitagawa, Yutaro; Kobayakawa, Yutaka; Kohno, Kotaro; Konishi, Masahiro; Minezaki, Takeo; Morokuma, Tomoki; Motohara, Kentaro; Ohashi, Hirofumi; Soyano, Takao; Takahashi, Hidenori; Tamura, Yoichi; Tanabé, Toshihiko; Tanaka, Masuo; Tarusawa, Ken'ichi; Terao, Yasunori; Yoshii, Yuzuru

2016-08-01

MIMIZUKU is the first-generation mid-infrared instrument for the university of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) 6.5-m telescope. MIMIZUKU provides imaging and spectroscopic monitoring capabilities in a wide wavelength range from 2 to 38 μm, including unique bands like 2.7-μm and 30-μm band. Recently, we decided to add spectroscopic functions, KL-band mode (λ= 2.1-4.0 μm R =λ/Δλ 210) and 2.7-μm band mode ( λ= 2.4-2.95 μm R 620), and continuous spectroscopic coverage from 2.1 to 26 μm is realized by this update. Their optical designing is completed, and fabrications of optical elements are ongoing. As recent progress, we also report the completion of the cryogenic system and optics. The cryogenic system has been updated by changing materials and structures of thermal links, and the temperatures of the optical bench and detector mounting stages finally achieved required temperatures. Their stability against instrument attitude is also confirmed through an inclination test. As for the optics, its gold-plated mirrors have been recovered from galvanic corrosion by refabrication and reconstruction. Enough image quality and stability are confirmed by room-temperature tests. MIMIZUKU is intended to be completed in this autumn, and commissioning at the Subaru telescope and scientific operations on the TAO telescope are planned in 2017 and around 2019, respectively. In this paper, these development activities and future prospects of MIMIZUKU are reported.

The Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC): Wide K-Band Imaging, Photometric Catalogs, Clustering, and Physical Properties of Galaxies at z {approx} 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blanc, Guillermo A.; Lira, Paulina; Francke, Harold

2008-07-10

We present K-band imaging of two {approx}30{sup '} x 30{sup '} fields covered by the Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC) Wide NIR Survey. The SDSS 1030+05 and Cast 1255 fields were imaged with the Infrared Side Port Imager (ISPI) on the 4 m Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) to a 5 {sigma} point-source limiting depth of K {approx} 20 (Vega). Combining these data with the MUSYC optical UBVRIz imaging, we created multiband K-selected source catalogs for both fields. These catalogs, together with the MUSYC K-band catalog of the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDF-S) field, weremore » used to select K < 20 BzK galaxies over an area of 0.71 deg{sup 2}. This is the largest area ever surveyed for BzK galaxies. We present number counts, redshift distributions, and stellar masses for our sample of 3261 BzK galaxies (2502 star-forming [sBzK] and 759 passively evolving [pBzK]), as well as reddening and star formation rate estimates for the star-forming BzK systems. We also present two-point angular correlation functions and spatial correlation lengths for both sBzK and pBzK galaxies and show that previous estimates of the correlation function of these galaxies were affected by cosmic variance due to the small areas surveyed. We have measured correlation lengths r{sub 0} of 8.89 {+-} 2.03 and 10.82 {+-} 1.72 Mpc for sBzK and pBzK galaxies, respectively. This is the first reported measurement of the spatial correlation function of passive BzK galaxies. In the {lambda}CDM scenario of galaxy formation, these correlation lengths at z {approx} 2 translate into minimum masses of {approx}4 x 10{sup 12} and {approx}9 x 10{sup 12} M{sub sun} for the dark matter halos hosting sBzK and pBzK galaxies, respectively. The clustering properties of the galaxies in our sample are consistent with their being the descendants of bright Lyman break galaxies at z {approx} 3, and the progenitors of present-day >1L{sup *} galaxies.« less

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Photometric survey of IC 2391, {eta} Cha, and USco (Oelkers+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oelkers, R. J.; Macri, L. M.; Marshall, J. L.; Depoy, D. L.; Lambas, D. G.; Colazo, C.; Stringer, K.

2016-09-01

Our survey instrument, nicknamed AggieCam, consists of an Apogee Alta F16M camera with a 4096*4096pixel Kodak KAD-16083 CCD that is thermoelectrically cooled down to δT=-45°C relative to ambient. Testing of the CCD showed a dark current of 0.2e-/pix/s at temperatures of -25°C relative to ambient. The optics include a Mamiya photographic 300mm lens with a Hoya UV and IR cut filter to restrict the wavelength range to 0.4-0.7μm. The effective aperture size of the telescope is 53.6mm and the total throughput of the system is near 45%. The pixel scale of the detector is 6.2''/pix, leading to a total field of view (hereafter FOV) of ~50deg2. The telescope was installed at the Estacion Astrofisica de Bosque Alegre (hereafter EABA) as part of an ongoing collaboration with the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, which owns and operates the site. EABA is a research and outreach observatory located at 31.412°S, 64.489°W at an altitude of 1350m, ~50km from the city of Cordoba, province of Cordoba, Argentina. Nearly all observations were carried out remotely from the Mitchell Institute of Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Logistical support for the instrument was provided by staff members of the Instituto de Astronomia Teorica y Experimental, Observatorio de Cordoba, and EABA. We targeted three young stellar associations to maximize the science return from our study: IC 2391 (α=8h40m,δ=-53°), the {eta} Chamaeleontis cluster ({eta}Cha,α=8h45m,δ=-79°), and the Upper Scorpius association (USco,α=16h,δ=-24.5°). Any transiting Hot Jupiter (HJ) or pre-main-sequence eclipsing binary (PMB) candidate passing all of the significance tests described in Sections 4.1 and 4.2 was then subject to a series of follow up photometric observations. The 1.54m telescope at EABA provided 300+hr of BVRI photometry to date, with further observations planned. The 0.8m telescope at the McDonald Observatory provided 14hr of BVRI photometry. The Las Cumbres Global Observatory Telescope Network (LCOGT) provided 30hr of gri photometry from their 1m facilities. The Texas A&M University campus observatory 0.5m telescope provided 30hr of gri photometry. Additionally, the 2.1m telescope at the McDonald Observatory, coupled with the Sandiford Echelle Spectrograph provided 14hr of initial spectroscopic follow up during the Spring of 2015. (3 data files).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: BVRI photometry of S5 0716+714 (Liao+, 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, N. H.; Bai, J. M.; Liu, H. T.; Weng, S. S.; Chen, L.; Li, F.

2016-04-01

The variability of S5 0716+714 was photometrically monitored in the optical bands at Yunnan Observatories, making use of the 2.4m telescope (http://www.gmg.org.cn/) and the 1.02m telescope (http://www1.ynao.ac.cn/~omt/). The 2.4m telescope, which began working in 2008 May, is located at the Lijiang Observatory of Yunnan Observatories, where the longitude is 100°01'51''E and the latitude is 26°42'32''N, with an altitude of 3193m. There are two photometric terminals. The PI VersArry 1300B CCD camera with 1340*1300 pixels covers a field of view 4'48''*4'40'' at the Cassegrain focus. The readout noise and gain are 6.05 electrons and 1.1 electrons ADU-1, respectively. The Yunnan Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (YFOSC) has a field of view of about 10'*10' and 2000*2000 pixels for photometric observation. Each pixel corresponds to 0.283'' of the sky. The readout noise and gain of the YFOSC CCD are 7.5 electrons and 0.33 electrons ADU-1, respectively. The 1.02m telescope is located at the headquarters of Yunnan Observatories and is mainly used for photometry with standard Johnson UBV and Cousins RI filters. An Andor CCD camera with 2048*2048 pixels has been installed at its Cassegrain focus since 2008 May. The readout noise and gain are 7.8 electrons and 1.1 electrons ADU-1, respectively. (1 data file).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Follow-up photometry and spectroscopy of KELT-17 (Zhou+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, G.; Rodriguez, J. E.; Collins, K. A.; Beatty, T.; Oberst, T.; Heintz, T. M.; Stassun, K. G.; Latham, D. W.; Kuhn, R. B.; Bieryla, A.; Lund, M. B.; Labadie-Bartz, J.; Siverd, R. J.; Stevens, D. J.; Gaudi, B. S.; Pepper, J.; Buchhave, L. A.; Eastman, J.; Colon, K.; Cargile, P.; James, D.; Gregorio, J.; Reed, P. A.; Jensen, E. L. N.; Cohen, D. H.; McLeod, K. K.; Tan, T. G.; Zambelli, R.; Bayliss, D.; Bento, J.; Esquerdo, G. A.; Berlind, P.; Calkins, M. L.; Blancato, K.; Manner, M.; Samulski, C.; Stockdale, C.; Nelson, P.; Stephens, D.; Curtis, I.; Kielkopf, J.; Fulton, B. J.; Depoy, D. L.; Marshall, J. L.; Pogge, R.; Gould, A.; Trueblood, M.; Trueblood, P.

2017-05-01

KELT-17, the first exoplanet host discovered through the combined observations of both the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT)-North and KELT-South, is located in KELT-South field 06 (KS06) and KELT-North field 14 (KN14), which are both centered on α=07h39m36s δ=+03°00'00'' (J2000). At the time of identification, the post-processed KELT data set included 2092 images from KN14, taken between UT 2011 October 11 and UT 2013 March 26 and 2636 images from KS06 taken between UT 2010 March 02 and 2013 May 10. The discovery light curves from both KELT-North and KELT-South are shown in Figure1. We obtained higher spatial resolution and precision photometric follow-up observations of KELT-17b in multiple filters. An I-band transit was observed on UT 2015 March 05 at the Canela's Robotic Observatory (CROW) with the 0.3m SCT12 telescope, remotely operated from Portalegre, Portugal. Observations were acquired with the ST10XME CCD camera, with a 30'*20' field of view and a 0.86'' pixel scale. A full multi-color (V and I) transit of KELT-17b was observed on UT 2015 March 12 at Kutztown University Observatory (KUO), located on the campus of Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. KUO's main instrument is the 0.6 m Ritchey-Chretien optical telescope with a focal ratio of f/8. The imaging CCD (KAF-6303E) camera has an array of 3K*2K (9μm) pixels and covers a field of view of 19.5'*13.0'. The Peter van de Kamp Observatory (PvdK) at Swarthmore College (near Philadelphia) houses a 0.62m Ritchey-Chretien reflector with a 4K*4K pixel Apogee CCD. The telescope and camera together have a 26'*26' field of view and a 0.61'' pixel scale. PvdK observed KELT-17b on UT 2015 March 12 in the SDSS z' filter. KELT-17b was observed in both g' and i' on UT 2015 March 12 at Wellesley College's Whitin Observatory in Massachusetts. The telescope is a 0.6m Boller and Chivens with a DFM focal reducer yielding an effective focal ratio of f/9.6. We used an Apogee U230 2K*2K camera with a 0.58''/pixel scale and a 20'*20' field of view. One full transit of KELT-17b was observed from the Westminster College Observatory (WCO), PA, on UT 2015 November 4 in the z' filter. The observations employed a 0.35m f/11 Celestron C14 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and SBIG STL-6303E CCD with a ~3K*2K array of 9μm pixels, yielding a 24'*16' field of view and 1.4''/pixel image scale at 3*3 pixel binning. The stellar FWHM was seeing-limited with a typical value of ~3.2''. Three full transits of KELT-17b were observed on UT 2016 February 26 (g' and i') and UT 2016 March 31 (r') using the Manner-Vanderbilt Ritchie-Chrtien (MVRC) telescope located at the Mt. Lemmon summit of Steward Observatory, AZ. The observations employed a 0.6m f/8 RC Optical Systems Ritchie-Chretien telescope and SBIG STX-16803 CCD with a 4K*4K array of 9μm pixels, yielding a 26'*26' field of view and 0.39''/pixel image scale. The telescope was heavily defocused for all three observations resulting in a typical stellar FWHM of ~17''. The Perth Exoplanet Survey Telescope (PEST) observatory is a backyard observatory owned and operated by ThiamGuan (TG) Tan, located in Perth, Australia. It is equipped with a 0.3m Meade LX200 SCT f/10 telescope with focal reducer yielding f/5 and an SBIG ST-8XME CCD camera. The telescope and camera combine to have a 31'*21' field of view and a 1.2'' pixel scale. PEST observed KELT-17b on UT 2016 March 06 in the B band. A series of spectroscopic follow-up observations were performed to characterize the KELT-17 system. We performed low-resolution, high-signal-to-noise reconnaissance spectroscopic follow-up of KELT-17 using the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) on the Australian National University (ANU) 2.3m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, Australia in 2015 February. In-depth spectroscopic characterization of KELT-17 was performed by the Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph (TRES) on the 1.5m telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, Mount Hopkins, Arizona, USA. TRES has a wavelength coverage of 3900-9100Å over 51 echelle orders, with a resolving power of λ/Δλ R=44000. A total of 12 out-of-transit observations were taken to characterize the radial velocity orbital variations exhibited by KELT-17. In addition, we also observed spectroscopic transits of KELT-17b with TRES on 2016 February 23 and 2016 February 26 UT, gathering 33 and 29 sets of spectra, respectively. (4 data files).

Solar system astronomy with the 3.6-m DOT and the 4-m ILMT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganesh, Shashikiran; Venkataramani, Kumar; Baliyan, Kiran Singh; Joshi, Umesh Chandra

2018-04-01

Solar system astronomy would be an important field of study with the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) and the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT). In this contribution, we highlight the work that could be done in reaching a better understanding of the Solar system and its constituents - particularly the minor bodies and other smaller objects. There may be a large number of very faint objects in the vicinity of the Earth orbit. In fact only recently a 'second moon' of the Earth has been found and has been designated 2016 H03. This is a quasi-satellite with the same period of revolution around Earth and Sun. There could be many such objects and it is important to have a full characterization and understanding of these potentially hazardous objects. They are generally fainter than 18th magnitude and one would need a lot of telescope time to fully characterize these objects using techniques of spectropolarimetry. In a similar fashion, a deep census of the Kuiper Belt Objects and the TNOs is needed. In this census, the concept of pencil beam surveys could be extended to cylindrical transit imaging technique available with the 4-m ILMT.

The Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC): Deep Near-Infrared Imaging and the Selection of Distant Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quadri, Ryan; Marchesini, Danilo; van Dokkum, Pieter; Gawiser, Eric; Franx, Marijn; Lira, Paulina; Rudnick, Gregory; Urry, C. Megan; Maza, José; Kriek, Mariska; Barrientos, L. Felipe; Blanc, Guillermo A.; Castander, Francisco J.; Christlein, Daniel; Coppi, Paolo S.; Hall, Patrick B.; Herrera, David; Infante, Leopoldo; Taylor, Edward N.; Treister, Ezequiel; Willis, Jon P.

2007-09-01

We present deep near-infrared JHK imaging of four 10' × 10' fields. The observations were carried out as part of the Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC) with ISPI on the CTIO 4 m telescope. The typical point-source limiting depths are J ~ 22.5, H ~ 21.5, and K ~ 21 (5 σ Vega). The effective seeing in the final images is ~1.0″. We combine these data with MUSYC UBVRIz imaging to create K-selected catalogs that are unique for their uniform size, depth, filter coverage, and image quality. We investigate the rest-frame optical colors and photometric redshifts of galaxies that are selected using common color selection techniques, including distant red galaxies (DRGs), star-forming and passive BzKs, and the rest-frame UV-selected BM, BX, and Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). These techniques are effective at isolating large samples of high-redshift galaxies, but none provide complete or uniform samples across the targeted redshift ranges. The DRG and BM/BX/LBG criteria identify populations of red and blue galaxies, respectively, as they were designed to do. The star-forming BzKs have a very wide redshift distribution, extending down to z ~ 1, a wide range of colors, and may include galaxies with very low specific star formation rates. In comparison, the passive BzKs are fewer in number, have a different distribution of K magnitudes, and have a somewhat different redshift distribution. By combining either the DRG and BM/BX/LBG criteria, or the star-forming and passive BzK criteria, it appears possible to define a reasonably complete sample of galaxies to our flux limit over specific redshift ranges. However, the redshift dependence of both the completeness and sampled range of rest-frame colors poses an ultimate limit to the usefulness of these techniques.

Eastern Anatolia Observatory (DAG): Recent developments and a prospective observing site for robotic telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yesilyaprak, C.; Yerli, S. K.; Keskin, O.

2016-12-01

This document (Eastern Anatolia Observatory (DAG) is the new observatory of Turkey with the optical and near-infrared largest telescope (4 m class) and its robust observing site infrastructure. This national project consists of three phases with DAG (Telescope, Enclosure, Buildings and Infrastructures), FPI (Focal Plane Instruments and Adaptive Optics) and MCP (Mirror Coating Plant) and is supported by the Ministry of Development of Turkey. The tenders of telescope and enclosure have been made and almost all the infrastructure (roads, geological and atmospherical surveys, electricity, fiber optics, cable car, water, generator, etc.) of DAG site (Erzurum/Turkey, 3,170 m altitude) have been completed. This poster is about the recent developments of DAG and about the future possible collaborations for various robotic telescopes which can be set up in DAG site.

Instrumentation for single-dish observations with The Greenland Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grimes, Paul K.; Asada, K.; Blundell, R.; Burgos, R.; Chang, H.-H.; Chen, M. T.; Goldie, D.; Groppi, C.; Han, C. C.; Ho, P. T. P.; Huang, Y. D.; Inoue, M.; Kubo, D.; Koch, P.; Leech, J.; de Lera Acedo, E.; Martin-Cocher, P.; Nishioka, H.; Nakamura, M.; Matsushita, S.; Paine, S. N.; Patel, N.; Raffin, P.; Snow, W.; Sridharan, T. K.; Srinivasan, R.; Thomas, C. N.; Tong, E.; Wang, M.-J.; Wheeler, C.; Withington, S.; Yassin, G.; Zeng, L.-Z.

2014-07-01

The Greenland Telescope project will deploy and operate a 12m sub-millimeter telescope at the highest point of the Greenland i e sheet. The Greenland Telescope project is a joint venture between the Smithsonian As- trophysical Observatory (SAO) and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA). In this paper we discuss the concepts, specifications, and science goals of the instruments being developed for single-dish observations with the Greenland Telescope, and the coupling optics required to couple both them and the mm-VLBI receivers to antenna. The project will outfit the ALMA North America prototype antenna for Arctic operations and deploy it to Summit Station,1 a NSF operated Arctic station at 3,100m above MSL on the Greenland I e Sheet. This site is exceptionally dry, and promises to be an excellent site for sub-millimeter astronomical observations. The main science goal of the Greenland Telescope is to carry out millimeter VLBI observations alongside other telescopes in Europe and the Americas, with the aim of resolving the event horizon of the super-massive black hole at the enter of M87. The Greenland Telescope will also be outfitted for single-dish observations from the millimeter-wave to Tera-hertz bands. In this paper we will discuss the proposed instruments that are currently in development for the Greenland Telescope - 350 GHz and 650 GHz heterodyne array receivers; 1.4 THz HEB array receivers and a W-band bolometric spectrometer. SAO is leading the development of two heterodyne array instruments for the Greenland Telescope, a 48- pixel, 325-375 GHz SIS array receiver, and a 4 pixel, 1.4 THz HEB array receiver. A key science goal for these instruments is the mapping of ortho and para H2D+ in old protostellar ores, as well as general mapping of CO and other transitions in molecular louds. An 8-pixel prototype module for the 350 GHz array is currently being built for laboratory and operational testing on the Greenland Telescope. Arizona State University are developing a 650 GHz 256 pixel SIS array receiver based on the KAPPa SIS mixer array technology and ASIAA are developing 1.4 THz HEB single pixel and array receivers. The University of Cambridge and SAO are collaborating on the development of the CAMbridge Emission Line Surveyor (CAMELS), a W-band `on- hip' spectrometer instrument with a spectral resolution of R ~ 3000. CAMELS will consist of two pairs of horn antennas, feeding super conducting niobium nitride filter banks read by tantalum based Kinetic Inductance Detectors.

The Early Spectral Evolution of the Classical Nova ASASSN-15th in M33

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, R. Mark; Neric, Marko; Darnley, Matt J.; Williams, Steven; Starrfield, Sumner; Woodward, Charles E.; Prieto, Jose Luis

2016-06-01

During the course of the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) a new transient source designated ASASSN-15th was identified on images of the nearby galaxy M33 obtained with the 14 cm Brutus telescope in Haleakala, Hawaii on 2015 Dec 1.4 UT at V ~ 16.5 mag. Given the location of the transient in M33 and its apparent V magnitude at discovery, the implied absolute visual magnitude was about -8.5 mag suggesting that the transient was a new classical nova outburst in M33. Optical spectroscopy obtained by us on 2015 Dec 2.3 showed broad emission lines of Balmer, Fe II, and Na I D with P Cygni-type line profiles superposed on a blue continuum. The spectrum was consistent with a Fe II-type classical nova in M33 discovered early in the outburst. Subsequent spectra obtained by us on 2015 Dec 10.9 UT showed significant evolution since our first spectrum in that the deep P Cygni-type line profiles seen earlier were now extremely shallow or had almost completely disappeared with the emission component growing in strength. Additional emission lines from O I, Si II, and possibly He I were also present. We obtained optical spectroscopy of ASASSN-15th on 17 epochs between 2015 Dec 1 and 2016 Feb 11 UT with the 2.4 m Hiltner telescope (+OSMOS) of the MDM Observatory, the 2 m fully robotic Liverpool Telescope (+SPRAT), and the 2 x 8.4 m Large Binocular Telescope (+MODS). We will present our spectroscopy and discuss the early evolution of ASASSN-15th in the context of Galactic Fe II-class novae.

Active galactic nucleus and quasar science with aperture masking interferometry on the James Webb Space Telescope

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ford, K. E. Saavik; McKernan, Barry; Sivaramakrishnan, Anand

Due to feedback from accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs), active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are believed to play a key role in ΛCDM cosmology and galaxy formation. However, AGNs extreme luminosities and the small angular size of their accretion flows create a challenging imaging problem. We show that the James Webb Space Telescope's Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (JWST-NIRISS) Aperture Masking Interferometry (AMI) mode will enable true imaging (i.e., without any requirement of prior assumptions on source geometry) at ∼65 mas angular resolution at the centers of AGNs. This is advantageous for studying complex extended accretion flows around SMBHsmore » and in other areas of angular-resolution-limited astrophysics. By simulating data sequences incorporating expected sources of noise, we demonstrate that JWST-NIRISS AMI mode can map extended structure at a pixel-to-pixel contrast of ∼10{sup –2} around an L = 7.5 point source, using short exposure times (minutes). Such images will test models of AGN feedback, fueling, and structure (complementary with ALMA observations), and are not currently supported by any ground-based IR interferometer or telescope. Binary point source contrast with NIRISS is ∼10{sup –4} (for observing binary nuclei in merging galaxies), significantly better than current ground-based optical or IR interferometry. JWST-NIRISS's seven-hole non-redundant mask has a throughput of 15%, and utilizes NIRISS's F277W (2.77 μm), F380M (3.8 μm), F430M (4.3 μm), and F480M (4.8 μm) filters. NIRISS's square pixels are 65 mas per side, with a field of view ∼2' × 2'. We also extrapolate our results to AGN science enabled by non-redundant masking on future 2.4 m and 16 m space telescopes working at long-UV to near-IR wavelengths.« less

Rapid All-Sky Transient Discovery and Analysis with Evryscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corbett, Henry T.; Law, Nicholas; Fors, Octavi; Ratzloff, Jeff; Goeke, Erin; Howard, Ward S.

2018-01-01

The Evryscope is an array of 24 small telescopes on a common mount, capable of observing the entire visible sky down to g' ~ 16 with a two-minute cadence. Each exposure covers 8000 square degrees over 691 MPix and requires minimal readout time, providing 97% continuous coverage of the night sky. The system's large field of view and rapid cadence enable exploration of a previously inaccessible parameter space of bright and fast transients, including nearby microlensing events, supernovae, and kilonovae GW counterparts. The first instrument, located at CTIO in Chile, was deployed in mid-2015 and is currently in production creating multi-year light curves with percent-level precision. A second identical system is on track for deployment at Mount Laguna Observatory in California in early 2018. Once operational, the two sites will provide simultaneous two-color photometry over a 4000 square degree overlapping region accessible to both instruments, operating as a combined discovery and follow-up network for transient phenomena on all nearby stars and many nearby galaxies. I will present recent science results from the Evryscope and an overview of our data reduction pipeline.

Status of Technology Development to enable Large Stable UVOIR Space Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, H. Philip; MSFC AMTD Team

2017-01-01

NASA MSFC has two funded Strategic Astrophysics Technology projects to develop technology for potential future large missions: AMTD and PTC. The Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) project is developing technology to make mechanically stable mirrors for a 4-meter or larger UVOIR space telescope. AMTD is demonstrating this technology by making a 1.5 meter diameter x 200 mm thick ULE(C) mirror that is 1/3rd scale of a full size 4-m mirror. AMTD is characterizing the mechanical and thermal performance of this mirror and of a 1.2-meter Zerodur(R) mirror to validate integrate modeling tools. Additionally, AMTD has developed integrated modeling tools which are being used to evaluate primary mirror systems for a potential Habitable Exoplanet Mission and analyzed the interaction between optical telescope wavefront stability and coronagraph contrast leakage. Predictive Thermal Control (PTC) project is developing technology to enable high stability thermal wavefront performance by using integrated modeling tools to predict and actively control the thermal environment of a 4-m or larger UVOIR space telescope.

STS-109 MS Grunsfeld and Linnehan stow old solar array from payload bay

NASA Image and Video Library

2002-03-04

STS109-E-5246 (4 March 2002) --- Astronaut John M. Grunsfeld (foreground), payload commander, is seen at one end of stowed solar panels in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Columbia while astronaut Richard M. Linnehan, mission specialist, uses the Remote Manipulator System's robotic arm to move around at the other end. The two, participating in the first of their assigned STS-109 space walks to perform work on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), went on to replace the giant telescope’s starboard solar array. Their seven-hour space walk ended at 7:38 a.m. (CST) or 13:38 GMT March 4, 2002.

The Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST): Science Drivers and Technology Developments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Postman, Marc; Brown, Tom; Sembach, Kenneth; Giavalisco, Mauro; Traub, Wesley; Stapelfeldt, Karl; Calzetti, Daniela; Oegerle, William; Rich, R. Michael; Stahl, H. Phillip;

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Observation of six NSVS eclipsing binaries (Dimitrov+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dimitrov, D. P.; Kjurkchieva, D. P.

2017-11-01

We managed to separate a sample of about 40 ultrashort-period candidates from the Northern Sky Variability Survey (NSVS, Wozniak et al. 2004AJ....127.2436W) appropriate for follow-up observations at Rozhen observatory (δ>-10°). Follow-up CCD photometry of the targets in the VRI bands was carried out with the three telescopes of the Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory. The 2-m RCC telescope is equipped with a VersArray CCD camera (1340x1300 pixels, 20 μm/pixel, field of 5.35x5.25 arcmin2). The 60-cm Cassegrain telescope is equipped with a FLI PL09000 CCD camera (3056x3056 pixels, 12 μm/pixel, field of 17.1x17.1 arcmin2). The 50/70 cm Schmidt telescope has a field of view (FoV) of around 1° and is equipped with a FLI PL 16803 CCD camera, 4096x4096 pixels, 9 μm/pixel size. (4 data files).

Millimeter-wave antenna design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leighton, R. B.

1977-01-01

Problems and opportunities are discussed for adapting certain design features and construction techniques, developed for producing high accuracy ground based radio dishes, to producing milimeter wave dishes for space use. Specifically considered is a foldable telescope of 24 m aperture and 9.6 m focal length, composed of 37 rigid hexagonal panels, which will fit within the 4.5 m diameter x 18 m long payload limits of space shuttle. As here conceived, the telescope would be a free flyer with its own power and pointing systems. Some of the structural design features and construction procedures are considered.

A 3D metrology system for the GMT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rakich, A.; Dettmann, Lee; Leveque, S.; Guisard, S.

2016-08-01

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)1 is a 25 m telescope composed of seven 8.4 m "unit telescopes", on a common mount. Each primary and conjugated secondary mirror segment will feed a common instrument interface, their focal planes co-aligned and co-phased. During telescope operation, the alignment of the optical components will deflect due to variations in thermal environment and gravity induced structural flexure of the mount. The ultimate co-alignment and co-phasing of the telescope is achieved by a combination of the Acquisition Guiding and Wavefront Sensing system and two segment edge-sensing systems2. An analysis of the capture range of the wavefront sensing system indicates that it is unlikely that that system will operate efficiently or reliably with initial mirror positions provided by open-loop corrections alone3. The project is developing a Telescope Metrology System (TMS) which incorporates a large number of absolute distance measuring interferometers. The system will align optical components of the telescope to the instrument interface to (well) within the capture range of the active optics wavefront sensing systems. The advantages offered by this technological approach to a TMS, over a network of laser trackers, are discussed. Initial investigations of the Etalon Absolute Multiline Technology™ by Etalon Ag4 show that a metrology network based on this product is capable of meeting requirements. A conceptual design of the system is presented and expected performance is discussed.

Hubble Sees Stars and a Stripe in Celestial Fireworks

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Release date: July 1, 2008 This image is a composite of visible (or optical), radio, and X-ray data of the full shell of the supernova remnant from SN 1006. The radio data show much of the extent that the X-ray image shows. In contrast, only a small linear filament in the northwest corner of the shell is visible in the optical data. The object has an angular size of roughly 30 arcminutes (0.5 degree, or about the size of the full moon), and a physical size of 60 light-years (18 parsecs) based on its distance of nearly 7,000 light-years. The small green box along the bright filament at the top of the image corresponds to the dimensions of the Hubble release image. The optical data was obtained at the University of Michigan's 0.9-meter Curtis Schmidt telescope at the National Science Foundation's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) near La Serena, Chile. H-alpha, continuum-subtracted data were provided by F. Winkler (Middlebury COllege) et al. The X-ray data were acquired from the Chandra X-ray Observatory's AXAF CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) at 0.5-3keV, and were provided by J. Hughes (Rutgers University) et al. The radio data, supplied by K. Dyer (NRAO, Socorro) et al., were a composite from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array (NRAO/VLA) in Socorro, New Mexico, along with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in Green Bank, West Virginia. Data of the supernova remnant were blended on a visible-light stellar background created using the Digitized Sky Survey's Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO2) blue and red plates. Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI) Science Credit: Radio: NRAO/AUI/NSF GBT+VLA 1.4 GHz mosaic (Dyer, Maddalena and Cornwell, NRAO); X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/G. Cassam-Chenai and J. Hughes et al.; Optical: F.Winkler/Middlebury College and NOAO/AURA/NSF; and DSS To learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope go here: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook

How a 2.4 meter telescope makes WFIRST a more powerful and wide-randing mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spergel, David N.

2014-01-01

A 2.4-meter space telescope equipped with a very wide-field infrared camera would revolutionize astrophysics. The transfer of this telescope asset to NASA is a boon to the US scientific community that should be utilized to produce transformative science. If used for the WFIRST mission, the 2.4-meter telescope would be significantly more capable than the smaller versions of WFIRST studied in previous SDTs. As we show here in this Report, by dividing the time on WFIRST-2.4 between dark energy, micro- lensing, and guest observer observations, gains of 50- 100% or more are expected for all. Furthermore, the 2.4-m telescope makes possible new science at the lim- it of, and beyond, what was achievable with earlier WFIRST designs. WFIRST-2.4 is not only capable of wide-field near-IR observations that are key to many of the frontier areas of astrophysics, but will do so at the resolution of HST. The 2.4-m aperture of WFIRST-2.4 collects almost 3 times as much light as the unobstructed 1.3-m SDT- DRM1 and offers a factor of 1.9 improvement in spatial resolution (point spread function effective area-- PSF), which itself provides another factor-of-two improvement in accomplishing many science programs. Compared to SDT-DRM1, the design presented in our report has a ~30% smaller field-of-view (FOV) that moderates these gains, but the higher spatial resolution takes the WFIRST-2.4 program to the “next level” and sets it apart from DRM1 and — for the dark energy program specifically — the Euclid mission. In particular, having the greater speed of the larger aperture and the sharper PSF allows WFIRST-2.4 to reach a factor-of-two deep- er per unit time over an unprecedentedly large field for a large space telescope, ~90 times bigger than the HST-ACS FOV, and ~200 times bigger than the IR channel of WFC3 that has been a tremendously successful scientific tool. A coronagraph on WFIRST-2.4 would be an ex- citing extension in its capability that would not only characterize giant planets around the nearest stars, but also be an important step towards detecting habitable exoEarths:

The UltraLightweight Technology for Research in Astronomy (ULTRA) Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Twarog, B. A.; Anthony-Twarog, B. J.; Shawl, S. J.; Hale, R.; Taghavi, R.; Fesen, R.; Etzel, P. B.; Martin, R.; Romeo, R.

2004-12-01

The collaborative focus of four academic departments (Univ. of Kansas Aerospace Engineering, Univ. of Kansas Physics & Astronomy, San Diego State University Astronomy and Dartmouth College Astronomy) and a private industry partner (Composite Mirror Applications, Inc.-CMA, Inc.) is a three-year plan to develop and test UltraLightweight Technology for Research in Astronomy (ULTRA). The ULTRA technology, using graphite fiber composites to fabricate mirrors and telescope structures, offers a versatile and cost-effective tool for optical astronomy, including the economical fabrication and operation of telescopes ranging from small (1m or smaller) aperture for education and research to extremely large (30m+) segmented telescopes (ELTs). The specific goal of this NSF-funded three-year Major Research Instrumentation project is to design, build, and test a 1m-class optical tube assembly (OTA) and mirrors constructed entirely from composites. In the first year of the project, the team has built and is field-testing two 0.4m prototypes to validate the optical surfaces and figures of the mirrors and to test and refine the structural dynamics of the OTA. Preparation for design and construction of the 1m telescope is underway. When completed in late 2005, the ULTRA telescope will be operated remotely from Mt. Laguna Observatory east of San Diego, where it will undergo a period of intensive optical and imaging tests. A 0.4m prototype OTA with mirrors (12 kg total weight) will be on display at the meeting. Support of this work by NSF through grants AST-0320784 and AST-0321247, NASA grant NCC5-600, the University of Kansas, and San Diego State University is gratefully acknowledged.

LINC-NIRVANA for the large binocular telescope: setting up the world's largest near infrared binoculars for astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hofferbert, Ralph; Baumeister, Harald; Bertram, Thomas; Berwein, Jürgen; Bizenberger, Peter; Böhm, Armin; Böhm, Michael; Borelli, José Luis; Brangier, Matthieu; Briegel, Florian; Conrad, Albert; De Bonis, Fulvio; Follert, Roman; Herbst, Tom; Huber, Armin; Kittmann, Frank; Kürster, Martin; Laun, Werner; Mall, Ulrich; Meschke, Daniel; Mohr, Lars; Naranjo, Vianak; Pavlov, Aleksei; Pott, Jörg-Uwe; Rix, Hans-Walter; Rohloff, Ralf-Rainer; Schinnerer, Eva; Storz, Clemens; Trowitzsch, Jan; Yan, Zhaojun; Zhang, Xianyu; Eckart, Andreas; Horrobin, Matthew; Rost, Steffen; Straubmeier, Christian; Wank, Imke; Zuther, Jens; Beckmann, Udo; Connot, Claus; Heininger, Matthias; Hofmann, Karl-Heinz; Kröner, Tim; Nussbaum, Eddy; Schertl, Dieter; Weigelt, Gerd; Bergomi, Maria; Brunelli, Alessandro; Dima, Marco; Farinato, Jacopo; Magrin, Demetrio; Marafatto, Luca; Ragazzoni, Roberto; Viotto, Valentina; Arcidiacono, Carmelo; Bregoli, Giovanni; Ciliegi, Paolo; Cosentino, Guiseppe; Diolaiti, Emiliano; Foppiani, Italo; Lombini, Matteo; Schreiber, Laura; D'Alessio, Francesco; Li Causi, Gianluca; Lorenzetti, Dario; Vitali, Fabrizio; Bertero, Mario; Boccacci, Patrizia; La Camera, Andrea

2013-08-01

LINC-NIRVANA (LN) is the near-infrared, Fizeau-type imaging interferometer for the large binocular telescope (LBT) on Mt. Graham, Arizona (elevation of 3267 m). The instrument is currently being built by a consortium of German and Italian institutes under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany. It will combine the radiation from both 8.4 m primary mirrors of LBT in such a way that the sensitivity of a 11.9 m telescope and the spatial resolution of a 22.8 m telescope will be obtained within a 10.5×10.5 arcsec scientific field of view. Interferometric fringes of the combined beams are tracked in an oval field with diameters of 1 and 1.5 arcmin. In addition, both incoming beams are individually corrected by LN's multiconjugate adaptive optics system to reduce atmospheric image distortion over a circular field of up to 6 arcmin in diameter. A comprehensive technical overview of the instrument is presented, comprising the detailed design of LN's four major systems for interferometric imaging and fringe tracking, both in the near infrared range of 1 to 2.4 μm, as well as atmospheric turbulence correction at two altitudes, both in the visible range of 0.6 to 0.9 μm. The resulting performance capabilities and a short outlook of some of the major science goals will be presented. In addition, the roadmap for the related assembly, integration, and verification process are discussed. To avoid late interface-related risks, strategies for early hardware as well as software interactions with the telescope have been elaborated. The goal is to ship LN to the LBT in 2014.

UV/Visible Telescope with Hubble Disposal

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Benford, Dominic J.

2013-01-01

Submission Overview: Our primary objective is to convey a sense of the significant advances possible in astrophysics investigations for major Cosmic Origins COR program goals with a 2.4m telescope asset outfitted with one or more advanced UV visible instruments. Several compelling science objectives were identified based on community meetings these science objectives drove the conceptual design of instruments studied by the COR Program Office during July September 2012. This RFI submission encapsulates the results of that study, and suggests that a more detailed look into the instrument suite should be conducted to prove viability and affordability to support the demonstrated scientific value. This study was conducted in the context of a larger effort to consider the options available for a mission to dispose safely of Hubble hence, the overall architecture considered for the mission we studied for the 2.4m telescope asset included resource sharing. This mitigates combined cost and risk and provides naturally for a continued US leadership role in astrophysics with an advanced, general-purpose UV visible space telescope.

An EUDET/AIDA Pixel Beam Telescope for Detector Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubinskiy, I.; EUDET Consortium; AIDA Consortium

Ahigh resolution(σ< 2 μm) beam telescope based on monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS) was developed within the EUDET collaboration. EUDET was a coordinated detector R&D programme for the future International Linear Collider providing test beam infrastructure to detector R&D groups. The telescope consists of six sensor planes with a pixel pitch of either 18.4 μm or 10 μmand canbe operated insidea solenoidal magnetic fieldofupto1.2T.Ageneral purpose cooling, positioning, data acquisition (DAQ) and offine data analysis tools are available for the users. The excellent resolution, readout rate andDAQintegration capabilities made the telescopea primary beam tests tool also for several CERN based experiments. In this report the performance of the final telescope is presented. The plans for an even more flexible telescope with three differentpixel technologies(ATLASPixel, Mimosa,Timepix) withinthenew European detector infrastructure project AIDA are presented.

The detection of high charge cosmic ray nuclei. [by balloon-borne electronic particle telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scarlett, W. R.; Freier, P. S.; Waddington, C. J.

1975-01-01

A large-area, light-weight electronic particle telescope was flown on a high altitude balloon in the summer of 1974 to study the heavy nuclei in the cosmic radiation. This telescope consisted of a double Cerenkov-double scintillator array composed of four 1.22 m diameter disk radiators mounted in light diffusion boxes, each looked at by multiple photomultipliers. The impact point of each particle on the scintillation radiators was determined by studying the relative signals observed by three equally spaced peripheral photomultipliers and one mounted at the center of the diffusion boxes. This telescope was flown in a configuration having a geometric factor of 0.45 sq m sr and observed some 5 x 10 to the 4 nuclei with Z exceeding 14 in a 11 hr exposure. The response and sensitivity of this telescope are discussed in detail.

The complex of robotic telescopes for observation of Earth's artificial satellites and near-Earth objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shulga, A. V.; Kozyrev, E. S.; Kovalchuk, A. N.; Chernozub, V. M.; Sibiryakova, E. S.; Bochkarev, A. B.; Lopachenko, V. V.; Ryhalsky, V. V.

2010-05-01

Modern tasks for orbit control of the Earth artificial satellites and objects approaching the Earth define high requirements to ground-based telescopes, which have to be equipped with fast objectives, CCD cameras with a chip size not less than two inches. The CCD camera has to work in different modes. The telescopes must be fully robotized, and have a control system with remote operation and alert mode. In cooperation between RI NAO and NSFCTC, the upgrade of the AZT-8 classical telescope, belonging to NSFCTC, was made. Two telescopes of original design, namely the Fast Robotic Telescope (FRT) and the Mobile Telescope (MobiTel) were made in RI NAO. The telescopes are equipped with absolute angle encoders, CCD cameras with Kodak KAF-09000 chips, GPS time service, robotic drives and an automatic control system. The telescope features, such as a telescope name, f-number, chip name and operating modes, pixel numbers, field of view, pixel sizes, pixel scale, limiting magnitude, the standard deviation are given in the following list: 1) AZT-8(NSFCTC), 0.7/2.8 m, FLI PL09000 stare, 3056x3056, 45x45', 12x12 μm, 0.9"/pix, 20m, 0.05"/0.15"; 2) FRT (NAO), 0.3/1.5 m, Alta U9000stare and drift-scan, 3056x3056, 1°24'x1°24', 12x12 μm, 1.6"/pix, 18m, 0.15"/0.40"; 3) MobiTel-0.5(NAO), 0.5/3.0 m, Alta U9000stare and drift-scan,3056x3056, 42x42, 12x12μm, 0.8"/pix, 19m,0.0"05"/0".15"; 4) MobiTel-0.3(NAO), 0.3/0.75 m, Alta U9000 stare and drift-scan, 3056x3056, 2°48x2°48', 12x12 μm, 3.2"/pix, 18 m, 0.20"/0.45". The telescopes are actively used for control of the near-Earth space as well as for the solution of problems connected with thepotentially hazardous asteroids and comets approaching the Earth. Combination of classical and original methods of observations allows us to carry out virtually any observing programme. Considering objects at geostationary orbits and at highly elliptical orbits, we are able to carry out the following types of observations: massive-survey, boundary-search, high accuracy-single object. To solve the problems connected with the potentially hazardous asteroids and comets approaching the Earth, we are able to observe faint objects located in the asteroid belt as well as objects approaching the Earth at the distance less than 0.1 a.u. and with elongation angle up to 130°.

A 1.2m Deployable, Transportable Space Surveillance Telescope Designed to Meet AF Space Situational Awareness Needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGraw, J.; Ackermann, M.

Recent years have seen significant interest in optical-infrared (OIR) space surveillance capabilities to complement and supplement radar-based sensors. To address this legitimate need for OIR sensors, the Air Force Research Laboratory has been working on several projects intended to meet SSA requirements in practical, fieldable and affordable packages. In particular, while the PanStarrs system is primarily an astronomy project, their well-designed telescope(s) will have substantial SSA capability, but the system, based on four 1.8m apertures on the same mount, will be a fixed location asset. For world-wide deployment, we are studying a smaller "PanStarrs derived" system which would be replicable and inexpensive. A fixed set of telescope arrays would provide substantial SSA search and monitor capability. These telescopes are also designed to be deployed in pairs in a standard cargo container package for theater SSA. With a 1.2m aperture and a 4.5deg FOV, each telescope would have the same etendue as its big brother PanStarrs telescope, but with image quality optimized for space surveillance rather than astronomy. The telescope is even scaled to use production PanStarrs focal plane arrays. A single 1.2m system has almost the same search rate for dim targets as any other system in development. Two such telescopes working together will exceed the performance of any SSA asset either in production or on the drawing boards. Because they are small they can be designed to be replicable and inexpensive and thus could be abandoned in place should the political climate at their deployment sites change for the worse.

Optical Spectroscopy of the Classical Novae V339 Del (2013) and V5668 Sgr (2015 No. 2)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, R. Mark; Woodward, Charles E.; Starrfield, Sumner; Ilyin, Ilya; Strassmeier, Klaus G.; Page, Kim; Osborne, Julian P.; Beardmore, Andrew P.

2016-01-01

We report the results of optical spectroscopy of the gamma-ray classical novae V339 Del (2013) and V5668 Sgr (PNV J18365700-2855420/Nova Sgr 2015 No. 2) supplemented by UV and X-ray observations obtained with Swift. Our spectra were obtained with the Steward Observatory Bok 2.3 m telescope (+B&C), the MDM 2.4 m Hiltner telescope (+OSMOS), the 6.5 m MMT (+BlueChannel), and the 2 x 8.4 m Large Binocular Telescope (+MODS1 and PEPSI) between 2013 August and 2015 September. The PEPSI spectra cover all or part of the 384-907 nm spectral region at a resolution of up to 270,000 (1 km/s). This is the highest resolution available on any 8-10 m class telescope. V339 Del was discovered on 2015 August 14.58 by Itagaki at V about 6.8. This nova reached a peak magnitude of about 4.3 making it one of the brightest novae of this century. Because of its exceptional brightness it has been observed at a variety of wavelengths and by a host of observatories both on the ground and in space. V5668 Sgr was discovered on 2015 March 15.634 by Seach at a magnitude of 6.0. It subsequently reached a maximum brightness of about 4.0 in late March. High resolution PEPSI spectra obtained in early April show dramatic variations in the multi-component P Cygni-type line profiles. V5668 Sgr was observed to form dust in June thereafter fading to about 13th magnitude. Our recent observations show that it has now evolved into the nebular phase. SS acknowledges partial support from NSF and NASA grants to ASU. CEW acknowledges support from NASA.

HAT-P-50b, HAT-P-51b, HAT-P-52b, and HAT-P-53b: Three Transiting Hot Jupiters and a Transiting Hot Saturn From the HATNet Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartman, J. D.; Bhatti, W.; Bakos, G. Á.; Bieryla, A.; Kovács, G.; Latham, D. W.; Csubry, Z.; de Val-Borro, M.; Penev, K.; Buchhave, L. A.; Torres, G.; Howard, A. W.; Marcy, G. W.; Johnson, J. A.; Isaacson, H.; Sato, B.; Boisse, I.; Falco, E.; Everett, M. E.; Szklenar, T.; Fulton, B. J.; Shporer, A.; Kovács, T.; Hansen, T.; Béky, B.; Noyes, R. W.; Lázár, J.; Papp, I.; Sári, P.

2015-12-01

We report the discovery and characterization of four transiting exoplanets by the HATNet survey. The planet HAT-P-50b has a mass of 1.35 {M}{{J}} and radius of 1.29 {R}{{J}}, and orbits a bright (V=11.8 mag) M=1.27 {M}⊙ , R=1.70 {R}⊙ star every P=3.1220 days. The planet HAT-P-51b has a mass of 0.31 {M}{{J}} and radius of 1.29 {R}{{J}}, and orbits a V=13.4 mag, M=0.98 {M}⊙ , R=1.04 {R}⊙ star with a period of P=4.2180 days. The planet HAT-P-52b has a mass of 0.82 {M}{{J}} and radius of 1.01 {R}{{J}}, and orbits a V=14.1 mag, M=0.89 {M}⊙ , R=0.89 {R}⊙ star with a period of P=2.7536 days. The planet HAT-P-53b has a mass of 1.48 {M}{{J}} and radius of 1.32 {R}{{J}}, and orbits a V=13.7 mag, M=1.09 {M}⊙ , R=1.21 {R}⊙ star with a period of P=1.9616 days. All four planets are consistent with having circular orbits and have masses and radii measured to better than 10% precision. The low stellar jitter and favorable {R}p/{R}\\star ratio for HAT-P-51 make it a promising target for measuring the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect for a Saturn-mass planet. Based on observations obtained with the Hungarian-made Automated Telescope Network. Based on observations obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated by the University of California and the California Institute of Technology. Keck time has been granted by NOAO (A245Hr) and NASA (N154Hr, N130Hr). Based on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. Based on observations obtained with the Tillinghast Reflector 1.5 m telescope and the 1.2 m telescope, both operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in AZ. Based on radial velocities obtained with the Sophie spectrograph mounted on the 1.93 m telescope at Observatoire de Haute-Provence. Based on observations obtained with facilities of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope.

Observing the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse from the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirwan, Sean Matthew; Cline, J. Donald; Krochmal, Mark; Donald Cline, Mark Krochmal

2017-01-01

The Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) is located directly under the path of totality of next year’s solar eclipse and possesses two 26m radio telescopes capable of interferometry at simultaneously at 2.3 GHz and 8.4 GHZ. PARI is preparing these radio telescopes for use by the astronomical community to observe solar eclipse. We will present the status of PARI’s radio telescopes and information on access for the eclipse. We will also present the status and availability of several optical telescopes.

Period variation studies of six contact binaries in M4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rukmini, Jagirdar; Shanti Priya, Devarapalli

2018-04-01

We present the first period study of six contact binaries in the closest globular cluster M4 the data collected from June 1995‑June 2009 and Oct 2012‑Sept 2013. New times of minima are determined for all the six variables and eclipse timing (O-C) diagrams along with the quadratic fit are presented. For all the variables, the study of (O-C) variations reveals changes in the periods. In addition, the fundamental parameters for four of the contact binaries obtained using the Wilson-Devinney code (v2003) are presented. Planned observations of these binaries using the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) and the 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) operated by the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES; Nainital) can throw light on their evolutionary status from long term period variation studies.

Toward first light for the 6.5-m MMT Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

West, Steve C.; Callahan, Shawn; Chaffee, Frederic H.; Davison, Warren B.; Derigne, S. T.; Fabricant, Daniel G.; Foltz, Craig B.; Hill, John M.; Nagel, Robert H.; Poyner, Anthony D.; Williams, Joseph T.

1997-03-01

Operated by the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory (MMTO), the multiple mirror telescope (MMT) is funded jointly by the Smithsonian Institution (SAO) and the University of Arizona (UA). The two organizations equally share observing time on the telescope. The MMT was dedicated in May 1979, and is located on the summit of Mt. Hopkins (at an altitude of 2.6 km), 64 km south of Tucson, Arizona, at the Smithsonian Institution's Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO). As a result of advances in the technology at the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory for the casting of large and fast borosilicate honeycomb astronomical primary mirrors, in 1987 it was decided to convert the MMT from its six 1.8 m mirror array (effective aperture of 4.5 m) to a single 6.5 m diameter primary mirror telescope. This conversion will more than double the light gathering capacity, and will by design, increase the angular field of view by a factor of 15. Because the site is already developed and the existing building and mount will be used with some modification, the conversion will be accomplished for only about $20 million. During 1995, several major technical milestones were reached: (1) the existing building was modified, (2) the major steel telescope structures were fabricated, and (3) the mirror blank was diamond wheel ground (generated). All major mechanical hardware required to affect the conversion is now nearly in hand. Once the primary mirror is polished and lab-tested on its support system, the six-mirror MMT will be taken out of service and the conversion process begun. We anticipate that a 6 - 12 month period will be required to rebuild the telescope, install its optics and achieve f/9 first light, now projected to occur in early 1998. The f/5.4 and f/15 implementation will then follow. We provide a qualitative and brief update of project progress.

Applied Astronomy: An Optical Survey for Space Debris at GEO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seitzer, Patrick; Barker, Edwin S.; Abercromby, K.; Rodriquez, H.

2007-01-01

A viewgraph is presented to discuss space debris at Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). The topics include: 1) Syncom1 launched February 14, 1963 Failed on orbit insertion 1st piece of GEO debris!; 2) Example of recent GEO payload: XM-2 Rock satellite for direct broadcast radio; 3) MODEST Michigan Orbital DEbrisSurvey Telescope the telescope formerly known as the Curtis-Schmidt; 4) GEO Debris Survey; 5) Examples of Detections; 6) Brightness Variations Common; 7) Observed Angular Rates; 8) Two Populations at GEO; 9) High Area-to-Mass Ratio Material (A/M); 10) Examples of MLI; 11) Examples of MLI Release in LEO; 12) Liou & Weaver (2005) models; 13) ESA 1-m Telescope Survey; 14) Two Telescopes March 2007 Survey and Follow-up; 15) Final Eccentricity; and 16) How control Space Debris?

Design and test of a 2m x 4m DART system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tolomeo, J.; Loane, J.; Cross, G.; Tenerelli, D.; Sable, B.; Decker, T.; Nelson, T.; Joseph, B.; Windes, C.; Kokawa, D.;

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Spitzer and VRIJHK photometry of V582 Mon (Arulanantham+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arulanantham, N. A.; Herbst, W.; Cody, A. M.; Stauffer, J. R.; Rebull, L. M.; Agol, E.; Windemuth, D.; Marengo, M.; Winn, J. N.; Hamilton, C. M.; Mundt, R.; Johns-Krull, C. M.; Gutermuth, R. A.

2016-07-01

We have continued to obtain ground-based optical and near-infrared photometry over the last two years using A Novel Dual Imaging CAMera (ANDICAM) on the 1.3m telescope at Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. The instrument is operated by the SMARTS consortium. Data were collected almost nightly from 2013 October through 2014 April. Observations were resumed in 2014 September and continued until 2015 April. Each night, four 150s exposures were obtained in each of the three optical bands (VRI) along with 10-15 dithered exposures (30s each) in the near-infrared bands (JHK). All images have a 10.2'*10.2' field of view. The data acquisition and reduction processes are discussed briefly in Appendix A, and a more complete description is given by Windemuth & Herbst 2014 (cat. J/AJ/147/9). The VRIJHK magnitudes from the last two observing seasons have been added to the entire set of CCD data obtained since 1995, which is presented here as Table1. Images of KH 15D were collected with the InfraRed Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope during six observational runs with five separate PI's spanning three distinct epochs since 2004 (2004 Mar 6 and 2004 Oct 08, PI Giovanni Fazio, Program ID=37; 2004 Oct 5-12 and 2005 Oct 21-29, PI Massimo Marengo, Program ID=3441; 2006 Mar 23-27, PI Eric Agol, Program ID=3469; 2008 Nov 1-2, PI Lucas A. Cieza, Program ID=50773). The fifth set of observations was obtained by the CSI 2264 team (PI=John R. Stauffer, Program ID=61027, 80040) as part of a large campaign to monitor young variable objects in NGC2264 (Cody et al. 2014, cat. J/AJ/147/82). These data were obtained over 28 consecutive days of observation in 2011 December (2011 Dec 3-2012 Jan 1). A final set of observations was obtained on eight nights between 2013 December and 2014 January (2013 Dec 22-2014 Jan 20, PI William Herbst, Program ID=90154, 90098). The full set of Spitzer photometry at all epochs is given in Table3. (2 data files).

AM 2217-490: A polar ring galaxy under construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freitas-Lemes, P.; Rodrigues, I.; Faúndez-Abans, M.; Dors, O.

2014-10-01

This work is part of a series of case studies of Polar Ring Galaxies (PRGs) (see also Posters GAL-1: 163, GAL-2: 178). A PRG is formed by an early type host galaxy (e.g. lenticular or elliptical), surrounded by a ring of gas and stars orbiting approximately at the polar plane of the host galaxy. AM2217-490 is an interesting case of PRG in formation, with a still asymmetrical ring that surrounds the host galaxy. Apparently, this bluish structure (characteristic of the rings of PRGs), is not yet in equilibrium with the host galaxy. This study is based on spectra on the range 6250-7250 Å obtained with the CTIO 1.5 m telescope - Chile. From them, we measure a heliocentric radial velocity of 9152± 18 km/s. The value of the ionization parameter (log U = -3.5) is similar to that in interacting galaxies (Freitas-Lemes et al. 2013, submitted to MNRAS; and Krabbe et al. 2013, MNRAS Accepted), and lower than that of isolated ones. The electron density shows little variation along the major axis of the host galaxy, and a mean value typical of interacting galaxies. Diagnostic diagrams show that the nuclear region harbors an AGN, following a trend among polar ring galaxies. The low-resolution images of the SDSS show no tails or bridges connecting the galaxy to other objects, however, in a radius of 5 arcmin there are three other galaxies with similar speeds, featuring a group. A plausible hypothesis is that one of these galaxies may have interacted with AM2217-490, donating material to form the ring.

A radial velocity survey of the Carina Nebula's O-type stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiminki, Megan M.; Smith, Nathan

2018-06-01

We have obtained multi-epoch observations of 31 O-type stars in the Carina Nebula using the CHIRON spectrograph on the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5-m telescope. We measure their radial velocities to 1-2 km s-1 precision and present new or updated orbital solutions for the binary systems HD 92607, HD 93576, HDE 303312, and HDE 305536. We also compile radial velocities from the literature for 32 additional O-type and evolved massive stars in the region. The combined data set shows a mean heliocentric radial velocity of 0.6 km s-1. We calculate a velocity dispersion of ≤9.1 km s-1, consistent with an unbound, substructured OB association. The Tr 14 cluster shows a marginally significant 5 km s-1 radial velocity offset from its neighbour Tr 16, but there are otherwise no correlations between stellar position and velocity. The O-type stars in Cr 228 and the South Pillars region have a lower velocity dispersion than the region as a whole, supporting a model of distributed massive star formation rather than migration from the central clusters. We compare our stellar velocities to the Carina Nebula's molecular gas and find that Tr 14 shows a close kinematic association with the Northern Cloud. In contrast, Tr 16 has accelerated the Southern Cloud by 10-15 km s-1, possibly triggering further massive star formation. The expansion of the surrounding H II region is not symmetric about the O-type stars in radial velocity space, indicating that the ionized gas is constrained by denser material on the far side.

THE OPTICAL WIND LINE VARIABILITY OF η CARINAE DURING THE 2009.0 EVENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Richardson, N. D.; Moffat, A. F. J.; St-Jean, L.

2015-10-15

We report on high-resolution spectroscopy of the 2009.0 spectroscopic event of η Carinae collected via SMARTS observations using the CTIO 1.5 m telescope and echelle spectrograph. Our observations were made almost every night over a two-month interval around the photometric minimum of η Car associated with the periastron passage of a hot companion. The photoionizing flux of the companion and heating related to colliding winds causes large changes in the wind properties of the massive primary star. Here we present an analysis of temporal variations in a sample of spectral lines that are clearly formed in the wind of themore » primary star. These lines are affected by a changing illumination of the flux of the secondary star during the periastron passage. We document the sudden onset of blueshifted absorption that occurred in most of the lines near or slightly after periastron, and we argue that these absorption components are seen when we view the relatively undisturbed wind of the foreground primary star. We present time series measurements of the net equivalent width of the wind lines and of the radial velocities of the absorption trough minima and the emission peak midpoints. Most lines decrease in emission strength around periastron, and those high excitation lines formed close to the primary exhibit a red-ward velocity excursion. We show how these trends can be explained using an illuminated hemisphere model that is based on the idea that the emission originates primarily from the side of the primary facing the hot companion.« less

Nearby Exo-Earth Astrometric Telescope (NEAT)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shao, M.; Nemati, B.; Zhai, C.; Goullioud, R.

2011-01-01

NEAT (Nearby Exo ]Earths Astrometric Telescope) is a modest sized (1m diameter telescope) It will be capable of searching approx 100 nearby stars down to 1 Mearth planets in the habitable zone, and 200 @ 5 Mearth, 1AU. The concept addresses the major issues for ultra -precise astrometry: (1) Photon noise (0.5 deg dia field of view) (2) Optical errors (beam walk) with long focal length telescope (3) Focal plane errors , with laser metrology of the focal plane (4) PSF centroiding errors with measurement of the "True" PSF instead of using a "guess " of the true PSF, and correction for intra pixel QE non-uniformities. Technology "close" to complete. Focal plane geometry to 2e-5 pixels and centroiding to approx 4e -5 pixels.

A Large Asymmetry in the Distribution of Faint Stars in the Inner Galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, J. E.; Humphreys, R. M.; Larsen, J. A.

2002-12-01

We present a star count analysis of the faint stars on either side of the Sun-Center line, from l=±20 deg -- ±75 deg and b=+20 deg -- +50 deg with data from 40 POSS I fields. Larsen & Humphreys (1996) found a significant asymmetry in the number of faint blue stars on either side of the line to the Galactic center with significantly more stars observed in the first quadrant. Using a galactic model, we chose color ranges to distinguish between halo/thick disk and old disk stellar populations. Our results indicate that the stellar excess is comprised of mainly halo/thick disk stars and that it increases with fainter magnitudes. In addition, we analyzed the star counts for 40 fields above the plane compared to their 40 complementary fields below the plane (b=±20 deg -- ±50 deg). We find that the excess is also present in quadrant I below the plane. It is possible that the excess in star counts may be due to a bar--induced ``wake", an interaction of the disk by a merger, or a result of a triaxial thick disk/inner halo. Spectroscopic observations have been made using both the CTIO 4 meter and the KPNO WIYN 3.5 meter telescopes with HYDRA to measure the radial velocities and classify nearly 1000 stars. The objective is to determine the extent of the asymmetry and the nature and kinematics of the stars responsible.

The MIDAS telescope for microwave detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alvarez-Muñiz, J.; Amaral Soares, E.; Berlin, A.; Bogdan, M.; Boháčová, M.; Bonifazi, C.; Carvalho, W. R.; de Mello Neto, J. R. T.; Facal San Luis, P.; Genat, J. F.; Hollon, N.; Mills, E.; Monasor, M.; Privitera, P.; Ramos de Castro, A.; Reyes, L. C.; Richardson, M.; Rouille d'Orfeuil, B.; Santos, E. M.; Wayne, S.; Williams, C.; Zas, E.; Zhou, J.

2013-08-01

We present the design, implementation and data taking performance of the MIcrowave Detection of Air Showers (MIDAS) experiment, a large field of view imaging telescope designed to detect microwave radiation from extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. This novel technique may bring a tenfold increase in detector duty cycle when compared to the standard fluorescence technique based on detection of ultraviolet photons. The MIDAS telescope consists of a 4.5 m diameter dish with a 53-pixel receiver camera, instrumented with feed horns operating in the commercial extended C-Band (3.4-4.2 GHz). A self-trigger capability is implemented in the digital electronics. The main objectives of this first prototype of the MIDAS telescope - to validate the telescope design, and to demonstrate a large detector duty cycle - were successfully accomplished in a dedicated data taking run at the University of Chicago campus prior to installation at the Pierre Auger Observatory.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Follow-up photometry of M101 OT2015-1 (Blagorodnova+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blagorodnova, N.; Kotak, R.; Polshaw, J.; Kasliwal, M. M.; Cao, Y.; Cody, A. M.; Doran, G. B.; Elias-Rosa, N.; Fraser, M.; Fremling, C.; Gonzalez-Fernandez, C.; Harmanen, J.; Jencson, J.; Kankare, E.; Kudritzki, R.-P.; Kulkarni, S. R.; Magnier, E.; Manulis, I.; Masci, F. J.; Mattila, S.; Nugent, P.; Ochner, P.; Pastorello, A.; Reynolds, T.; Smith, K.; Sollerman, J.; Taddia, F.; Terreran, G.; Tomasella, L.; Turatto, M.; Vreeswijk, P. M.; Wozniak, P.; Zaggia, S.

2017-07-01

The location of M101-OT2015-1 has been serendipitously imaged by numerous telescopes and instruments over the last 15 years (from 2000 to 2015). Our best quality pre-discovery image (seeing of 0.55") is an r-band exposure at -3625 days pre-peak from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). The historical optical data for M101-OT was retrieved from the CFHT MegaPrime and CFHT12K/Mosaic, using single and combined exposures, Pan-STARRS-1/GPC1 (PS1), Isaac Newton Telescope/Wide Field Camera (INT/WFC), and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR 10 (Ahn+ 2014, see V/147). Unfortunately, there are no HST images covering the location of the source. Post-discovery optical magnitudes were obtained from the reported followup astronomer's telegrams (ATels), Liverpool Telescope (LT), the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), and the Palomar P48 and P60 telescopes. The infrared data were retrieved from CFHT/WIRCam, UKIRT/WFCAM, and the Spitzer Infrared Array Camera in 3.6 and 4.5um as part of the SPitzer InfraRed Intensive Transients Survey (SPIRITS) (Kasliwal+, 2017ApJ...839...88K). Details of pre-discovery photometry and post-discovery optical photometry may be found in the Appendices Tables 1 and 2, respectively. We obtained spectra of M101-OT using a range of facilities in 2015 Feb-Jul. (3 data files).

Ultraviolet (UV)-Curable Coatings for Department of Defense (DoD) Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

complete) Task II – Demonstration/Validation • Make final selection of coatings for dem/val (in-progress) • Conduct lab testing and optimization (in...away; target rating of 4B or 5B Strippability Chemical Strippers Removal of the coating to the substrate Dry Media (blasting) Removal of the coating...stakeholders and ESTCP • Selected vendors to conduct final reformulation and submit for testing to JTP at the CTIO • Purchase portable lamp system

Wide field NEO survey 1.0-m telescope with 10 2k×4k mosaic CCD camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isobe, Syuzo; Asami, Atsuo; Asher, David J.; Hashimoto, Toshiyasu; Nakano, Shi-ichi; Nishiyama, Kota; Ohshima, Yoshiaki; Terazono, Junya; Umehara, Hiroaki; Yoshikawa, Makoto

2002-12-01

We developed a new 1.0 m telescope with a 3 degree flat focal plane to which a mosaic CCD camera with 10 2k×4k chips is fixed. The system was set up in February 2002, and is now undergoing the final fine adjustments. Since the telescope has a focal length of 3 m, a field of 7.5 square degrees is covered in one image. In good seeing conditions, 1.5 arc seconds, at the site located in Bisei town, Okayama prefecture in Japan, we can expect to detect down to 20th magnitude stars with an exposure time of 60 seconds. Considering a read-out time, 46 seconds, of the CCD camera, one image is taken in every two minutes, and about 2,100 square degrees of field is expected to be covered in one clear night. This system is very effective for survey work, especially for Near-Earth-Asteroid detection.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Census of nearby white dwarfs from SUPERBLINK (Limoges+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Limoges, M.-M.; Bergeron, P.; Lepine, S.

2015-09-01

In Paper I (Limoges+, 2013, J/AJ/145/136), we compiled a list of 1341 white dwarf candidates within 40pc of the Sun -but likely extending to 55pc given the uncertainties- and reported spectroscopic observations for 422 objects from this target list, including 192 new white dwarf identifications. The spectroscopic observing log of our earlier survey is presented in Table 2 of Paper I. Since then, additional optical spectra have been obtained with the Steward Observatory 2.3m telescope and the NOAO Mayall 4 and 2.1m telescopes during 7 different observing campaigns between 2011 January and 2013 October. A few of the brightest candidates were also observed in spectroscopy with the 1.6m Mont-Megantic Observatory, while ~60hr with the Gemini North and South 8m telescopes were used to observe our faintest candidates (V~17-18). The adopted configurations allow a spectral coverage of λ~3200-5300Å and ~3800-6700Å, at an intermediate resolution of ~6Å FWHM. (4 data files).

SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE MID-IR LIGHT CURVES OF NEPTUNE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stauffer, John; Rebull, Luisa; Carey, Sean J.

2016-11-01

We have used the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2016 February to obtain high cadence, high signal-to-noise, 17 hr duration light curves of Neptune at 3.6 and 4.5 μ m. The light curve duration was chosen to correspond to the rotation period of Neptune. Both light curves are slowly varying with time, with full amplitudes of 1.1 mag at 3.6 μ m and 0.6 mag at 4.5 μ m. We have also extracted sparsely sampled 18 hr light curves of Neptune at W1 (3.4 μ m) and W2 (4.6 μ m) from the Wide-feld Infrared Survey Explorer ( WISE )/ NEOWISEmore » archive at six epochs in 2010–2015. These light curves all show similar shapes and amplitudes compared to the Spitzer light curves but with considerable variation from epoch to epoch. These amplitudes are much larger than those observed with Kepler / K 2 in the visible (amplitude ∼0.02 mag) or at 845 nm with the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) in 2015 and at 763 nm in 2016 (amplitude ∼0.2 mag). We interpret the Spitzer and WISE light curves as arising entirely from reflected solar photons, from higher levels in Neptune’s atmosphere than for K 2. Methane gas is the dominant opacity source in Neptune’s atmosphere, and methane absorption bands are present in the HST 763 and 845 nm, WISE W1, and Spitzer 3.6 μ m filters.« less

Cryogenic system for the Origins Space Telescope: cooling a large space telescope to 4K with today's technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DiPirro, M.; Fantano, L.; Canavan, E.; Leisawitz, D.; Carter, R.; Florez, A.; Amatucci, E.

2017-09-01

The Origins Space Telescope (OST) concept is one of four NASA Science Mission Directorate, Astrophysics Division, observatory concepts being studied for launch in the mid 2030's. OST's wavelength coverage will be from the midinfrared to the sub-millimeter, 6-600 microns. To enable observations at the zodiacal background limit the telescope must be cooled to about 4 K. Combined with the telescope size (currently the primary is 9 m in diameter) this appears to be a daunting task. However, simple calculations and thermal modeling have shown the cooling power required is met with several currently developed cryocoolers. Further, the telescope thermal architecture is greatly simplified, allowing simpler models, more thermal margin, and higher confidence in the final performance values than previous cold observatories. We will describe design principles to simplify modeling and verification. We will argue that the OST architecture and design principles lower its integration and test time and reduce its ultimate cost.

Cryogenic System for the Origins Space Telescope: Cooling a Large Space Telescope to 4K with Today's Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DiPirro, M.; Fantano, L.; Canavan, E.; Leisawitz, D.; Carter, R.; Florez, A.; Amatucci, E.

2014-01-01

The Origins Space Telescope (OST) concept is one of four NASA Science Mission Directorate, Astrophysics Division, observatory concepts being studied for launch in the mid 2030's. OST's wavelength coverage will be from the midinfrared to the sub-millimeter, 6-600 microns. To enable observations at the zodiacal background limit the telescope must be cooled to about 4 K. Combined with the telescope size (currently the primary is 9 m in diameter) this appears to be a daunting task. However, simple calculations and thermal modeling have shown the cooling power required is met with several currently developed cryocoolers. Further, the telescope thermal architecture is greatly simplified, allowing simpler models, more thermal margin, and higher confidence in the final performance values than previous cold observatories. We will describe design principles to simplify modeling and verification. We will argue that the OST architecture and design principles lower its integration and test time and reduce its ultimate cost.

ESO's Two Observatories Merge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2005-02-01

On February 1, 2005, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has merged its two observatories, La Silla and Paranal, into one. This move will help Europe's prime organisation for astronomy to better manage its many and diverse projects by deploying available resources more efficiently where and when they are needed. The merged observatory will be known as the La Silla Paranal Observatory. Catherine Cesarsky, ESO's Director General, comments the new development: "The merging, which was planned during the past year with the deep involvement of all the staff, has created unified maintenance and engineering (including software, mechanics, electronics and optics) departments across the two sites, further increasing the already very high efficiency of our telescopes. It is my great pleasure to commend the excellent work of Jorge Melnick, former director of the La Silla Observatory, and of Roberto Gilmozzi, the director of Paranal." ESO's headquarters are located in Garching, in the vicinity of Munich (Bavaria, Germany), and this intergovernmental organisation has established itself as a world-leader in astronomy. Created in 1962, ESO is now supported by eleven member states (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom). It operates major telescopes on two remote sites, all located in Chile: La Silla, about 600 km north of Santiago and at an altitude of 2400m; Paranal, a 2600m high mountain in the Atacama Desert 120 km south of the coastal city of Antofagasta. Most recently, ESO has started the construction of an observatory at Chajnantor, a 5000m high site, also in the Atacama Desert. La Silla, north of the town of La Serena, has been the bastion of the organization's facilities since 1964. It is the site of two of the most productive 4-m class telescopes in the world, the New Technology Telescope (NTT) - the first major telescope equipped with active optics - and the 3.6-m, which hosts HARPS, a unique instrument capable of measuring stellar radial velocities with an unsurpassed accuracy better than 1 m/s, making it a very powerful tool for the discovery of extra-solar planets. In addition, astronomers have also access to the 2.2-m ESO/MPG telescope with its Wide Field Imager camera. A new control room, the RITZ (Remote Integrated Telescope Zentrum), allows operating all three ESO telescopes at La Silla from a single place. The La Silla Observatory is also the first world-class observatory to have been granted certification for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001 Quality Management System. Moreover, the infrastructure of La Silla is still used by many of the ESO member states for targeted projects such as the Swiss 1.2-m Euler telescope and the robotic telescope specialized in the follow-up of gamma-ray bursts detected by satellites, the Italian REM (Rapid Eye Mount). In addition, La Silla is in charge of the APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) 12-m sub-millimetre telescope which will soon start routine observations at Chajnantor, the site of the future Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). The APEX project is a collaboration between the Max Planck Society in Germany, Onsala Observatory in Sweden and ESO. ESO also operates Paranal, home of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the VLT Interferometer (VLTI). Antu, the first 8.2-m Unit Telescope of the VLT, saw First Light in May 1998, starting what has become a revolution in European astronomy. Since then, the three other Unit Telescopes - Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun - have been successfully put into operation with an impressive suite of the most advanced astronomical instruments. The interferometric mode of the VLT (VLTI) is also operational and fully integrated in the VLT data flow system. In the VLTI mode, one state-of-the-art instrument is already available and another will follow soon. With its remarkable resolution and unsurpassed surface area, the VLT is at the forefront of astronomical technology and is one of the premier facilities in the world for optical and near-infrared observations. In addition to the state-of-the-art Very Large Telescope and the four Auxiliary Telescopes of 1.8-m diameter which can move to relocate in up to 30 different locations feeding the interferometer, Paranal will also be home to the 2.6-m VLT Survey telescope (VST) and the 4.2-m VISTA IR survey telescope. Both Paranal and La Silla have a proven record of their unique ability to address most current issues in observational astronomy. In 2004 alone, each observatory provided data for the publication of about 350 peer-reviewed journal articles, more than any other ground-based observatory. With the present merging of these top-ranking astronomical observatories, fostering synergies and harmonizing the many diverse activities, ESO and the entire community of European astronomers will profit even more from these highly efficient research facilities. Images of ESO's observatories and telescopes are available in the ESO gallery.

Yolk-like Fe3O4@C-Au@void@TiO2-Pd hierarchical microspheres with visible light-assisted enhanced photocatalytic degradation of dye

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Suqing; Liang, Huading; Shen, Mao; Jin, Yanxian

2018-04-01

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a type of yolk-like Fe3O4@C-Au@void@TiO2-Pd hierarchical microspheres with visible light-assisted enhanced photocatalytic degradation of dye and rapid magnetic separation. The resulting composite microspheres exhibited yolk-like hierarchical structures with a 236.3 m2 g-1 surface area and a high-saturation magnetization of 31.5 emu g-1. As an example of applications, the photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) in the presence of NaBH4 was investigated under simulated sunlight irradiation. The results show that the photocatalytic activity of the yolk-like Fe3O4@C-Au@void@TiO2-Pd microcomposites in the RhB photodegradation is higher than the Fe3O4@C-Au@void@TiO2 and Fe3O4@C@TiO2 microcomposites, as they can degrade RhB with 40 min of irradiation time. In addition, by magnetic separation, the as-prepared yolk-like Fe3O4@C-Au@void@TiO2-Pd hierarchical microcomposites can be completely separated and reused for four times.

MuSICa image slicer prototype at 1.5-m GREGOR solar telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calcines, A.; López, R. L.; Collados, M.; Vega Reyes, N.

2014-07-01

Integral Field Spectroscopy is an innovative technique that is being implemented in the state-of-the-art instruments of the largest night-time telescopes, however, it is still a novelty for solar instrumentation. A new concept of image slicer, called MuSICa (Multi-Slit Image slicer based on collimator-Camera), has been designed for the integral field spectrograph of the 4-m European Solar Telescope. This communication presents an image slicer prototype of MuSICa for GRIS, the spectrograph of the 1.5-m GREGOR solar telescope located at the Observatory of El Teide. MuSICa at GRIS reorganizes a 2-D field of view of 24.5 arcsec into a slit of 0.367 arcsec width by 66.76 arcsec length distributed horizontally. It will operate together with the TIP-II polarimeter to offer high resolution integral field spectropolarimetry. It will also have a bidimensional field of view scanning system to cover a field of view up to 1 by 1 arcmin.

The BINA collaboration: science at the Royal Observatory of Belgium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Cat, Peter; Cuypers, Jan; Blomme, Ronny; Frémat, Yves; Groenewegen, Martin; Lampens, Patricia; Lobel, Alex; Pauwels, Thierry; Van de Steene, Griet; van Hoof, Peter

2018-04-01

The Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy and Astrophysics (BINA) is a collaboration between Indian and Belgian astronomical institutes with the main aim to optimize the scientific output of the Indo-Belgian telescopes, being the 4.0-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope and the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope. These new facilities are both located at the Devasthal Observatory near Nainital, India. In this contribution, we introduce projects that are of scientific interest for colleagues of the department "Astronomy and Astrophysics" of the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB). It serves as an invitation for Indian astronomers to participate. We highlight how these projects could benefit from observations with the Indo-Belgian telescopes by using instruments from the first-generation (currently offered) and/or the next-generation (development or design phase). We show that, from an ROB point-of-view, the BINA would be the most successful if the 3.6-m DOT would be equipped with an efficient optical high-resolution spectrograph.

DAG: a new observatory and a prospective observing site for other potential telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeşilyaprak, Cahit; Yerli, Sinan K.; Keskin, Onur; Güçsav, B. Bülent

2016-07-01

DAG (Eastern Anatolia Observatory is read as "Doğu Anadolu Gözlemevi" in Turkish) is the newest and largest observatory of Turkey, constructed at an altitude of 3150 m in Konaklı/Erzurum provenience, with an optical and nearinfrared telescope (4 m in diameter) and its robust observing site infrastructure. This national project consists of three main phases: DAG (Telescope, Enclosure, Buildings and Infrastructures), FPI (Focal Plane Instruments and Adaptive Optics) and MCP (Mirror Coating Plant). All these three phases are supported by the Ministry of Development of Turkey and funding is awarded to Atatürk University. Telescope, enclosure and building tenders were completed in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. The final design of telescope, enclosure and building and almost all main infrastructure components of DAG site have been completed; mainly: road work, geological and atmospheric surveys, electric and fiber cabling, water line, generator system, cable car to summit. This poster explains recent developments of DAG project and talks about the future possible collaborations for various telescopes which can be constructed at the site.

Pluto occultation on 2015 June 29 UTC with central flash and atmospheric spikes just before the New Horizons flyby

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasachoff, Jay M.; Babcock, Bryce A.; Durst, Rebecca F.; Seeger, Christina H.; Levine, Stephen E.; Bosh, Amanda S.; Person, Michael J.; Sickafoose, Amanda A.; Zuluaga, Carlos A.; Kosiarek, Molly R.; Abe, Fumio; Nagakane, Masayuki; Suzuki, Daisuke; Tristram, Paul J.; Arredondo, Anicia

2017-11-01

We observed the occultation by Pluto of a 12th magnitude star, one of the two brightest occultation stars ever in our dozen years of continual monitoring of Pluto's atmosphere through such studies, on 2015 June 29 UTC. At the Univ. of Canterbury Mt. John Observatory (New Zealand), under clear skies throughout, we used a POETS frame-transfer CCD at 10 Hz with GPS timing on the 1-m McLellan telescope as well as an infrared camera on an 0.6-m telescope and three-color photometry at a slower cadence on a second 0.6-m telescope. At the Auckland Observatory, we used a POETS and a PICO on 0.5-m and 0.4-m telescopes, with 0.4 s and 2 s cadences, respectively, obtaining ingress observations before clouds moved in. The Mt. John light curves show a central flash, indicating that we were close to the center of the occultation path. Analysis of our light curves show that Pluto's atmosphere remains robust. The presence of spikes at both sites in the egress and ingress shows atmospheric layering. We coordinated our observations with aircraft observations (Bosh et al., 2017) with the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). Our chords helped constrain the path across Pluto that SOFIA saw. Our ground-based and airborne stellar-occultation effort came only just over two weeks of Earth days and two Pluto days before the flyby of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Light curves of AV Hya and DZ Cas (Yang+, 2012)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Y.-G.; Li, L.-H.; Dai, H.-F.

2013-10-01

BVR photometry of AV Hya and DZ Cas was acquired with the 60cm telescope at the Xinglong stations (XLs) of the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC). The standard Johnson-Cousins UBVRI filters were used. Photometric observations of AV Hya were obtained on 2009 January 1, 6, and 9. another two eclipsing times of AV Hya were observed on 2008 December 17 and 2011 September 5 using the 85cm telescope at the Xinglong station of NAOC. DZ Cas was observed from 2011 September 29 to October 2. Additionally, two eclipsing times of DZ Cas were obtained on 2004 December 4 and 6 using the 1.0m telescope of the Yunnan Astronomical Observatory (YNAO), and on 2009 November 4 with the 1.0m telescope at the Weihai observatory (WHO) of Shandong University in China. For AV Hya, we collected a total of 130 light minimum times which cover the time span 1944-2011 (Table 3). For DZ Cas, the 93 collected eclipsing times come from 1934 up to 2012, with a long gap between 1981 and 1990. (5 data files).

Weak-lensing mass calibration of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope equatorial Sunyaev-Zeldovich cluster sample with the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope stripe 82 survey

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Battaglia, N.; Miyatake, H.; Hasselfield, M.

Mass calibration uncertainty is the largest systematic effect for using clusters of galaxies to constrain cosmological parameters. We present weak lensing mass measurements from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey for galaxy clusters selected through their high signal-to-noise thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) signal measured with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). For a sample of 9 ACT clusters with a tSZ signal-to-noise greater than five the average weak lensing mass is (4.8±0.8) ×10{sup 14} M{sub ⊙}, consistent with the tSZ mass estimate of (4.70±1.0) ×10{sup 14} M{sub ⊙} which assumes a universal pressure profile for the cluster gas. Our results are consistentmore » with previous weak-lensing measurements of tSZ-detected clusters from the Planck satellite. When comparing our results, we estimate the Eddington bias correction for the sample intersection of Planck and weak-lensing clusters which was previously excluded.« less

Absolute Flux Calibration of the IRAC Instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope Using Hubble Space Telescope Flux Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohlin, R. C.; Gordon, K. D.; Rieke, G. H.; Ardila, D.; Carey, S.; Deustua, S.; Engelbracht, C.; Ferguson, H. C.; Flanagan, K.; Kalirai, J.; Meixner, M.; Noriega-Crespo, A.; Su, K. Y. L.; Tremblay, P.-E.

2011-05-01

The absolute flux calibration of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be based on a set of stars observed by the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. In order to cross-calibrate the two facilities, several A, G, and white dwarf stars are observed with both Spitzer and Hubble and are the prototypes for a set of JWST calibration standards. The flux calibration constants for the four Spitzer IRAC bands 1-4 are derived from these stars and are 2.3%, 1.9%, 2.0%, and 0.5% lower than the official cold-mission IRAC calibration of Reach et al., i.e., in agreement within their estimated errors of ~2%. The causes of these differences lie primarily in the IRAC data reduction and secondarily in the spectral energy distributions of our standard stars. The independent IRAC 8 μm band-4 fluxes of Rieke et al. are about 1.5% ± 2% higher than those of Reach et al. and are also in agreement with our 8 μm result.

Fabrication of Ti substrate grain dependent C/TiO2 composites through carbothermal treatment of anodic TiO2.

PubMed

Rüdiger, Celine; Favaro, Marco; Valero-Vidal, Carlos; Calvillo, Laura; Bozzolo, Nathalie; Jacomet, Suzanne; Hejny, Clivia; Gregoratti, Luca; Amati, Matteo; Agnoli, Stefano; Granozzi, Gaetano; Kunze-Liebhäuser, Julia

2016-04-07

Composite materials of titania and graphitic carbon, and their optimized synthesis are highly interesting for application in sustainable energy conversion and storage. We report on planar C/TiO2 composite films that are prepared on a polycrystalline titanium substrate by carbothermal treatment of compact anodic TiO2 with acetylene. This thin film material allows for the study of functional properties of C/TiO2 as a function of chemical composition and structure. The chemical and structural properties of the composite on top of individual Ti substrate grains are examined by scanning photoelectron microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy. Through comparison of these data with electron backscatter diffraction, it is found that the amount of generated carbon and the grade of anodic film crystallinity correlate with the crystallographic orientation of the Ti substrate grains. On top of Ti grains with ∼(0001) orientations the anodic TiO2 exhibits the highest grade of crystallinity, and the composite contains the highest fraction of graphitic carbon compared to Ti grains with other orientations. This indirect effect of the Ti substrate grain orientation yields new insights into the activity of TiO2 towards the decomposition of carbon precursors.

Can Jupiters be found by monitoring Galactic bulge microlensing events from northern sites?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsapras, Yiannis; Street, Rachel A.; Horne, Keith; Penny, Alan; Clarke, Fraser; Deeg, Hans; Garzon, Francisco; Kemp, Simon; Zapatero Osorio, Maria Rosa; Oscoz, Alejandro Abad; Sanchez, Santiago Madruga; Eiroa, Carlos; Mora, Alcione; Alberdi, Antxon; Collier Cameron, Andrew; Davies, John K.; Ferlet, Roger; Grady, Carol; Harris, Allan W.; Palacios, Javier; Quirrenbach, Andreas; Rauer, Heike; Schneider, Jean; de Winter, Dolf; Merin, Bruno; Solano, Enrique

2001-08-01

In 1998 the EXPORT team monitored microlensing event light curves using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera on the IACQ4 0.8-m telescope on Tenerife to evaluate the prospect of using northern telescopes to find microlens anomalies that reveal planets orbiting the lens stars. The high airmass and more limited time available for observations of Galactic bulge sources make a northern site less favourable for microlensing planet searches. However, there are potentially a large number of northern 1-m class telescopes that could devote a few hours per night to monitor ongoing microlensing events. Our IAC observations indicate that accuracies sufficient to detect planets can be achieved despite the higher airmass.

Photometric Follow-up of Eclipsing Binary Candidates from KELT and Kepler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia Soto, Aylin; Rodriguez, Joseph E.; Bieryla, Allyson; KELT survey

2018-01-01

Eclipsing binaries (EBs) are incredibly valuable, as they provide the opportunity to precisely measure fundamental stellar parameters without the need for stellar models. Therefore, we can use EBs to directly test stellar evolution models. Constraining the stellar properties of stars is important since they directly influence our understanding of any planets orbiting them. Using the Harvard University's Clay 0.4m telescope and Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory’s 1.2m telescope on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, we conducted follow-up multi-band photometric observations of EB candidates from the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) survey and the Kepler mission. We will present our follow-up observations and AstroImageJ analysis on these 5 EB systems.

Title Requested

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Limaye, S. S.; Prabhu, T.; Bhatt, B. C.; Anandrao, B. G.; Emerson, G.; Young, E. F.

2004-11-01

In order to obtain a better dataset for tracking features in near infrared images of Venus, coordinated observations were made from two telescopes in India - the 1m Mt. Abu telescope at Gurushikhar (Location: 24o 39' 8.8" North Latitude, 72o 46' 47.47", 1680 m above MSL, NICMOS III camera, 0.5 arcsec/pixel) and the 2m Optical-Infrared Himalayan Chandra Telescope at Hanle, Ladakh (32o 35' 46" North Latitude and 78o 57' 51" East Longitude, 4500 m above MSL, NIR Camera, 0.21 arcsec/pixel) during 4-10 May 2004 and 6 -10 July 2004 when similar observations were also made from IRTF (Young et al., 2004) and Nordic Optical Telescope (Warell et al., 2004) as well as APO and AAT. Images were obtained at 2.29 micron wavelength using the filters available at the telescopes and show considerable variability from day to day in the atmospheric features. Yet there is enough retention of structural features that suggest a lifetime of 7 days indicating one complete rotation as observed from HCT data taken in May 2004. These features are believed to originate at 52 km level above the Venus surface and the motions are consistent with a rotation rate of 63 m/s at the equator. When combined with those from NOT, IRTF, APO and AAT these observations will yield better information about the circulation at 52 km altitude than has been possible from previous observations. We acknowledge the support and hospitality extended to us to obtain these observations by the staff of Mt. Abu and the Chandra telescopes, in particular Rajesh Shat and Jinesh Jain. Mt. Abu Telescope is operated by Physical Research Laboratory (Ahmedabad, India) and the Chandra Telescope is operated by Center for Research and Education in Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Astrophysics (Bangalore, India). Both are supported by the Indian Space Research Organization

Origin of Outer Solar System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holman, Matthew J.; Boyce, J. (Technical Monitor)

2003-01-01

We feel that at the present moment the available theoretical models of the Kuiper belt are still in advance of the data, and thus our main task has been to conduct observational work guided by theoretical motivations. Our efforts over the past year can be divided into four categories: A) Wide-field Searches for Kuiper Belt Objects; B) Pencil-beam Searches for Kuiper Belt Objects; C) Wide-field Searches for Moons of the Outer Planets; D) Pencil-beam Searches for Faint Uranian and Neptunian Moons; E) Recovery Observations. As of April 2002, we have conducted several searches for Kuiper belt objects using large-format mosaic CCD camera on 4-meter class telescopes. In May 1999, we used the Kitt Peak 4-meter with the NOAO Mosaic camera we attempted a search for KBOs at a range of ecliptic latitudes. In addition to our wide-field searches, we have conducted three 'pencil-beam' searches in the past year. In a pencil-beam search we take repeated integrations of the same field throughout a night. After preprocessing the resulting images we shift and recombine them along a range of rates and directions consistent with the motion of KBOs. Stationary objects then smear out, while objects moving at near the shift rate appear as point sources. In addition to our searches for Kuiper belt objects, we are completing the inventory of the outer solar system by search for faint satellites of the outer planets. In August 2001 we conducted pencil beam searches for faint Uranian and Neptunian satellites at CFHT and CTIO. These searches resulted in the discover of two Neptunian and four Uranian satellite candidates. The discovery of Kuiper belt objects and outer planet satellites is of little use if the discoveries are not followed by systematic, repeated astrometric observations that permit reliable estimates of their orbits.

Curvature wavefront sensing performance evaluation for active correction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).

PubMed

Manuel, Anastacia M; Phillion, Donald W; Olivier, Scot S; Baker, Kevin L; Cannon, Brice

2010-01-18

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) uses a novel, three-mirror, modified Paul-Baker design, with an 8.4-meter primary mirror, a 3.4-m secondary, and a 5.0-m tertiary, along with three refractive corrector lenses to produce a flat focal plane with a field of view of 9.6 square degrees. In order to maintain image quality during operation, the deformations and rigid body motions of the three large mirrors must be actively controlled to minimize optical aberrations, which arise primarily from forces due to gravity and thermal expansion. We describe the methodology for measuring the telescope aberrations using a set of curvature wavefront sensors located in the four corners of the LSST camera focal plane. We present a comprehensive analysis of the wavefront sensing system, including the availability of reference stars, demonstrating that this system will perform to the specifications required to meet the LSST performance goals.

Advance on solar instrumentation in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Yihua

2015-08-01

The solar observing facilities in China are introduced with the emphasis on the development in recent years and future plans for both ground and space-based solar instrumentations. The recent solar instruments are as follows: A new generation Chinese Spectral Radioreliograph (CSRH) has been constructed at Mingantu Observing Station in Zhengxiangbaiqi, inner Mongolia of China since 2013 and is in test observations now. CSRH has two arrays with 40 × 4.5 m and 60 × 2 m parabolic antennas covering 0.4-2 GHz and 2-15 GHz frequency range. CSRH is renamed as MUSER (Mingantu Ultrawide Spectral Radiheliograph) after its accomplishment. A new 1 m vacuum solar telescope (NVST) has been installed in 2010 at Fuxian lake, 60 km away from Kunming, Yunana. At present it is the best seeing place in China. A new telescope called ONSET (Optical and NIR Solar Eruption Tracer) has been established at the same site as NVST in 2011. ONSET has been put into operation since 2013. For future ground-based plans, Chinese Giant Solar Telescope (CGST) with spatial resolution equivalent to 8m and effective area of 5m full-aperture telescope has been proposed and was formally listed into the National Plans of Major Science & Technology Infrastructures in China. The pre-study and site survey for CGST have been pursued. A 1-meter mid-infrared telescope for precise measurement of the solar magnetic field has been funded by NSFC in 2014 as a national major scientific instrument development project. This project will develop the first mid-infrared solar magnetic observation instrument in the world aiming at increasing the precision of the transverse magnetic field measurement by one order of magnitude. For future ground-based plans, we promote the Deep-space Solar Observatory (DSO) with 1-m aperture telescope to be formally funded. The ASO-S (an Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory) has been supported in background phase by Space Science Program as a small mission. Other related space solar projects have also been proposed to promote the solar-terrestrial research.

Spectroscopic Observations of the Star Formation Regions in Nearby Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, X.; Lin, L.; Li, J. R.; Zhou, X.; Zou, H.; Li, H. Y.; Chen, F. Z.; Du, W.; Fan, Z.; Mao, Y. W.; Wang, J.; Zhu, Y. N.; Zhou, Z. M.

2014-01-01

During the late 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, the 8˜10 m scale ground-based telescopes are helping astronomers learn much more about how galaxies develop. The existing 2˜4 m scale telescopes become less important for astrophysical researches. To use the existing 2˜4 m scale telescopes to address important issues in cosmology and extragalactic and galactic astronomy, we have to consider very carefully which kind of things we can do, and which we can not. For this reason, the Time Allocation Committee (TAC) of the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC) 2.16 m telescope decides to support some key projects since 2013. Nearby galaxies supply us with the opportunity to study galaxy dynamics and star formation on large scales, yet are close enough to reveal the details. Star formation regions in nearby galaxies provide an excellent laboratory to study the star formation processes, the evolution of massive stars, and the properties of the surrounding interstellar medium. A wealth of information can be obtained from the spectral analysis of the bright emission lines and the stellar continuum. Considering these, we proposed a long-term project ``Spectroscopic Observations of the Star Formation Regions in Nearby Galaxies'', and it becomes the key project of the NAOC 2.16 m telescope since 2013, supported with 30 dark/grey nights per year. The primary goal of this project is to observe the spectroscopy of star formation regions in 20 nearby galaxies, with the NAOC 2.16 m telescope and the Hectospec/MMT (Multiple Mirror Telescope) multifiber spectrograph by Telescope Access Program (TAP). With the spectra of a large sample of star formation regions, combining multi-wavelength data from UV to IR, we can investigate, understand, and quantify the nature of the deviation from the starbursts' IRX-β (the IR/UV ratio ``IRX'' versus the UV color ``β'') correlation. It will be important for a better understanding of the interaction of dust and radiation specifically in nearby galaxies, but it also has direct consequences for our understanding and interpretation of galaxy evolution in a general context. As the first paper of this project, we describe the sample and scientific objectives, review the observation, and present initial results in this paper. We have obtained spectrophotometric data for 80 star formation regions in the spiral galaxy NGC 2403, and have determined the radial gas--phase oxygen abundance and dust extinction gradient of NGC 2403.

Spectroscopic study of formation, evolution and interaction of M31 and M33 with star clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Zhou; Yang, Yanbin

2016-02-01

The recent studies show that the formation and evolution process of the nearby galaxies are still unclear. By using the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) 3.6m telescope, the PanDAS shows complicated substructures (dwarf satellite galaxies, halo globular clusters, extended clusters, star streams, etc.) in the halo of M31 to ~150 kpc from the center of galaxy and M31-M33 interaction has been studied. In our work, we would like to investigate formation, evolution and interaction of M31 and M33, which are the nearest two spiral galaxies in Local Group. The star cluster systems of the two galaxies are good tracers to study the dynamics of the substructures and the interaction. Since 2010, the Xinglong 2.16m, Lijiang 2.4m and MMT 6.5m telescopes have been used for our spectroscopic observations. The radial velocities and Lick absorption-line indices can thus be measured with the spectroscopy and then ages, metallicities and masses of the star clusters can be fitted with the simple stellar population models. These parameters could be used as the input physical parameters for numerical simulations of M31-M33 interaction.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Candidate eruptive young stars in Lynds 1340 (Kun+, 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kun, M.; Apai, D.; O'Linger-Luscusk, J.; Moor, A.; Stecklum, B.; Szegedi-Elek, E.; Wolf-Chase, G.

2016-07-01

Lynds 1340 was observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on 2009 March 16 and the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) for Spitzer on 2008 November 26 (Prog. ID: 50691, PI: G. Fazio). The observations covered ~1deg2 in each band. We obtained low-resolution optical spectra for the star coinciding with IRAS 02224+7227 on 2003 February 5 using CAFOS with the G-100 grism on the 2.2m Telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory, and on 2004 December 11 using FAST on the 1.5m FLWO Telescope. High angular resolution JHK images, centered on the same star, were obtained on 2002 October 24 using the near-infrared camera Omega-Cass, mounted on the 3.5m Telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory. We performed a new search for Hα emission stars in L1340 using the Wide Field Grism Spectrograph 2 installed on the University of Hawaii 2.2m Telescope. We observed 2MASS J02263797+7304575 on 2011 October 16 and detected a Hα emission with EW(Hα)=-80Å in its spectrum. The Ks magnitude of 2MASS J02325605+7246055 was measured on the images obtained on 2010 October 18, during the monitoring program of V1180 Cas (Kun et al. 2011, J/ApJ/733/L8), using the MAGIC camera on the 2.2m Telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory. Narrow-band images through [SII] and Hα filters, as well as broad R-band images containing the environment of 2MASSJ02325605+7246055, were obtained with the Schmidt Telescope of the Thuringer Landessternwarte (TLS), Tautenburg in 2011 May, June, and September. Spectra of the nebula and the two brightest HH knots were obtained using the TLS medium-resolution Nasmyth spectrograph (R~700) in 2011 November. BVRCIC photometric observations of IRAS 02224+7227 were performed with the 1m Ritchey-Chretien-Coude (RCC) Telescope of the Konkoly Observatory at three epochs between 2001 and 2011. We measured the RC and IC magnitudes of IRAS 02224+7227 and 2MASSJ02263797+7304575 at several epochs between 2011 January and 2014 June on the images collected with the wide-field camera on the Schmidt Telescope of the Konkoly Observatory to monitor the light variations of V1180 Cas (Kun et al. 2011, J/ApJ/733/L8). L1340 is situated within Stripe 1260 of the SEGUE survey (Yanny et al. 2009, J/AJ/137/4377), thus its entire area was observed in the ugriz bands in 2005 November-December. Each target star has high-quality 3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22um fluxes in the AllWISE data base. (1 data file).

The Chromospheric Activity and Ages of M Dwarf Stars in Wide Binary Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silvestri, Nicole M.; Hawley, Suzanne L.; Oswalt, Terry D.

2005-05-01

We investigate the relationship between age and chromospheric activity for 139 M dwarf stars in wide binary systems with white dwarf companions. The age of each system is determined from the cooling age of its white dwarf component. The current limit for activity-age relations found for M dwarfs in open clusters is 4 Gyr. Our unique approach to finding ages for M stars allows for the exploration of this relationship at ages older than 4 Gyr. The general trend of stars remaining active for a longer time at a later spectral type is confirmed. However, our larger sample and greater age range reveal additional complexity in assigning age based on activity alone. We find that M dwarfs in wide binaries older than 4 Gyr depart from the loglinear relation for clusters and are found to have activity at magnitudes, colors, and masses that are brighter, bluer, and more massive than predicted by the cluster relation. In addition to our activity-age results, we present the measured radial velocities and complete space motions for 161 white dwarf stars in wide binaries. Based on observations obtained with the Apache Point Observatory 3.5 m telescope, which is owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium; the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 4.0 m telescope, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which also operates Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona; and the SARA Observatory 0.9 m telescope at Kitt Peak, which is owned and operated by the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (http://www.saraobservatory.org).

View of STS-109 MS Grunsfeld during EVA 1

NASA Image and Video Library

2002-03-04

STS109-E-5448 (4 March 2002) --- Astronaut John M. Grunsfeld, payload commander, peers into the crew cabin of the Space Shuttle Columbia during the first STS-109 extravehicular activity (EVA-1) on March 4, 2002. Grunsfeld's helmet visor displays a mirrored image of the Earth's hemisphere. Astronauts Grunsfeld and Richard M. Linnehan replaced the starboard solar array on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on the first of five scheduled STS-109 space walks. The lower portion of the giant telescope can be seen over Grunsfeld's left shoulder. The image was recorded with a digital still camera by a crewmate on shuttle's aft flight deck.

TIFR Near Infrared Imaging Camera-II on the 3.6 m Devasthal Optical Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baug, T.; Ojha, D. K.; Ghosh, S. K.; Sharma, S.; Pandey, A. K.; Kumar, Brijesh; Ghosh, Arpan; Ninan, J. P.; Naik, M. B.; D’Costa, S. L. A.; Poojary, S. S.; Sandimani, P. R.; Shah, H.; Krishna Reddy, B.; Pandey, S. B.; Chand, H.

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) Near Infrared Imaging Camera-II (TIRCAM2) is a closed-cycle Helium cryo-cooled imaging camera equipped with a Raytheon 512×512 pixels InSb Aladdin III Quadrant focal plane array (FPA) having sensitivity to photons in the 1-5μm wavelength band. In this paper, we present the performance of the camera on the newly installed 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) based on the calibration observations carried out during 2017 May 11-14 and 2017 October 7-31. After the preliminary characterization, the camera has been released to the Indian and Belgian astronomical community for science observations since 2017 May. The camera offers a field-of-view (FoV) of ˜86.5‧‧×86.5‧‧ on the DOT with a pixel scale of 0.169‧‧. The seeing at the telescope site in the near-infrared (NIR) bands is typically sub-arcsecond with the best seeing of ˜0.45‧‧ realized in the NIR K-band on 2017 October 16. The camera is found to be capable of deep observations in the J, H and K bands comparable to other 4m class telescopes available world-wide. Another highlight of this camera is the observational capability for sources up to Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) W1-band (3.4μm) magnitudes of 9.2 in the narrow L-band (nbL; λcen˜ 3.59μm). Hence, the camera could be a good complementary instrument to observe the bright nbL-band sources that are saturated in the Spitzer-Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) ([3.6] ≲ 7.92 mag) and the WISE W1-band ([3.4] ≲ 8.1 mag). Sources with strong polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission at 3.3μm are also detected. Details of the observations and estimated parameters are presented in this paper.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: BVR photometry of EPIC 211957146 (Sriram+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sriram, K.; Malu, S.; Choi, C. S.; Vivekananda Rao, P.

2017-08-01

Photometric observations of the variable EPIC 211957146 in the R band were taken using the IUCAA-Girawali Observatory (IGO) 2m telescope from 2015 February 5-22, for 5 nights (specifications of IGO 2m telescope CCD are as discussed in Sriram et al. 2016AJ....151...69S). An exposure time of 20-30s was given for imaging. B and V band observations were taken from the JCBT 1.3m telescope at Vainu Bappu Observatory (VBO) during 2016 February 3-8 and 2016 March 25-April 3 for a total of 7 nights. The JCBT 1.3m DFM telescope at VBO uses a 2K*4K UKATC CCD having a gain of 0.745e-/ADU and a read out noise of 4.2e-. The plate scale is 0.3arcsec/pixel resulting in an image of 10'*20' and images of the source in the B and V bands were taken with an integration time of 120s. Differential photometry was performed on the variable, with the comparison and check stars (of similar brightness) lying close to the variable. This source was also observed by the Kepler K2 mission Campaign 5, and the data were acquired from the MAST portal and the NASA Exoplanet Archive. K2 campaign 5 monitored the sky for a duration of ~74days and was fixed upon a single boresight position of 08h40m38s, +16°49'47'' starting from 2015 April 27 to July 10. Spectroscopic observation of the variable was performed during the nights of 2016 January 29-30 using the 2m Himalaya Chandra Telescope (HCT, IAO) equipped with the Himalaya Faint Object Spectrograph Camera (HFOSC) having a 2K*4K CCD. Spectra were obtained with an exposure time of 1800-2700s for both variable and spectrophotometric standard stars (BD+08 2015). A few spectra were also taken on 2016 February 1 using the Optomechanics Research spectrograph mounted on the 2.3m Vainu Bappu Telescope using a 1K*1K CCD. A 600lines/mm grating spanning a wavelength range of 2000-8000Å with a dispersion of 2.6Å/pixel and a resolution of ~5.3Å was used. The same spectrophotometric standard as before was used for observation, and an exposure time of 2700s was given to both the variable and the standard. (2 data files).

"First Light" Approaches for VLT MELIPAL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2000-01-01

The year 1999 was a very busy one at ESO's Paranal Observatory , the site of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Soon after the official Inauguration on March 5, 1999, regular observations started with the first 8.2-m VLT Unit Telescope ANTU . During the first nine months of operation (April - December 1999), about 79,000 exposures were made with the FORS1 and ISAAC astronomical instruments at this telescope. Altogether, more than 68 Gigabytes of unique data were gathered during this period for about 200 individual research programmes and stored in the VLT Data Archive. "First Light" was successfully achieved early in the year for the second 8.2-m VLT Unit telescope, KUEYEN . It has since been equipped with two powerful instruments, UVES and FORS2. Science observations with this telescope will start on April 1, 2000. Already in early December 1999, ahead of the schedule, the third 8.2-m Zerodur mirror in its cell was attached to the third 8.2-m VLT Unit Telescope, MELIPAL , cf. ESO PR Photos 42a-ad/99. The moment of "First Light" is approaching for this telescope. Originally planned for mid-February 2000, this significant event is now expected to take place about two weeks ahead of schedule, in late January 2000. From then on, the VLT will possess nearly 160 square metres of extremely accurate, highly reflecting mirror surface. While the observations for "First Light" and the subsequent commissioning period will be carried out with the VLT Test Camera, MELIPAL will receive its first special astronomical instrument, the VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph (VIMOS) towards the middle of the year. It is optimized for large field imaging and spectroscopic surveys and will become a real workhorse of the VLT for this type of research projects, together with the Near InfraRed MultiObject Spectrograph (NIRMOS) , to be installed later at the fourth 8.2-m Unit Telescope, YEPUN . YEPUN will have "First Light" later this year and the work on this telescope also progresses well. The "M1 Dummy" that was mounted on the telescope frame for balance during the mechanical assembly was removed on January 4. The next day, it was transported down to the Base Camp storage area where it was lifted off the Carriage using a combination of two cranes. The empty M1 Carriage was then moved to the Mirror Maintenance Building (MMB) where the fourth M1 Cell with a dummy concrete mirror was loaded. Later that day it was transported up to YEPUN and the next morning (January 6), the Mirror Cell was moved inside the enclosure. Over the next weeks, it will be fitted to the back of the telescope structure. In parallel, the "M2 Unit" on which the 1.1-m secondary mirror of beryllium will later be mounted, is now being assembled in the Integration Laboratory in the MMB. The following digital photos were obtained during the past days and illustrate the recent work.

The Miyun 50 m Pulsar Radio Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, C.; Cao, Y.; Chen, H.; Gao, J.; Gao, L.; Kong, D.; Su, Y.; Wang, M.

2006-12-01

The National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences is now building a 50 m radio telescope at the Miyun Station. In this paper, we give a brief introduction to the Miyun Station. The main specifications and the status of construction of the 50 m radio telescope are described. We are now building an L-band pulsar receiver for this new 50 m telescope. The status of this receiver project is also described. The 50 m telescope, together with the pulsar receiver, will make it a powerful radio telescope to carry out pulsar observations and researches in the near future.

4MOST optical system: presentation and design details

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azaïs, Nicolas; Frey, Steffen; Bellido, Olga; Winkler, Roland

2017-09-01

The 4-meter Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (4MOST) is a wide-field, high-multiplex spectroscopic survey facility under development for the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) 4 meter telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at Cerro Paranal. The objective of 4MOST is to enable the simultaneous spectroscopy of a significant number of targets within a 2.5° diameter field of view, to allow high-efficiency all-sky spectroscopic surveys. A wide field corrector (WFC) is needed to couple targets across the 2.5° field diameter with the exit pupil concentric with the spherical focal surface where 2400 fibres are configured by a fibre positioner (AESOP). For optimal fibre optic coupling and active optics wavefront sensing the WFC will correct optical aberrations of the primary (M1) and secondary (M2) VISTA optics across the full field of view and provide a well-defined and stable focal surface to which the acquisition/guiding sensors, wavefront sensors, and fibre positioner are interfaced. It will also compensate for the effects of atmospheric dispersion, allowing good chromatic coupling of stellar images with the fibre apertures over a wide range of telescope zenith angles (ZD). The fibres feed three spectrographs; two thirds of the fibres will feed two low resolution spectrographs and the remaining 812 fibres will feed a high-resolution spectrograph. The three spectrographs are fixed-configuration with three channels each. We present the 4MOST optical system together with optical simulation of subsystems.

CoRoT 101186644: A transiting low-mass dense M-dwarf on an eccentric 20.7-day period orbit around a late F-star. Discovered in the CoRoT lightcurves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tal-Or, L.; Mazeh, T.; Alonso, R.; Bouchy, F.; Cabrera, J.; Deeg, H. J.; Deleuil, M.; Faigler, S.; Fridlund, M.; Hébrard, G.; Moutou, C.; Santerne, A.; Tingley, B.

2013-05-01

We present the study of the CoRoT transiting planet candidate 101186644, also named LRc01_E1_4780. Analysis of the CoRoT lightcurve and the HARPS spectroscopic follow-up observations of this faint (mV = 16) candidate revealed an eclipsing binary composed of a late F-type primary (Teff = 6090 ± 200 K) and a low-mass, dense late M-dwarf secondary on an eccentric (e = 0.4) orbit with a period of ~20.7 days. The M-dwarf has a mass of 0.096 ± 0.011 M⊙, and a radius of 0.104-0.006+0.026 R⊙, which possibly makes it the smallest and densest late M-dwarf reported so far. Unlike the claim that theoretical models predict radii that are 5-15% smaller than measured for low-mass stars, this one seems to have a radius that is consistent and might even be below the radius predicted by theoretical models. Based on observations made with the 1-m telescope at the Wise Observatory, Israel, the Swiss 1.2-m Leonhard Euler telescope at La Silla Observatory, Chile, the IAC-80 telescope at the Observatory del Teide, Canarias, Spain, and the 3.6-m telescope at La Silla Observatory (ESO), Chile (program 184.C-0639).

HD 202206: A Circumbinary Brown Dwarf System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benedict, G. Fritz; Harrison, Thomas E.

2017-06-01

Using Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor astrometry and previously published radial velocity measures, we explore the exoplanetary system HD 202206. Our modeling results in a parallax, {π }{abs}=21.96+/- 0.12 milliseconds of arc, a mass for HD 202206 B of {{ M }}B={0.089}-0.006+0.007 {{ M }}⊙ , and a mass for HD 202206 c of {{ M }}c={17.9}-1.8+2.9 {{ M }}{Jup}. HD 202206 is a nearly face-on G + M binary orbited by a brown dwarf. The system architecture that we determine supports past assertions that stability requires a 5:1 mean motion resonance (we find a period ratio, {P}c/{P}B=4.92+/- 0.04) and coplanarity (we find a mutual inclination, {{Φ }}=6^\\circ +/- 2^\\circ ). Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

The variability of Halley's Comet during the Vega, Planet-A, and Giotto encounters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schleicher, D. G.; Millis, R. L.; Tholen, D.; Lark, N.; Birch, Peter V.; Martin, Ralph; Ahearn, Michael F.

1986-01-01

Narrowband photometry of Halley obtained at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Mauna Kea Observatory (MKO), and Perth Observatory was combined to determine the relative level of activity during the interval spanning the spacecraft encounters. Measurements of the flux from the comet in emission bands of OH, NH, CN, C3, and C2, as well as at 2 continuum points, were obtained at CTIO on each night between 5 March and 17 March 1986. Observations were made on many of these same dates at MKO and Perth using comparable interference filters. The date clearly show variation of a factor of 2.5 in the production of all observed species with a characteristic time scale of a few days.

The Discovery Channel Telescope: Construction and Design Progress, June 2006

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bida, Thomas A.; Smith, B. W.; Millis, R. L.; Dunham, E. W.; Wiecha, O. M.; Marshall, H.

2006-06-01

The Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) is a 4.2m telescope under construction in northern Arizona. The DCT is located at a new site near Happy Jack at 2361m elevation, which was selected following a lengthy site testing campaign that demonstrated median ground-level seeing of 0.84-arcsec FWHM. The DCT science mission includes targeted studies of astrophysical and solar system objects utilizing RC and Nasmyth-mounted imaging and spectroscopic instrumentation, and wide-field surveys of KBO’s, Centaurs, NEA’s, and other time-variable objects with a 2-degree FOV prime focus camera.The DCT facility enclosure and control building will be completed this year, including the supports for the telescope mount and dome, the major infrastructure for facility machinery, the instrument laboratory, control and computer rooms, and the auxiliary building for the mirror coating facility. Meanwhile, the 4.3m ULE meniscus primary mirror blank was completed at Corning, Inc., in October 2005, and the 2-3 year mirror figuring effort is due to begin June 2006. The primary mirror and its design support, and the preliminary integrated telescope mount model, were finite-element analyzed to optimize the design of the mirror and top-end support configurations. The prime focus camera design has been refined to achieve atmospheric dispersion-compensated 0.25-arcsec images at 1-degree field radius, from B to I-band, at reduced cost through simplification of glasses to standard types and utilization of spheres on all but two lens surfaces.The Discovery Channel Telescope is a project of the Lowell Observatory with major financial support from Discovery Communications, Inc. (DCI). DCI plans ongoing television programming featuring the construction of the telescope and the research ultimately conducted with the DCT. Lowell Observatory is actively seeking additional partners in the project; interested parties should contact R. L. Millis, Director.

The Discovery Channel Telescope: Construction and Design Progress, January 2007

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bida, Thomas A.; Millis, R. L.; Smith, B. W.; Dunham, E. W.; Marshall, H.

2006-12-01

The Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) is a 4.2m telescope under construction in northern Arizona. The DCT is located at a new site near Happy Jack at 2361m elevation, which was selected following a lengthy site testing campaign that demonstrated DIMM-characterized median ground-level seeing of 0.84-arcsec FWHM. The DCT science mission includes targeted studies of astrophysical and solar system objects utilizing RC and Nasmyth-mounted imaging and spectroscopic instrumentation, and wide-field surveys of KBO’s, NEA’s, and astrophysical objects with a 2-degree FOV prime focus camera. The DCT facility enclosure and control buildings will be completed soon, including the telescope mount and dome supports, major machinery infrastructure, the instrument laboratory, control and computer rooms, and the auxiliary building for the mirror coating plant. Meanwhile, the effort for final figuring and polishing of the 4.3m ULE meniscus primary mirror blank began in August 2006 at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. The primary mirror and its design support, and the integrated telescope mount model, were finite-element analyzed to optimize the design of the mirror and top-end support configurations. The primary mirror axial and tangential actuators will be fabricated in early 2007 and utilized in the final figure and polish cycle. The prime focus camera design has been refined to achieve atmospheric dispersion-compensated 0.25-arcsec images at 1-degree field radius, from B to I-band, at reduced cost through simplification of glasses to standard types and utilization of spheres on all but two lens surfaces. The Discovery Channel Telescope is a project of the Lowell Observatory with major financial support from Discovery Communications, Inc. (DCI). DCI plans ongoing television programming featuring the construction of the telescope and the research ultimately conducted with the DCT. Lowell Observatory and Discovery Communications are actively seeking additional partners in the project; interested parties should contact R. L. Millis, Director.

Stellar activity for every TESS star in the Southern sky

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, Ward S.; Law, Nicholas; Fors, Octavi; Corbett, Henry T.; Ratzloff, Jeff; del Ser, Daniel

2018-01-01

Although TESS will search for Earths around more than 200,000 nearby stars, the life-impacting superflare occurrence of these stars remains poorly characterized. We monitor long-term stellar flare occurrence for every TESS star in the accessible sky at 2-minute cadence with the CTIO-based Evryscope, a combination of twenty-four telescopes, together giving instantaneous sky coverage of 8000 square degrees. In collaboration with Owens Valley Long Wavelength Array (LWA) all-sky monitoring, Evryscope also provides optical counterparts to radio flare, CME, and exoplanet-magnetosphere stellar activity searches. A Northern Evryscope will be installed at Mount Laguna Observatory, CA in collaboration with SDSU later this year, enabling stellar activity characterization for the full TESS target list and both continuous viewing zones, as well as providing 100% overlap with LWA radio activity. Targets of interest (e.g. Proxima Cen, TRAPPIST-1) are given special focus. We are currently sensitive to stellar activity down to 1% precision at g' ~ 10 and about 0.2 of a magnitude at g' ~ 15. With 2-minute cadence and a projected 5-year timeline, with 2+ years already recorded, we present preliminary results from an activity characterization of every Southern TESS target.

Development of a Lunar Scintillometer as part of the national large optical telescope site survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Surendran, Avinash; Parihar, Padmakar S.; Banyal, Ravinder K.; Kalyaan, Anusha

2018-03-01

Ground layer turbulence is a very important site characterization parameter used to assess the quality of an astronomical site. The Lunar Scintillometer is a simple and effective site-testing device for measuring the ground layer turbulence. It consists of a linear array of photodiodes which are sensitive to the slight variations in the moon's brightness due to scintillation by the lower layers of the Earth's atmosphere. The covariance of intensity values between the non-redundant photodiode baselines can be used to measure the turbulence profile from the ground up to a height determined by the furthest pair of detectors. The six channel lunar scintillometer that has been developed at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics is based closely on an instrument built by the team led by Andrei Tokovinin of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Chile (Tokovinin et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 404(3), 1186-1196 2010). We have fabricated the instrument based on the existing electronic design, and have worked on the noise analysis, an EMI (Electromagnetic Induction) resistant PCB design and the software pipeline for analyzing the data from the same. The results from the instrument's multi-year campaign at Mount Saraswati, Hanle is also presented.

WHAT? A Large Reflective Schmidt Telescope for the Antarctic Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saunders, W.; McGrath, A. J.

We present a design concept for WHAT the Wide-field Antarctic Horizontal Telescope to take advantage of the unique possibilities of Antarctica for both optical and near infrared astronomy. The design is an 8 metre, wide-field, fixed-axis, all-reflective, f/4 Schmidt telescope. Prime and Cassegrain (or Gregorian) foci are provided, giving plate scales 150-1500 μ m/'', over fields of view 3'-3circ. Diffraction limited, NGSAO-corrected K_dark images are possible over arc-minute sized fields, over most of the sky. The sensitivity, resolution, field of view and cost all compare favourably with current or proposed space or ground-based telescopes.

Interplanetary scintillation observations with the Cocoa Cross radio telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cronyn, W. M.; Shawhan, S. D.; Erskine, F. T.; Huneke, A. H.; Mitchell, D. G.

1976-01-01

Physical and electrical parameters for the 34.3-MHz Cocoa Cross radio telescope are given. The telescope is dedicated to the determination of solar-wind characteristics in and out of the ecliptic plane through measurement of electron-density irregularity structure as determined from IPS (interplanetary scintillation) of natural radio sources. The collecting area (72,000 sq m), angular resolution (0.4 deg EW by 0.6 deg NS), and spatial extent (1.3 km EW by 0.8 km NS) make the telescope well suited for measurements of IPS index and frequency scale for hundreds of weak radio sources without serious confusion effects.

Direct imaging of extra-solar planets with stationary occultations viewed by a space telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elliot, J. L.

1978-01-01

The use of a telescope in space to detect planets outside the solar system by means of imaging at optical wavelengths is discussed. If the 'black' limb of the moon is utilized as an occulting edge, a hypothetical Jupiter-Sun system could be detected at a distance as great as 10 pc, and a signal-to-noise ratio of 9 could be achieved in less than 20 min with a 2.4 m telescope in space. An orbit for the telescope is proposed; this orbit could achieve a stationary lunar occultation of any star for a period of nearly two hours.

The 64 Mpixel wide field imager for the Wendelstein 2m telescope: design and calibration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kosyra, Ralf; Gössl, Claus; Hopp, Ulrich; Lang-Bardl, Florian; Riffeser, Arno; Bender, Ralf; Seitz, Stella

2014-11-01

The Wendelstein Observatory of Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich has recently been upgraded with a modern 2m robotic telescope. One Nasmyth port of the telescope has been equipped with a wide-field corrector which preserves the excellent image quality (<0.8 " median seeing) of the site (Hopp et al. 2008) over a field of view of 0.7 degrees diameter. The available field is imaged by an optical imager (WWFI, the Wendelstein Wide Field Imager) built around a customized 2×2 mosaic of 4 k×4 k 15 μm e2v CCDs from Spectral Instruments. This paper provides an overview of the design and the WWFI's performance. We summarize the system mechanics (including a structural analysis), the electronics (and its electromagnetic interference (EMI) protection) and the control software. We discuss in detail detector system parameters, i.e. gain and readout noise, quantum efficiency as well as charge transfer efficiency (CTE) and persistent charges. First on sky tests yield overall good predictability of system throughput based on lab measurements.

Optical and mechanical design and characterization of the new baffle for the 2.4-m Thai National Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buisset, Christophe; Prasit, Apirat; Lépine, Thierry; Poshyajinda, Saran

2015-09-01

The first astronomical images obtained at the 2.4 m Thai National Telescope (TNT) during observations in bright moon conditions were contaminated by high levels of light scattered by the telescope structure. We identified that the origins of this scattered light were the M3 folding mirror baffle and the tube placed inside the fork between the M3 and the M4 mirrors. We thus decided to design and install a new baffle. In a first step, we calculated the optical and mechanical inputs needed to define the baffle optical design. These inputs were: the maximum length of the baffle, the maximum dimensions of the vanes and the incident beam diameter between M3 and M4 mirrors. In a second step, we defined the number, the position and the diameter of the vanes to remove the critical objects from the detector's FOV by using a targeted method. Then, we verified that the critical objects were moved away from the detector's view. In a third step, we designed and manufactured the baffle. The mechanical design is made of 21 sections (1 section for each vane) and comprises an innovative mechanism for the adjustment of the baffle position. The baffle installation and adjustment is performed in less than 20 minutes by 2 operators. In a fourth step, we installed and characterized the baffle by using a pinhole camera. We quantified the performance improvement and we identified the baffle areas at the origin of the residual stray light signal. Finally, we performed targeted on-sky observations to test the baffle in real conditions.

Light Curve and Spectral Evolution of Type IIb Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gangopadhyay, Anjasha; Misra, Kuntal; Pastorello, Andrea; Sahu, Devendra Kumar; Singh, Mridweeka; Dastidar, raya; Anapuma, Gadiyara Chakrapani; Kumar, Brijesh; Pandey, Shashi Bhushan

2018-04-01

Stripped-Envelope Supernovae constitute the sub-class of core-collapse supernovae that strip off their outer hydrogen envelope due to high stellar winds or due to interaction with a binary companion where mass transfer occurs as a result of Roche lobe overflow. We present here the photometric and spectroscopic analysis of a member of this class : SN 2015as classified as a type IIb supernova. Light curve features are similar to those of SN 2011fu while spectroscopic features are quite similar to those of SN 2008ax and SN 2011dh. Early epoch spectra have been modelled with SYN++ which indicates a photospheric velocity of 8500 km sec-1 and temperature of 6500K. Spectroscopic lines show transitioning from H to He features confirming it to be a type IIb supernova. Prominent oxygen and calcium emission features are indicative of the asymmetry of the ejecta. We also estimate the signal to noise ratio of the 3.6m telescope data. This telescope is located at ARIES, Devasthal, Nainital at an altitude of 2450m. We also show the comparison plots of spectra taken with a 2m and 4m class telescopes to enlighten the importance of spectral features displayed by bigger diameter telescopes.

Optical fiber systems for the BigBOSS instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edelstein, Jerry; Poppett, Claire; Sirk, Martin; Besuner, Robert; Lafever, Robin; Allington-Smith, Jeremy R.; Murray, Graham J.

2012-09-01

We describe the fiber optics systems for use in BigBOSS, a proposed massively parallel multi-object spectrograph for the Kitt Peak Mayall 4-m telescope that will measure baryon acoustic oscillations to explore dark energy. BigBOSS will include 5,000 optical fibers each precisely actuator-positioned to collect an astronomical target’s flux at the telescope prime-focus. The fibers are to be routed 40m through the telescope facility to feed ten visible-band imaging spectrographs. We report on our fiber component development and performance measurement program. Results include the numerical modeling of focal ratio degradation (FRD), observations of actual fibers’ collimated and converging beam FRD, and observations of FRD from different types of fiber terminations, mechanical connectors, and fusion-splice connections.

Interference testing methods of large astronomical mirrors base on lenses and CGH wavefront correctors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdulkadyrov, Magomed A.; Belousov, Sergey P.; Patrikeev, Vladimir E.; Semenov, Alexandr P.

2010-07-01

Since last years and at present days LZOS, JSC has been producing a range of primary mirrors of astronomical telescopes with diameter more than 1m under contracts with foreign companies. Simultaneous testing of an aspherical surface figure by means of a lens corrector and CGH (computer generated hologram) corrector, testing of the corrector using the CGH allow challenging the task of definite testing of the mirrors surfaces figure. The results of successful figuring of the mirrors with diameter up to 4m like VISTA Project (Southern European Observatory), TNT (Thai National telescope, Australia - Thailand), LCO telescopes (Las Cumbres Observatory, USA; Russian national projects and meeting these mirrors specifications' requirements are all considered as the sufficient evidence.

Development of the Phase-up Technology of the Radio Telescopes: 6.7 GHz Methanol Maser Observations with Phased Hitachi 32 m and Takahagi 32 m Radio Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takefuji, K.; Sugiyama, K.; Yonekura, Y.; Saito, T.; Fujisawa, K.; Kondo, T.

2017-11-01

For the sake of high-sensitivity 6.7 GHz methanol maser observations, we developed a new technology for coherently combining the two signals from the Hitachi 32 m radio telescope and the Takahagi 32 m radio telescope of the Japanese Very long baseline interferometer Network (JVN), where the two telescopes were separated by about 260 m. After the two telescopes were phased as a twofold larger single telescope, the mean signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the 6.7 GHz methanol masers observed by the phased telescopes was improved to 1.254-fold higher than that of the single dish, through a very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) experiment on the 50 km baseline of the Kashima 34 m telescope and the 1000 km baseline of the Yamaguchi 32 m telescope. Furthermore, we compared the S/Ns of the 6.7 GHz maser spectra for two methods. One is a VLBI method and the other is the newly developed digital position switching that is a similar technology to that used in noise-canceling headphones. Finally, we confirmed that the mean S/N of method of the digital position switching (ON-OFF) was 1.597-fold higher than that of the VLBI method.

ARC-1994-AC94-0353-4

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-07-20

Credit: Calar Alto Observatory Spectacular first view of Fragment Q impacts on Jupiter. Infrared image in the 2.3m micron methane band taken using MAGIC on the 3.5m telescope, Calar Alto Observatory, Spain.

The afocal telescope optical design and tolerance analysis for the ESA ARIEL mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Da Deppo, Vania; Middleton, Kevin; Focardi, Mauro; Morgante, Gianluca; Grella, Samuele; Claudi, Riccardo; Pace, Emanuele; Ficai Veltroni, Iacopo; Micela, Giuseppina

2017-11-01

ARIEL (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey) is one of the three present candidates for the next ESA medium-class science mission (M4) to be launched in 2026. During its 3.5 years of scientific operations from L2 orbit, this mission will observe spectroscopically in the infrared (IR) a large population of known transiting planets in the neighbourhood of the Solar System. The aim is to enable a deep understanding of the physics and chemistry of these exoplanets. ARIEL is based on a 1-m class telescope ahead of a suite of instruments: two spectrometer channels covering the band 1.95 to 7.80 µm and four photometric channels (two wide and two narrow band) in the range 0.5 to 1.9 μm. The ARIEL optical design is conceived as a fore-module common afocal telescope that will feed the spectrometer and photometric channels. The telescope optical design is based on an eccentric pupil two-mirror classic Cassegrain configuration coupled to a tertiary paraboloidal mirror. An all-aluminum structure has been considered for the telescope layout, and a detailed tolerance analysis has been conducted to assess the telescope feasibility. This analysis has been done including the different parts of the realization and life of the instrument, from integration on-ground to in-flight stability during the scientific acquisitions. The primary mirror (M1) temperature will be monitored and finely tuned via an active thermal control system based on thermistors and heaters. The heaters will be switched on and off to maintain the M1 temperature within ±1K thanks to a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller.

Around 1500 near-Earth-asteroid orbits improved via EURONEAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaduvescu, O.; Hudin, L.; Birlan, M.; Popescu, M.; Tudorica, A.; Toma, R.

2014-07-01

Born in 2006 in Paris, the European Near Earth Asteroids Research project (EURONEAR, euronear.imcce.fr) aims ''to study NEAs and PHAs using existing telescopes available to its network and hopefully in the future some automated dedicated 1--2 m facilities''. Although we believe the first aim is fulfilled, the second was not achieved yet, requiring serious commitment from the European NEA researchers and funding agencies. Mainly using free labor by about 30 students and amateur astronomers (from Romania, Chile, UK, France, etc), the PI backed up by his associates M. Birlan (IMCCE Paris) and J. Licandro (IAC Tenerife) and a few other astronomers of the EURONEAR network having access to a few telescopes are approaching around 1,500 observed NEAs whose orbits were improved based on our astrometric contributions. To achive this milestone, we used two main resources and a total of 15 facilities: i) Observing time obtained at 11 professional 1--4 m class telescopes (Chile, La Palma, France, Germany) plus 3 smaller 30--50 cm educational/public outreach telescopes (Romania and Germany) adding about 1,000 observed NEAs; and ii) astrometry obtained from data mining of 4 major image archives (ESO/MPG WFI, INT WFC, CFHTLS Megacam and Subaru SuprimeCam) adding about 500 NEAs recovered in archival images. Among the highlights, about 100 NEAs, PHAs and VIs were observed, recovered or precovered in archives at their second opposition (up to about 15 years away from discovery) or have their orbital arc much extended, and a few VIs and PHAs were eliminated. Incidentally, about 15,000 positions of almost 2,000 known MBAs were reported (mostly in the INT, ESO/MPG and Blanco large fields). About 40 new (one night) NEO candidates and more than 2,000 (one night) unknown MBAs were reported, including about 150 MBAs credited as EURONEAR discoveries. Based on the INT and Blanco data we derived some statistics about the MBA and NEA population observable with 2m and 4m telescopes, proposing a model to rate the NEO candidates observed close to opposition. Based on this work, 10 papers and around 100 MPC circulars were published since 2006.

Optimization study for the experimental configuration of CMB-S4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barron, Darcy; Chinone, Yuji; Kusaka, Akito; Borril, Julian; Errard, Josquin; Feeney, Stephen; Ferraro, Simone; Keskitalo, Reijo; Lee, Adrian T.; Roe, Natalie A.; Sherwin, Blake D.; Suzuki, Aritoki

2018-02-01

The CMB Stage 4 (CMB-S4) experiment is a next-generation, ground-based experiment that will measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization to unprecedented accuracy, probing the signature of inflation, the nature of cosmic neutrinos, relativistic thermal relics in the early universe, and the evolution of the universe. CMB-S4 will consist of O(500,000) photon-noise-limited detectors that cover a wide range of angular scales in order to probe the cosmological signatures from both the early and late universe. It will measure a wide range of microwave frequencies to cleanly separate the CMB signals from galactic and extra-galactic foregrounds. To advance the progress towards designing the instrument for CMB-S4, we have established a framework to optimize the instrumental configuration to maximize its scientific output. The framework combines cost and instrumental models with a cosmology forecasting tool, and evaluates the scientific sensitivity as a function of various instrumental parameters. The cost model also allows us to perform the analysis under a fixed-cost constraint, optimizing for the scientific output of the experiment given finite resources. In this paper, we report our first results from this framework, using simplified instrumental and cost models. We have primarily studied two classes of instrumental configurations: arrays of large-aperture telescopes with diameters ranging from 2–10 m, and hybrid arrays that combine small-aperture telescopes (0.5-m diameter) with large-aperture telescopes. We explore performance as a function of telescope aperture size, distribution of the detectors into different microwave frequencies, survey strategy and survey area, low-frequency noise performance, and balance between small and large aperture telescopes for hybrid configurations. Both types of configurations must cover both large (~ degree) and small (~ arcmin) angular scales, and the performance depends on assumptions for performance vs. angular scale. The configurations with large-aperture telescopes have a shallow optimum around 4–6 m in aperture diameter, assuming that large telescopes can achieve good performance for low-frequency noise. We explore some of the uncertainties of the instrumental model and cost parameters, and we find that the optimum has a weak dependence on these parameters. The hybrid configuration shows an even broader optimum, spanning a range of 4–10 m in aperture for the large telescopes. We also present two strawperson configurations as an outcome of this optimization study, and we discuss some ideas for improving our simple cost and instrumental models used here. There are several areas of this analysis that deserve further improvement. In our forecasting framework, we adopt a simple two-component foreground model with spatially varying power-law spectral indices. We estimate de-lensing performance statistically and ignore non-idealities such as anisotropic mode coverage, boundary effect, and possible foreground residual. Instrumental systematics, which is not accounted for in our analyses, may also influence the conceptual design. Further study of the instrumental and cost models will be one of the main areas of study by the entire CMB-S4 community. We hope that our framework will be useful for estimating the influence of these improvements in the future, and we will incorporate them in order to further improve the optimization.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: PS1 z>5.6 quasars follow-up (Banados+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banados, E.; Venemans, B. P.; Decarli, R.; Farina, E. P.; Mazzucchelli, C.; Walter, F.; Fan, X.; Stern, D.; Schlafly, E.; Chambers, K. C.; Rix, H.-W.; Jiang, L.; McGreer, I.; Simcoe, R.; Wang, F.; Yang, J.; Morganson, E.; De Rosa, G.; Greiner, J.; Balokovic, M.; Burgett, W. S.; Cooper, T.; Draper, P. W.; Flewelling, H.; Hodapp, K. W.; Jun, H. D.; Kaiser, N.; Kudritzki, R.-P.; Magnier, E. A.; Metcalfe, N.; Miller, D.; Schindler, J.-T.; Tonry, J. L.; Wainscoat, R. J.; Waters, C.; Yang, Q.

2017-01-01

The photometric follow-up observations were carried out over different observing runs and different instruments. We obtained optical and near-infrared images with the MPG 2.2m/GROND, New Technology Telescope (NTT)/EFOSC2, NTT/SofI, Calar Alto (CAHA) 3.5m/Omega2000, CAHA 2.2m/CAFOS21, MMT/SWIRC), and du Pont/Retrocam; see Table 1 for details of the observations and filters used. A spectroscopic campaign was carried out using several instruments at different telescopes: EFOSC2 at the NTT telescope in La Silla, the Focal Reducer / Low-Dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the Folded-Port Infrared Echellette (FIRE) spectrometer and the Low-Dispersion Survey Spectrograph (LDSS3) at the Baade and Clay Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory, the Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) at the Keck I 10m Telescope on Mauna Kea, the Double Spectrograph (DBSP) on the 200 inch (5m) Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory (P200), the Red-Channel Spectrograph on the 6.5m MMT Telescope, the Cassegrain TWIN Spectrograph at the 3.5m Calar Alto Telescope (CAHA 3.5m), and the Multi-object Double Spectrograph (MODS) and LUCI spectrograph at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The details of the spectroscopic observations of the PS1-discovered quasars are shown in Table 5. (10 data files).

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Astrometry and photometry of nearby white dwarfs (Limoges+, 2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Limoges, M.-M.; Lepine, S.; Bergeron, P.

2014-06-01

Optical spectra have been obtained with the Steward Observatory 2.3m telescope and the B&C spectrograph on 2009 May, 2009 Nov, 2010 July, with the NOAO Mayall 4m telescope and the RC spectrograph on 2009 Aug, 2010 Mar, 2010 Oct, and with the NOAO 2.1m and the Goldcam spectrograph on 2009 Dec, 2010 May. The adopted configurations allow a spectral coverage of λλ3800-5600 and λλ3800-6700, at an intermediate resolution of ~6ÅFWHM. Spectra were first obtained at low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ~25). As a result of our spectroscopic observations, 193 newly identified white dwarfs from the SUPERBLINK catalog have been spectroscopically confirmed (Tables 3 and 4). (3 data files).

LINC-NIRVANA for the LBT: setting up the world's largest NIR binoculars for astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hofferbert, Ralph; Baumeister, Harald; Bertram, Thomas; Berwein, Jürgen; Bizenberger, Peter; Böhm, Armin; Böhm, Michael; Borelli, José Luis; Brangier, Matthieu; Briegel, Florian; Conrad, Albert; De Bonis, Fulvio; Follert, Roman; Herbst, Tom; Huber, Armin; Kittmann, Frank; Kürster, Martin; Laun, Werner; Mall, Ulrich; Meschke, Daniel; Mohr, Lars; Naranjo, Vianak; Pavlov, Aleksei; Pott, Jörg-Uwe; Rix, Hans-Walter; Rohloff, Ralf-Rainer; Schinnerer, Eva; Storz, Clemens; Trowitzsch, Jan; Yan, Zhaojun; Zhang, Xianyu; Eckart, Andreas; Horrobin, Matthew; Rost, Steffen; Straubmeier, Christian; Wank, Imke; Zuther, Jens; Beckmann, Udo; Connot, Claus; Heininger, Matthias; Hofmann, Karl-Heinz; Kröner, Tim; Nussbaum, Eddy; Schertl, Dieter; Weigelt, Gerd; Bergomi, Maria; Brunelli, Alessandro; Dima, Marco; Farinato, Jacopo; Magrin, Demetrio; Marafatto, Luca; Ragazzoni, Roberto; Viotto, Valentina; Arcidiacono, Carmelo; Bregoli, Giovanni; Ciliegi, Paolo; Cosentino, Guiseppe; Diolaiti, Emiliano; Foppiani, Italo; Lombini, Matteo; Schreiber, Laura; D'Alessio, Francesco; Li Causi, Gianluca; Lorenzetti, Dario; Vitali, Fabrizio; Bertero, Mario; Boccacci, Patrizia; La Camera, Andrea

2012-10-01

LINC-NIRVANA (LN) is the near-infrared, Fizeau-type imaging interferometer for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mt. Graham, Arizona, USA (3267m of elevation). The instrument is currently being built by a consortium of German and Italian institutes under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg, Germany. It will combine the radiation from both 8.4m primary mirrors of LBT in such a way that the sensitivity of a 11.9m telescope and the spatial resolution of a 22.8m telescope will be obtained within a 10.5arcsec x 10.5arcsec scientific field of view. Interferometric fringes of the combined beams are tracked in an oval field with diameters of 1 and 1.5arcmin. In addition, both incoming beams are individually corrected by LN's multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) system to reduce atmospheric image distortion over a circular field of up to 6arcmin in diameter. This paper gives a comprehensive technical overview of the instrument comprising the detailed design of LN's four major systems for interferometric imaging and fringe tracking, both in the NIR range of 1 - 2.4μm, as well as atmospheric turbulence correction at two altitudes, both in the visible range of 0.6 - 0.9μm. The resulting performance capabilities and a short outlook of some of the major science goals will be presented. In addition, the roadmap for the related assembly, integration and verification (AIV) process will be discussed. To avoid late interface-related risks, strategies for early hardware as well as software interactions with the telescope have been elaborated. The goal is to ship LN to the LBT in 2014.

Development of the fast steering secondary mirror assembly of GMT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Sungho; Cho, Myung K.; Park, Chan; Han, Jeong-Yeol; Jeong, Ueejeong; Yoon, Yang-noh; Song, Je Heon; Park, Byeong-Gon; Dribusch, Christoph; Park, Won Hyun; Jun, Youra; Yang, Ho-Soon; Moon, Il-Kwon; Oh, Chang Jin; Kim, Ho-Sang; Lee, Kyoung-Don; Bernier, Robert; Alongi, Chris; Rakich, Andrew; Gardner, Paul; Dettmann, Lee; Rosenthal, Wylie

2016-07-01

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be featured with two Gregorian secondary mirrors, an adaptive secondary mirror (ASM) and a fast-steering secondary mirror (FSM). The FSM has an effective diameter of 3.2 m and built as seven 1.1 m diameter circular segments, which are conjugated 1:1 to the seven 8.4m segments of the primary. Each FSM segment contains a tip-tilt capability for fine co-alignment of the telescope sub-apertures and fast guiding to attenuate telescope wind shake and mount control jitter. This tip-tilt capability thus enhances performance of the telescope in the seeing limited observation mode. As the first stage of the FSM development, Phase 0 study was conducted to develop a program plan detailing the design and manufacturing process for the seven FSM segments. The FSM development plan has been matured through an internal review by the GMTO-KASI team in May 2016 and fully assessed by an external review in June 2016. In this paper, we present the technical aspects of the FSM development plan.

OUTGASSING BEHAVIOR OF C/2012 S1 (ISON) FROM 2011 SEPTEMBER TO 2013 JUNE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meech, Karen J.; Yang, Bin; Kleyna, Jan

2013-10-20

We report photometric observations for comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) obtained during the time period immediately after discovery (r = 6.28 AU) until it moved into solar conjunction in mid-2013 June using the UH2.2 m, and Gemini North 8 m telescopes on Mauna Kea, the Lowell 1.8 m in Flagstaff, the Calar Alto 1.2 m telescope in Spain, the VYSOS-5 telescopes on Mauna Loa Hawaii and data from the CARA network. Additional pre-discovery data from the Pan STARRS1 survey extends the light curve back to 2011 September 30 (r = 9.4 AU). The images showed a similar tail morphology due tomore » small micron sized particles throughout 2013. Observations at submillimeter wavelengths using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on 15 nights between 2013 March 9 (r = 4.52 AU) and June 16 (r = 3.35 AU) were used to search for CO and HCN rotation lines. No gas was detected, with upper limits for CO ranging between 3.5-4.5 × 10{sup 27} molecules s{sup –1}. Combined with published water production rate estimates we have generated ice sublimation models consistent with the photometric light curve. The inbound light curve is likely controlled by sublimation of CO{sub 2}. At these distances water is not a strong contributor to the outgassing. We also infer that there was a long slow outburst of activity beginning in late 2011 peaking in mid-2013 January (r ∼ 5 AU) at which point the activity decreased again through 2013 June. We suggest that this outburst was driven by CO injecting large water ice grains into the coma. Observations as the comet came out of solar conjunction seem to confirm our models.« less

Effect of UV Radiation on the Spectral Fingerprints of Earth-like Planets Orbiting M Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rugheimer, S.; Kaltenegger, L.; Segura, A.; Linsky, J.; Mohanty, S.

2015-08-01

We model the atmospheres and spectra of Earth-like planets orbiting the entire grid of M dwarfs for active and inactive stellar models with Teff = 2300 K to Teff = 3800 K and for six observed MUSCLES M dwarfs with UV radiation data. We set the Earth-like planets at the 1 AU equivalent distance and show spectra from the visible to IR (0.4-20 μm) to compare detectability of features in different wavelength ranges with the James Webb Space Telescope and other future ground- and spaced-based missions to characterize exo-Earths. We focus on the effect of UV activity levels on detectable atmospheric features that indicate habitability on Earth, namely, H2O, O3, CH4, N2O, and CH3Cl. To observe signatures of life—O2/O3 in combination with reducing species like CH4—we find that early and active M dwarfs are the best targets of the M star grid for future telescopes. The O2 spectral feature at 0.76 μm is increasingly difficult to detect in reflected light of later M dwarfs owing to low stellar flux in that wavelength region. N2O, another biosignature detectable in the IR, builds up to observable concentrations in our planetary models around M dwarfs with low UV flux. CH3Cl could become detectable, depending on the depth of the overlapping N2O feature. We present a spectral database of Earth-like planets around cool stars for directly imaged planets as a framework for interpreting future light curves, direct imaging, and secondary eclipse measurements of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone to design and assess future telescope capabilities.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: 14 unusual IR transients with Spitzer (SPRITEs) (Kasliwal+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasliwal, M. M.; Bally, J.; Masci, F.; Cody, A. M.; Bond, H. E.; Jencson, J. E.; Tinyanont, S.; Cao, Yi; Contreras, C.; Dykhoff, D. A.; Amodeo, S.; Armus, L.; Boyer, M.; Cantiello, M.; Carlon, R. L.; Cass, A. C.; Cook, D.; Corgan, D. T.; Faella, J.; Fox, O. D.; Green, W.; Gehrz, R. D.; Helou, G.; Hsiao, E.; Johansson, J.; Khan, R. M.; Lau, R. M.; Langer, N.; Levesque, E.; Milne, P.; Mohamed, S.; Morrell, N.; Monson, A.; Moore, A.; Ofek, E. O.; O'Sullivan, D.; Parthasarathy, M.; Perez, A.; Perley, D. A.; Phillips, M.; Prince, T. A.; Shenoy, D.; Smith, N.; Surace, J.; van Dyk, S. D.; Whitelock, P. A.; Williams, R.

2017-11-01

The SPitzer InfraRed Intensive Transients Survey (SPIRITS) survey uses the IRAC instrument (FoV 5'x5') on board the warm Spitzer telescope to search for IR transients at 3.6um ([3.6]) and 4.5um ([4.5]). SPIRITS is a five-year survey from 2014 to 2018 (Kasliwal+ 2013sptz.prop10136K, 2016sptz.prop13053K). We are undertaking concomitant ground-based surveys to monitor the SPIRITS galaxy sample in the near-IR and the optical at roughly a monthly cadence. At the University of Minnesota's Mt. Lemmon Observing Facility (MLOF), we use the three-channel Two Micron All Sky Survey cameras mounted on the 1.52m IR telescope. At Las Campanas, we undertake near-IR monitoring with the Retrocam on Dupont 100 inch telescope and optical monitoring using the CCD on the Swope 40 inch telescope. At Palomar, we use the Samuel Oschin 48 inch (primarily gr-band) and Palomar 60 inch telescopes (gri-bands) for optical monitoring. Using the LCOGT network, we obtain additional optical monitoring in gri-bands. In addition, a follow-up of discovered transients was undertaken by a myriad of facilities including Keck, Magellan, Palomar 200 inch, SALT, and RATIR. Following non-detections from the ground, we were able to set even deeper magnitude limits for two transients based on a small HST Director's Discretionary program (GO/DD-13935, PI H. Bond). We imaged SPIRITS 14aje (in M101) and SPIRITS 14axa (in M81) with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in 2014 September. (5 data files).

Optical follow-up observation of AT2018cow/ATLAS18qqn

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Im, Myungshin; Lim, Gu; Seo, Jinguk; Paek, Gregory S.; Kim, Hwara; Kim, Joonho; Choi, Changsu; Sung, Hyun-Il

2018-06-01

At 2018-06-20 UT, we observed the transient, AT2018cow/ATLAS18qqn (Smartt et al. ATel #11727) using various telescopes including the SNU Astronomical Observatory (SAO) 1m telescope, the LOAO 1m telescope, the McDonald 0.8 m telescope, and the Lee Sang Gak Telescope (LSGT) at SSO. A series of BVRI and griz data were obtained.

Orion Nebula and Planetary Nebulae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dufour, Reginald J.

1998-01-01

This report summarizes the research performed at Rice University related to NASA-Ames University consortium grant NCC2-5199 during the two year period 1996 September 1 through 1998 August 31. The research program, titled Orion Nebula and Planetary Nebulae, involved the analysis of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imagery and spectroscopy of the Orion Nebula and of the planetary nebulae NGC 6818 and NGC 6210. In addition, we analyzed infrared spectra of the Orion Nebula taken with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) The primary collaborators at NASA-Ames were Drs. R. H. Rubin, A. G. C. M. Tielens, S. W. J. Colgan, and S. D. Lord (Tielens & Lord has since changed institutions). Other collaborators include Drs. P. G. Martin (CITA, Toronto), G. J. Ferland (U. KY), J. A. Baldwin (CTIO, Chile), J. J. Hester (ASU), D. K. Walter (SCSU), and P. Harrington (U. MD). In addition to the Principal Investigator, Professor Reginald J. Dufour of the Department of Space Physics & Astronomy, the research also involved two students, Mr. Matthew Browning and Mr. Brent Buckalew. Mr. Browning will be graduating from Rice in 1999 May with a B.A. degree in Physics and Mr. Buckalew continues as a graduate student in our department, having recently received a NASA GSRP research fellowship (sponsored by Ames). The collaboration was very productive, with two refereed papers already appearing in the literature, several others in preparation, numerous meeting presentations and two press releases. Some of our research accomplishments are highlighted below. Attached to the report are copies of the two major publications. Note that this research continues to date and related extensions of it recently has been awarded time with the HST for 1999-2000.

Optimization of 100-meter Green Bank Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strain, Douglas

1994-01-01

Candidate designs for NRAO's 100-m clear-aperture radio telescope were evaluated and optimized by JPL using JPL-developed structural optimization and analysis software. The weight of a non-optimum design was reduced from 9.4 million pounds to 9.2 million pounds. The half-pathlength error due to gravity deformations was reduced from 0.041-inch rms to 0.034-inch rms.

MS Massimino on aft flight deck during EVA 5

NASA Image and Video Library

2002-03-09

STS109-E-5761 (9 March 2002) --- Astronaut Michael J. Massimino, STS-109 mission specialist, looks through an overhead window on the aft flight deck of the Space Shuttle Columbia during the crew’s final interface with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The telescope was released at 4:04 a.m. (CST). The image was recorded with a digital still camera.

The 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Surdej, Jean; Hickson, Paul; Borra, Hermanno; Swings, Jean-Pierre; Habraken, Serge; Akhunov, Talat; Bartczak, Przemyslaw; Chand, Hum; De Becker, Michaël; Delchambre, Ludovic; Finet, François; Kumar, Brajesh; Pandey, Anil; Pospieszalska, Anna; Pradhan, Bikram; Sagar, Ram; Wertz, Olivier; De Cat, Peter; Denis, Stefan; de Ville, Jonathan; Jaiswar, Mukesh Kumar; Lampens, Patricia; Nanjappa, Nandish; Tortolani, Jean-Marc

2018-04-01

The 4-m International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) is presently (March-June 2017) being erected on the ARIES site in Devasthal (Uttarakhand). We describe and illustrate in the present paper its different components. The ILMT will be used in the Time Delayed Integration (TDI) mode to carry out a deep survey and high S/N photometric and astrometric observations of solar system, galactic and extra-galactic objects within a narrow (24') strip of sky. In principle, the ILMT should detect and regularly monitor more than 50 multiply imaged quasars. It will also detect numerous supernovae (see Kumar et al., these proceedings) as well as space debris (see Pradhan et al., also in these proceedings).

KOSMOS and COSMOS: new facility instruments for the NOAO 4-meter telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martini, Paul; Elias, J.; Points, S.; Sprayberry, D.; Derwent, Mark A.; Gonzalez, Raymond; Mason, J. A.; O'Brien, T. P.; Pappalardo, D. P.; Pogge, Richard W.; Stoll, R.; Zhelem, R.; Daly, Phil; Fitzpatrick, M.; George, J. R.; Hunten, M.; Marshall, R.; Poczulp, Gary; Rath, S.; Seaman, R.; Trueblood, M.; Zelaya, K.

2014-07-01

We describe the design, construction and measured performance of the Kitt Peak Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph (KOSMOS) for the 4-m Mayall telescope and the Cerro Tololo Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph (COSMOS) for the 4-m Blanco telescope. These nearly identical imaging spectrographs are modified versions of the OSMOS instrument; they provide a pair of new, high-efficiency instruments to the NOAO user community. KOSMOS and COSMOS may be used for imaging, long-slit, and multi-slit spectroscopy over a 100 square arcminute field of view with a pixel scale of 0.29 arcseconds. Each contains two VPH grisms that provide R~2500 with a one arcsecond slit and their wavelengths of peak diffraction efficiency are approximately 510nm and 750nm. Both may also be used with either a thin, blue-optimized CCD from e2v or a thick, fully depleted, red-optimized CCD from LBNL. These instruments were developed in response to the ReSTAR process. KOSMOS was commissioned in 2013B and COSMOS was commissioned in 2014A.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Spectroscopic and photometric properties of Tombaugh 1 (Sales+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sales Silva, J. V.; Carraro, G.; Anthony-Twarog, B. J.; Moni Bidin, C.; Costa, E.; Twarog, B. A.

2018-03-01

Photometry for Tombaugh 1 was secured in 2010 December during a five-night run using the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 1.0 m telescope operated by the SMARTS consortium (http://www.astro.yale.edu/smarts). The telescope is equipped with an STA 4064x4064 CCD camera (http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/Y4KCam/detector) with 15 μm pixels, yielding a scale of 0.289"/pixel and a field of view (FOV) of 20'x20' at the Cassegrain focus of the telescope. Over the night of 2010 January 5, we observed 10 potential cluster stars (nine clump stars and one Cepheid; see Section 4.1) with the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera & Spectrograph (IMACS; Dressler et al. 2006SPIE.6269E..0FD) attached to the Magellan telescope (6.5 m) located at Las Campanas, Chile. The spectra were obtained using the Multi-Object Echelle (MOE) mode with two exposures, one of 900 s and the other of 1200 s. Our spectra have a resolution of R~20000, while the spectral coverage depends on the location of the star on the multislit mask, but it generally goes from 4200 to 9100 Å. The detector consists of a mosaic with eight CCDs with gaps of about 0.93 mm between the CCDs, causing small gaps in stellar spectra. (7 data files).

Home | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), along with the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Tucson, Arizona. NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA

A Korean Space Situational Awareness Program : OWL Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, J.; Choi, Y.; Jo, J.; Moon, H.; Im, H.; Park, J.

2012-09-01

We are going to present a brief introduction to the OWL (Optical Wide-field patroL) network, one of Korean space situational awareness facilities. Primary objectives of the OWL network are 1) to obtain orbital information of Korean domestic LEOs using optical method, 2) to monitor GEO-belt over territory of Korea, and 3) to alleviate collisional risks posed to Korean satellites from space debris. For these purposes, we are planning to build a global network of telescopes which consists of five small wide-field telescopes and one 2m class telescope. The network of small telescopes will be dedicated mainly to the observation of domestic LEOs, but many slots will be open to other scientific programs such as GRB follow-up observations. Main targets of 2m telescope not only include artificial objects such as GEO debris and LEO debris with low inclination and high eccentricity, but also natural objects such as near Earth asteroids. We expect to monitor space objects down to 10cm in size in GEO using the 2m telescope system. Main research topics include size distribution and evolution of space debris. We also expect to utilize this facility for physical characterization and population study of near Earth asteroids. The aperture size of the small telescope system is 0.5m with Rechey-Cretian configuration and its field of view is 1.75 deg x 1.75 deg. It is equipped with 4K CCD with 9um pixel size, and its plate scale is 1.3 arcsec/pixel. A chopper wheel is employed to maximize astrometric solutions in a single CCD frame, and a de-rotator is used to compensate field rotation of the alt-az type mount. We have designed a compact end unit in which three rotating parts (chopper wheel, filter wheel, de-rotator) and a CCD camera are integrated, and dedicated telescope/site control boards for the OWL network. The design of 2m class telescope is still under discussion yet is expected to be fixed in the first half of 2013 at the latest. The OWL network will be operated in a fully autonomous mode based on scheduled observation. We have designed a compact and robust system for fully robotic operation. The network operating system located in the headquarter issues command files for observation which are transferred to each local site. After that, the site operating system interprets command files and controls each telescope system. In this way, we obtain and update orbital information of domestic satellites based on purely optical method. A prototype of the network telescope system will be installed at a test bed in Korea in commissioning phase. After the test operation, the design of the network telescope system will be finalized in the end of 2012. The installation of the telescope systems in 3 local sites will be completed in 2013, and the so-called "OWL basic network"" will start normal operations. In the first two years of the second stage of the OWL Project (2014-2015), we plan to place two small wide-field telescopes, and we build the 2m telescope system to complete the OWL network in the 2016.

A multispectral view of the periodic events in η Carinae†‡§¶

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damineli, A.; Hillier, D. J.; Corcoran, M. F.; Stahl, O.; Groh, J. H.; Arias, J.; Teodoro, M.; Morrell, N.; Gamen, R.; Gonzalez, F.; Leister, N. V.; Levato, H.; Levenhagen, R. S.; Grosso, M.; Colombo, J. F. Albacete; Wallerstein, G.

2008-06-01

A full description of the 5.5-yr low excitation events in η Carinae is presented. We show that they are not as simple and brief as previously thought, but a combination of two components. The first, the slow variation component, is revealed by slow changes in the ionization level of circumstellar matter across the whole cycle and is caused by gradual changes in the wind-wind collision shock-cone orientation, angular opening and gaseous content. The second, the collapse component, is restricted to around the minimum, and is due to a temporary global collapse of the wind-wind collision shock. High-energy photons (E > 16 eV) from the companion star are strongly shielded, leaving the Weigelt objects at low-ionization state for more than six months. High-energy phenomena are sensitive only to the collapse, low energy only to the slow variation and intermediate energies to both components. Simple eclipses and mechanisms effective only near periastron (e.g. shell ejection or accretion on to the secondary star) cannot account for the whole 5.5-yr cycle. We find anti-correlated changes in the intensity and the radial velocity of P Cygni absorption profiles in FeII λ6455 and HeI λ7065 lines, indicating that the former is associated to the primary and the latter to the secondary star. We present a set of light curves representative of the whole spectrum, useful for monitoring the next event (2009 January 11). Based partially on data collected at the OPD-LNA/MCT. Based partially on data collected at ESO telescopes. ‡ Based partially on data collected at Casleo Observatory. § Based partially on data collected at Magellan Telescopes. ¶ Based partially on data collected at CTIO. ∥ E-mail: damineli@astro.iag.usp.br

IYA Tabloid in Your Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harvey, Janice; Michaud, P.

2008-05-01

Gemini PIO would like to offer suggestions on how to approach your local newspaper with the possibility of a tabloid for your community being published during IYA 2009. Local government support, astronomer's articles, advertisers, and someone within your organization to manage the content will be discussed. We will explain the timeline required, number of personnel hours required, developmental stages and income your local newspaper would have to generate in order to produce a quality, table-top tabloid. In 2003 "Stars Over Mauna Kea", a special supplement/tabloid was produced and distributed in the local newspapers in Hilo, Hawaii with over 30,000 copies printed and distributed. The publication, 48 pages in total, featured profiles of observatories on Mauna Kea, stories about the geology and legends of Mauna Kea, and historical information about the evolution of astronomy in Hawaii. In addition the publication included a series of essays titled "In their own words". These were articles written by key members of the astronomy community. In 2005 60,000 copies of "Stars Over Mauna Kea II” were printed as a follow-up to the first edition. An article on `Imiloa Astronomy Education Center, explanations of what types of telescopes sit atop Mauna Kea, and columns written by scientists about the fascinating and significant discoveries being made were featured. Personal stories about careers in astronomy were highlighted. In Chile, a similar tabloid, 8 pages in length was published and 5,000 copies were distributed throughout the country. The 2005 tabloid featured Gemini, CTIO and SOAR telescopes. In 2009 Gemini PIO will again produce a tabloid for IYA. Potential NSF funding has been requested for a tabloid template for localization and adaptation for the IYA program promotion in local markets. This session will include an update on other Visitors/Science Centers, Observatories and Planetaria Working Group initiatives for the IYA.

MROI Array telescopes: the relocatable enclosure domes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchiori, G.; Busatta, A.; Payne, I.

2016-07-01

The MROI - Magdalena Ridge Interferometer is a project which comprises an array of up to 10 1.4m diameter mirror telescopes arranged in a "Y" configuration. Each of these telescopes will be housed inside a Unit Telescope Enclosure (UTE) which are relocatable onto any of 28 stations. EIE GROUP Srl, Venice - Italy, was awarded the contract for the design, the construction and the erection on site of the MROI by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The close-pack array of the MROI - including all 10 telescopes, several of which are at a relative distance of less than 8m center to center from each other - necessitated an original design for the Unit Telescope Enclosure (UTE). This innovative design enclosure incorporates a unique dome/observing aperture system to be able to operate in the harsh environmental conditions encountered at an altitude of 10,460ft (3,188m). The main characteristics of this Relocatable Enclosure Dome are: a Light insulated Steel Structure with a dome made of composites materials (e.g. glass/carbon fibers, sandwich panels etc.), an aperture motorized system for observation, a series of louvers for ventilation, a series of electrical and plants installations and relevant auxiliary equipment. The first Enclosure Dome is now under construction and the completion of the mounting on site id envisaged by the end of 2016. The relocation system utilizes a modified reachstacker (a transporter used to handle freight containers) capable of maneuvering between and around the enclosures, capable of lifting the combined weight of the enclosure with the telescope (30tons), with minimal impacts due to vibrations.

NGC 1624-2: a slowly rotating, X-ray luminous Of?cp star with an extraordinarily strong magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wade, G. A.; Maíz Apellániz, J.; Martins, F.; Petit, V.; Grunhut, J.; Walborn, N. R.; Barbá, R. H.; Gagné, M.; García-Melendo, E.; Jose, J.; Moffat, A. F. J.; Nazé, Y.; Neiner, C.; Pellerin, A.; Penadés Ordaz, M.; Shultz, M.; Simón-Díaz, S.; Sota, A.

2012-09-01

This paper presents a first observational investigation of the faint Of?p star NGC 1624-2, yielding important new constraints on its spectral and physical characteristics, rotation, magnetic field strength, X-ray emission and magnetospheric properties. Modelling the spectrum and spectral energy distribution, we conclude that NGC 1624-2 is a main-sequence star of mass M ≃ 30 M⊙, and infer an effective temperature of 35 ± 2 kK and log g = 4.0 ± 0.2. Based on an extensive time series of optical spectral observations we report significant variability of a large number of spectral lines, and infer a unique period of 157.99 ± 0.94 d which we interpret as the rotational period of the star. We report the detection of a very strong (5.35 ± 0.5 kG) longitudinal magnetic field , coupled with probable Zeeman splitting of the Stokes I profiles of metal lines confirming a surface field modulus of 14 ± 1 kG, consistent with a surface dipole of polar strength ≳20 kG. This is the largest magnetic field ever detected in an O-type star, and the first report of Zeeman splitting of Stokes I profiles in such an object. We also report the detection of reversed Stokes V profiles associated with weak, high-excitation emission lines of O III, which we propose may form in the close magnetosphere of the star. We analyse archival Chandra ACIS-I X-ray data, inferring a very hard spectrum with an X-ray efficiency of log Lx/Lbol = -6.4, a factor of 4 larger than the canonical value for O-type stars and comparable to that of the young magnetic O-type star θ1 Ori C and other Of?p stars. Finally, we examine the probable magnetospheric properties of the star, reporting in particular very strong magnetic confinement of the stellar wind, with η* ≃ 1.5 × 104, and a very large Alfvén radius, RAlf = 11.4 R*. Based on spectropolarimetric observations obtained at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) which is operated by the National Research Council of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of France, and the University of Hawaii, as well as on observations obtained using the Narval spectropolarimeter at the Observatoire du Pic du Midi (France), which is operated by the INSU. The spectroscopic data were gathered with five facilities: the 9.2-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory (MDO), the 3.5-m Telescope at Calar Alto Observatory (CAHA), the 1.5-m Telescope at the Observatorio de Sierra Nevada (OSN), the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) and the 2-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope at Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO).

Fermi LAT detection of a GeV flare from the BL Lac object Mrk 421

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Ammando, F.; Orienti, M.

2012-07-01

The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of the two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has observed gamma-ray flaring activity from a source positionally consistent with the BL Lac object Mrk 421 (also known as 2FGL J1104.4+3812, Nolan et al. 2012, ApJS, 199, 31; R.A.= 11h04m27.3139s, Dec.= +38d12m31.799s, J2000.0, Fey et al. 2004, AJ, 127, 3587) at redshift z=0.03 (De Vaucouleurs et al.

The New Instrument Suite of the TSU/Fairborn 2m Automatic Spectroscopic Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muterspaugh, Matthew W.; Maxwell, T.; Williamson, M. W.; Fekel, F. C.; Ge, J.; Kelly, J.; Ghasempour, A.; Powell, S.; Zhao, B.; Varosi, F.; Schofield, S.; Liu, J.; Warner, C.; Jakeman, H.; Avner, L.; Swihart, S.; Harrison, C.; Fishler, D.

2014-01-01

Tied with the Liverpool Telescope as the world's largest fully robotic optical research telescope, Tennessee State University's (TSU) 2m Automatic Spectroscopic Telescope (AST) has recently been upgraded to improve performance and increase versatility by supporting multiple instruments. Its second-generation instrument head enables us to rapidly switch between any of up to twelve fibers optics, each of which can supply light to a different instrument. In 2013 construction was completed on a new temperature-controlled guest instrument building, and two new high resolution spectrographs were commissioned. The current set of instrumentation includes (1) the telescope's original R=30,000 echelle spectrograph (0.38--0.83 microns simultaneous), (2) a single order R=7,000 spectrograph centered at Ca H&K features, (3) a single-mode-fiber fed miniature echelle spectrograph (R=100,000; 0.48--0.62 microns simultaneous), (4) the University of Florida's EXPERT-3 spectrograph (R=100,000; 0.38--0.9 microns simultaneous; vacuum and temperature controlled) and (5) the University of Florida's FIRST spectrograph (R=70,000$; 0.8--1.35 or 1.4--1.8 microns simultaneous; vacuum and temperature controlled). Future instruments include the Externally Dispersed Interferometry (EDI) Testbed, a combination low resolution dispersed spectrograph and Fourier Transform Spectrograph. We welcome inquiries from the community in regards to observing access and/or proposals for future guest instruments.

Design and analysis of an active optics system for a 4-m telescope mirror combining hydraulic and pneumatic supports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lousberg, Gregory P.; Moreau, Vincent; Schumacher, Jean-Marc; Piérard, Maxime; Somja, Aude; Gloesener, Pierre; Flebus, Carlo

2015-09-01

AMOS has developed a hybrid active optics system that combines hydraulic and pneumatic properties of actuators to support a 4-m primary mirror. The mirror is intended to be used in the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST, formerly the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope) that will be installed by the National Solar Observatory (NSO) atop the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. The mirror support design is driven by the needs of (1) minimizing the support-induced mirror distortions under telescope operating conditions, (2) shaping the mirror surface to the desired profile, and (3) providing a high stiffness against wind loads. In order to fulfill these requirements, AMOS proposes an innovative support design that consist of 118 axial actuators and 24 lateral actuators. The axial support is based on coupled hydraulic and pneumatic actuators. The hydraulic part is a passive system whose main function is to support the mirror weight with a high stiffness. The pneumatic part is actively controlled so as to compensate for low-order wavefront aberrations that are generated by the mirror support itself or by any other elements in the telescope optical chain. The performances of the support and its adequacy with the requirements are assessed with the help of a comprehensive analysis loop involving finite-element, thermal and optical modellings.

FISICA: The Florida Image Slicer for Infrared Astrophysics and Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raines, S. N.; Eikenberry, S. S.; Elston, R.; Guzman, R.; Gruel, N.; Julian, J.; Boreman, G.; Hoffman, J.; Rodgers, M.; Glenn, P.; Hull-Allen, G.; Myrick, B.; Flint, S.; Comstock, L.

2005-12-01

We report on the design, manufacture, and scientific performance of the Florida Image Slicer for Infrared Astrophysics and Cosmology (FISICA) - a fully cryogenic all-reflective image slicing integral field unit for the FLAMINGOS near-infrared spectrograph. Originally conceived as a bench-top demonstration proof-of-concept instrument, after three productive engineering runs at the KPNO 4-m telescope (as of 15 Oct 2005) we find that FISICA is capable of delivering excellent scientific results. It now operates as a 'turnkey' instrument at the KPNO 4-m telescope. FISICA is now open for community access as a visitor instrument on the KPNO 4-m telescope via collaboration with the instrument team, who can assist with the proposal preparation and observations, as well as provide the data reduction tools for integral field spectroscopy. We review the optical and opto-mechanical design, fabrication, laboratory test results, and on-telescope performance for FISICA. Designed to accept input beams near f/15, FISICA with FLAMINGOS slices a 16x33 arcsec field of view into 22 parallel elements using three sets of monolithic powered mirror arrays, each with 22 mirrored surfaces cut into a single piece of aluminum. However, slight vignetting for some field positions limits the effective field of view to 15x32 arcsec. The effective spatial sampling of 0.70 arcsec delivers 960 spatial resolution elements. Combined with the FLAMINGOS spectrograph, R 1300 spectroscopy over the 1-2.4 micron wavelength range is possible, in either the J+H combined bandpass or the H+K combined bandpass. FISICA was funded by the UCF-UF Space Research Initiative; FLAMINGOS was designed and was constructed by the IR Instrumentation Group (PI: R. Elston) at the University of Florida, Department of Astronomy, with support from NSF grant AST97-31180 and Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Secondary mirror system for the European Solar Telescope (EST)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavaller, L.; Siegel, B.; Prieto, G.; Hernandez, E.; Casalta, J. M.; Mercader, J.; Barriga, J.

2010-07-01

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a European collaborative project to build a 4m class solar telescope in the Canary Islands, which is now in its design study phase. The telescope will provide diffraction limited performance for several instruments observing simultaneously at the Coudé focus at different wavelengths. A multi-conjugated adaptive optics system composed of a tip-tilt mirror and several deformable mirrors will be integrated in the telescope optical path. The secondary mirror system is composed of the mirror itself (Ø800mm), the alignment drives and the cooling system needed to remove the solar heat load from the mirror. During the design study the feasibility to provide fast tip-tilt capabilities at the secondary mirror to work as the adaptive optics tip-tilt mirror is also being evaluated.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: 27 pulsating DA WDs follow-up observations (Hermes+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hermes, J. J.; Gansicke, B. T.; Kawaler, S. D.; Greiss, S.; Tremblay, P.-E.; Gentile Fusillo, N. P.; Raddi, R.; Fanale, S. M.; Bell, K. J.; Dennihy, E.; Fuchs, J. T.; Dunlap, B. H.; Clemens, J. C.; Montgomery, M. H.; Winget, D. E.; Chote, P.; Marsh, T. R.; Redfield, S.

2017-11-01

All observations analyzed here were collected by the Kepler spacecraft with short-cadence exposures from 2012 to 2016. Full details of the raw and processed Kepler and K2 observations are summarized in Table2. We complemented our space-based photometry of these 27 pulsating hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs (DAVs) by determining their atmospheric parameters based on model-atmosphere fits to follow-up spectroscopy obtained from two 4m class, ground-based facilities. Spectra taken with the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on the island of La Palma cover roughly 3800-5100Å at roughly 2.0Å resolution; spanning 2013 Jun 06 to 2014 Jul 25. Spectra taken with the 4.1m Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope on Cerro Pachon in Chile cover roughly 3600-5200Å; spanning 2014 Oct 13 to 2017 Apr 21. We detail these spectroscopic observations and their resultant fits in Table 3. (4 data files).

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: The Two-season ACTPol Sunyaev–Zel’dovich Effect Selected Cluster Catalog

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hilton, Matt; Hasselfield, Matthew; Sifón, Cristóbal; Battaglia, Nicholas; Aiola, Simone; Bharadwaj, V.; Bond, J. Richard; Choi, Steve K.; Crichton, Devin; Datta, Rahul; Devlin, Mark J.; Dunkley, Joanna; Dünner, Rolando; Gallardo, Patricio A.; Gralla, Megan; Hincks, Adam D.; Ho, Shuay-Pwu P.; Hubmayr, Johannes; Huffenberger, Kevin M.; Hughes, John P.; Koopman, Brian J.; Kosowsky, Arthur; Louis, Thibaut; Madhavacheril, Mathew S.; Marriage, Tobias A.; Maurin, Loïc; McMahon, Jeff; Miyatake, Hironao; Moodley, Kavilan; Næss, Sigurd; Nati, Federico; Newburgh, Laura; Niemack, Michael D.; Oguri, Masamune; Page, Lyman A.; Partridge, Bruce; Schmitt, Benjamin L.; Sievers, Jon; Spergel, David N.; Staggs, Suzanne T.; Trac, Hy; van Engelen, Alexander; Vavagiakis, Eve M.; Wollack, Edward J.

2018-03-01

We present a catalog of 182 galaxy clusters detected through the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) effect by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in a contiguous 987.5 deg2 field. The clusters were detected as SZ decrements by applying a matched filter to 148 GHz maps that combine the original ACT equatorial survey with data from the first two observing seasons using the ACTPol receiver. Optical/IR confirmation and redshift measurements come from a combination of large public surveys and our own follow-up observations. Where necessary, we measured photometric redshifts for clusters using a pipeline that achieves accuracy Δz/(1 + z) = 0.015 when tested on Sloan Digital Sky Survey data. Under the assumption that clusters can be described by the so-called universal pressure profile (UPP) and its associated mass scaling law, the full signal-to-noise ratio > 4 sample spans the mass range 1.6< {M}500{{c}}UPP}/{10}14 {M}ȯ < 9.1, with median {M}500{{c}}UPP}=3.1× {10}14 {M}ȯ . The sample covers the redshift range 0.1 < z < 1.4 (median z = 0.49), and 28 clusters are new discoveries (median z = 0.80). We compare our catalog with other overlapping cluster samples selected using the SZ, optical, and X-ray wavelengths. We find that the ratio of the UPP-based SZ mass to richness-based weak-lensing mass is < {M}500{{c}}UPP}> /< {M}500{{c}}λ {WL}> =0.68+/- 0.11. After applying this calibration, the mass distribution for clusters with M 500c > 4 × 1014 M ⊙ is consistent with the number of such clusters found in the South Pole Telescope SZ survey.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rugheimer, S.; Kaltenegger, L.; Segura, A.

We model the atmospheres and spectra of Earth-like planets orbiting the entire grid of M dwarfs for active and inactive stellar models with T{sub eff} = 2300 K to T{sub eff} = 3800 K and for six observed MUSCLES M dwarfs with UV radiation data. We set the Earth-like planets at the 1 AU equivalent distance and show spectra from the visible to IR (0.4–20 μm) to compare detectability of features in different wavelength ranges with the James Webb Space Telescope and other future ground- and spaced-based missions to characterize exo-Earths. We focus on the effect of UV activity levels onmore » detectable atmospheric features that indicate habitability on Earth, namely, H{sub 2}O, O{sub 3}, CH{sub 4}, N{sub 2}O, and CH{sub 3}Cl. To observe signatures of life—O{sub 2}/O{sub 3} in combination with reducing species like CH{sub 4}—we find that early and active M dwarfs are the best targets of the M star grid for future telescopes. The O{sub 2} spectral feature at 0.76 μm is increasingly difficult to detect in reflected light of later M dwarfs owing to low stellar flux in that wavelength region. N{sub 2}O, another biosignature detectable in the IR, builds up to observable concentrations in our planetary models around M dwarfs with low UV flux. CH{sub 3}Cl could become detectable, depending on the depth of the overlapping N{sub 2}O feature. We present a spectral database of Earth-like planets around cool stars for directly imaged planets as a framework for interpreting future light curves, direct imaging, and secondary eclipse measurements of the atmospheres of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone to design and assess future telescope capabilities.« less

Status of mirror segment production for the Giant Magellan Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, H. M.; Burge, J. H.; Davis, J. M.; Kim, D. W.; Kingsley, J. S.; Law, K.; Loeff, A.; Lutz, R. D.; Merrill, C.; Strittmatter, P. A.; Tuell, M. T.; Weinberger, S. N.; West, S. C.

2016-07-01

The Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab at the University of Arizona is responsible for production of the eight 8.4 m segments for the primary mirror of the Giant Magellan Telescope, including one spare off-axis segment. We report on the successful casting of Segment 4, the center segment. Prior to generating the optical surface of Segment 2, we carried out a major upgrade of our 8.4 m Large Optical Generator. The upgrade includes new hardware and software to improve accuracy, safety, reliability and ease of use. We are currently carrying out an upgrade of our 8.4 m polishing machine that includes improved orbital polishing capabilities. We added and modified several components of the optical tests during the manufacture of Segment 1, and we have continued to improve the systems in preparation for Segments 2-8. We completed two projects that were prior commitments before GMT Segment 2: casting and polishing the combined primary and tertiary mirrors for the LSST, and casting and generating a 6.5 m mirror for the Tokyo Atacama Observatory.

A primary mirror metrology system for the GMT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rakich, A.

2016-07-01

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT)1 is a 25 m "doubly segmented" telescope composed of seven 8.4 m "unit Gregorian telescopes", on a common mount. Each primary and secondary mirror segment will ideally lie on the geometrical surface of the corresponding rotationally symmetrical full aperture optical element. Therefore, each primary and conjugated secondary mirror segment will feed a common instrument interface, their focal planes co-aligned and cophased. First light with a subset of four unit telescopes is currently scheduled for 2022. The project is currently considering an important aspect of the assembly, integration and verification (AIV) phase of the project. This paper will discuss a dedicated system to directly characterize the on-sky performance of the M1 segments, independently of the M2 subsystem. A Primary Mirror Metrology System (PMS) is proposed. The main purpose of this system will be to he4lp determine the rotation axis of an instrument rotator (the Gregorian Instrument Rotator or GIR in this case) and then to characterize the deflections and deformations of the M1 segments with respect to this axis as a function of gravity and temperature. The metrology system will incorporate a small (180 mm diameter largest element) prime focus corrector (PFC) that simultaneously feeds a <60" square acquisition and guiding camera field, and a Shack Hartmann wavefront sensor. The PMS is seen as a significant factor in risk reduction during AIV; it allows an on-sky characterization of the primary mirror segments and cells, without the complications of other optical elements. The PMS enables a very useful alignment strategy that constrains each primary mirror segments' optical axes to follow the GIR axis to within a few arc seconds. An additional attractive feature of the incorporation of the PMS into the AIV plan, is that it allows first on-sky telescope operations to occur with a system of considerably less optical and control complexity than the final doubly segmented Gregorian telescope configuration. This paper first discusses the strategic rationale for a PMS. Next the system itself is described in some detail. Finally, some description of the various uses the PMS will be put to during AIV of the M1 segments and subsequent characterization will be described.

Kinematic structure of the 30 Doradus giant H II region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chu, You-Hua; Kennicutt, Robert C., Jr.

1994-01-01

We have used the echelle CCD spectrograph on the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) 4 m telescope to map the nebular velocity field in the 30 Doradus giant H II region. The kinematics of 30 Dor are very complex. The outer regions are charaterized by a smooth velocity field, but its turbulent velocity, 30-40 km/s Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM), is considerably higher than those in most smaller H II regions. In the central 9 min core, multiple velocity components are observed at most positions. The velocity field is dominated by a large number of expanding structures, ranging in size from 1 to 100 pc and expansion velocities of 20-200 km/s, and often organized into large hierarchical networks. The integral of these complex expanding structures in 30 Dor produces a surprisingly simple profile with a broad Gaussian core and faint extended wings. Several fast-expanding shells, with diameters of 2-20 pc, expansion velocities of 100-300 km/s, and kinetic energies of 0.5-10 x 10(exp 50) ergs have been identified. The large fast-expanding shells and networks are coincident with extended X-ray sources and are probably associated with supernova remnants embedded in supershells produced by the combined effects of stellar winds and supernovae from OB associations. We have used the intensity-calibrated echelle spectra to determine the basic physical and dynamical properties of the kinematic features in 30 Dor. The expanding shells contain roughly half of the kinetic energy in the 30 Dor complex, and this energy is several times higher than the gravitational binding energy of the region. The energetic requirements of the gas are consistent with the observed stellar content of 30 Dor, if the gas is accelerated by a combination of stellar winds and supernovae. Extrapolating the current energy injection rate in the nebula over the lifetime of the OB complex suggest that 30 Dor and its vicinity will evolve into a supergiant shell as seen in the LMC and other nearby galaxies.

Innovative enclosure dome/observing aperture system design for the MROI Array Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Busatta, A.; Marchiori, G.; Mian, S.; Payne, I.; Pozzobon, M.

2010-07-01

The close-pack array of the MROI necessitated an original design for the Unit Telescope Enclosure (UTE) at Magdalena Ridge Observatory. The Magdalena Ridge Observatory Interferometer (MROI) is a project which comprises an array of up to ten (10) 1.4m diameter mirror telescopes arranged in a "Y" configuration. Each of these telescopes will be housed inside a Unit Telescope Enclosure (UTE) which are relocatable onto any of 28 stations. The most compact configuration includes all ten telescopes, several of which are at a relative distance of less than 8m center to center from each other. Since the minimum angle of the field of regard is 30° with respect to the horizon, it is difficult to prevent optical blockage caused by adjacent UTEs in this compact array. This paper presents the design constraints inherent in meeting the requirement for the close-pack array. An innovative design enclosure was created which incorporates an unique dome/observing aperture system. The description of this system focuses on how the field of regard requirement led to an unique and highly innovative concept that had to be able to operate in the harsh environmental conditions encountered at an altitude of 10,460ft (3,188m). Finally, we describe the wide use of composites materials and structures (e.g. glass/carbon fibres, sandwich panels etc.) on the aperture system which represents the only way to guarantee adequate thermal and environmental protection, compactness, structural stability and limited power consumption due to reduced mass.

NASA's Orbital Debris Optical and IR Ground-based Observing Program: Utilizing the MCAT, UKIRT, and Magellan Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lederer, S.; Cowardin, H.; Buckalew, B.; Frith, J.; Hickson, P.; Pace, L.; Matney, M.; Anz-Meador, P.; Seitzer, P.; Stansbery, E.; Glesne, T.

2016-09-01

Characterizing debris in Earth-orbit has become increasingly important as the growing population of debris poses greater threats to active satellites each year. Currently, the Joint Space Operations is tracking > 23,000 objects ranging in size from 1-meter and larger in Geosychronous orbits (GEO) to 10-cm and larger at low-Earth orbits (LEO). Model estimates suggest that there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of spacecraft debris larger than 10 cm currently in orbit around the Earth. With such a small fraction of the total population being tracked, and new break-ups occurring from LEO to GEO, new assets, techniques, and approaches for characterizing this debris are needed. With this in mind, NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office has actively tasked a suite of telescopes around the world. In 2015, the newly-built 1.3m optical Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) came on-line on Ascension Island and is now being commissioned. MCAT is designed to track Earth-orbiting objects above 200km, conduct surveys at GEO, and work with a co-located Raven-class commercial-off-the-shelf system, a 0.4m telescope with a field-of-view similar to MCAT's and research-grade instrumentation designed to complement MCAT. The 3.8m infrared UKIRT telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii has been heavily tasked to collect data on individual targets and in survey modes to study both the general GEO population and a break-up event. Data collected include photometry and spectroscopy in the near-Infrared (0.85 - 2.5μm) and the mid-infrared (8-16μm). Finally, the 6.5-m Baade Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile was used to collect optical photometric survey data in October 2015 of two GEO Titan transtage breakups, focusing on locations of possible debris concentrations as indicated by the NASA standard break-up model.

A 2017 stellar occultation by Orcus/Vanth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sickafoose, Amanda A.; Bosh, Amanda S.; Levine, Stephen; Zuluaga, Carlos A.; Genade, Anja; Schindler, Karsten; Lister, Tim; Person, Michael J.

2017-10-01

(90482) Orcus is a large trans-Neptunian object (TNO) of diameter ~900 km, located in the 3:2 orbital resonance with Neptune. This plutino has a satellite, Vanth, approximately 280 km in diameter. Vanth orbits roughly 9000 km from Orcus in a ~9.5-day period. This system is particularly interesting, as Orcus falls between the small, spectrally-bland TNOs and the large TNOs having spectra rich in volatile features, while Vanth might have resulted from either collision or capture.A stellar occultation by Orcus was predicted to occur on 07 March 2017. Observations were made from five sites: the 0.6-m Astronomical Telescope of the University of Stuttgart (ATUS) at Sierra Remote Observatories (SRO), California; Las Cumbres Observatory’s 1-m telescope (ELP) at McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis, Texas; NASA’s 3-m InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; the 4.1-m Southern Astrophysical Research telescope (SOAR) on Cerro Pachón, Chile; and the 0.6-m Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy telescope (SARA-CT) at Cerro Tololo, Chile. High-speed, visible-wavelength images were taken at all sites, in addition to simultaneous K-band images at the IRTF. A solid-body occultation was observed at both ELP and the IRTF. Offset midtimes and incompatible light ratios suggest that two different stars were occulted by two different bodies, likely Orcus and Vanth. See Bosh et al. this conference for details of the astrometry for the event. Here, we present results from the observations, including light curves, size and albedo estimates, and upper limits on a possible atmosphere.

The ASTRI SST-2M prototype for the Cherenkov Telescope Array: prototype technologies goals and strategies for the future SST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchiori, Gianpietro; Busatta, Andrea; Giacomel, Stefano; Folla, Ivan; Valsecchi, Marco; Canestrari, Rodolfo; Bonnoli, Giacomo; Cascone, Enrico; Conconi, Paolo; Fiorini, Mauro; Giro, Enrico; La Palombara, Nicola; Pareschi, Giovanni; Perri, Luca; Rodeghiero, Gabriele; Sironi, Giorgia; Stringhetti, Luca; Toso, Giorgio; Tosti, Gino; Pellicciari, Carlo

2014-07-01

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will represent the next generation of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope. Using a combination of large-, medium-, and small-scale telescopes (LST, MST, SST, respectively), it will explore the Very High Energy domain from a few tens of GeVup to about few hundreds of TeV with unprecedented sensitivity, angular resolution and imaging quality. In this framework, the Italian ASTRI program, led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) developed a 4-meter class telescope, which will adopt an aplanatic, wide-field, double-reflection optical layout in a Schwarzschild- Couder configuration. Within this program INAF assigned to the consortium between Galbiati Group and EIE Group the construction, assembly and tests activities of the prototype named ASTRI SST-2M. On the basis of the lesson learnt from the prototype, other telescopes will be produced, starting from a re-design phase, in order to optimize performances and the overall costs and production schedule for the CTA-SST telescope. This paper will firstly give an overview of the concept for the SST prototype mount structure. In this contest, the technologies adopted for the design, manufacturing and tests of the entire system will be presented. Moreover, a specific focus on the challenges of the prototype and the strategies associated with it will be provided, in order to outline the near future performance goals for this type of Cherenkov telescopes employed for Gamma ray science.

Preliminary design study of the TMT Telescope structure system: overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Usuda, Tomonori; Ezaki, Yutaka; Kawaguchi, Noboru; Nagae, Kazuhiro; Kato, Atsushi; Takaki, Junji; Hirano, Masaki; Hattori, Tomoya; Tabata, Masaki; Horiuchi, Yasushi; Saruta, Yusuke; Sofuku, Satoru; Itoh, Noboru; Oshima, Takeharu; Takanezawa, Takashi; Endo, Makoto; Inatani, Junji; Iye, Masanori; Sadjadpour, Amir; Sirota, Mark; Roberts, Scott; Stepp, Larry

2014-07-01

We present an overview of the preliminary design of the Telescope Structure System (STR) of Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). NAOJ was given responsibility for the TMT STR in early 2012 and engaged Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) to take over the preliminary design work. MELCO performed a comprehensive preliminary design study in 2012 and 2013 and the design successfully passed its Preliminary Design Review (PDR) in November 2013 and April 2014. Design optimizations were pursued to better meet the design requirements and improvements were made in the designs of many of the telescope subsystems as follows: 1. 6-legged Top End configuration to support secondary mirror (M2) in order to reduce deformation of the Top End and to keep the same 4% blockage of the full aperture as the previous STR design. 2. "Double Lower Tube" of the elevation (EL) structure to reduce the required stroke of the primary mirror (M1) actuators to compensate the primary mirror cell (M1 Cell) deformation caused during the EL angle change in accordance with the requirements. 3. M1 Segment Handling System (SHS) to be able to make removing and installing 10 Mirror Segment Assemblies per day safely and with ease over M1 area where access of personnel is extremely difficult. This requires semi-automatic sequence operation and a robotic Segment Lifting Fixture (SLF) designed based on the Compliance Control System, developed for controlling industrial robots, with a mechanism to enable precise control within the six degrees of freedom of position control. 4. CO2 snow cleaning system to clean M1 every few weeks that is similar to the mechanical system that has been used at Subaru Telescope. 5. Seismic isolation and restraint systems with respect to safety; the maximum acceleration allowed for M1, M2, tertiary mirror (M3), LGSF, and science instruments in 1,000 year return period earthquakes are defined in the requirements. The Seismic requirements apply to any EL angle, regardless of the operational status of Hydro Static Bearing (HSB) system and stow lock pins. In order to find a practical solution, design optimization study for seismic risk mitigation was carried out extensively, including the performing of dynamic response analyses of the STR system under the time dependent acceleration profile of seven major earthquakes. The work is now moving to the final design phase from April 2014 for two years.

Telescope array for extrasolar planet detection from the far side of the Moon.

PubMed

Galan, Maximilian; Strojnik, Marija; Garcia-Torales, Guillermo; Kirk, Maureen S

2016-12-01

We propose that an array of 4×4 small-diameter telescopes, possibly 1 m in radius, be placed on the far side of the Moon for continuous monitoring of nearby stars for the existence of a planetary companion, similar to the Earth, and feasible for human colonization. The advantages of this location include long intervals of darkness, availability of a rigid platform in the form of a moon body, and most importantly, the absence of the atmosphere that allows the complete transmission of radiation in the spectral range from UV to millimeter waves. The task is facilitated in that the telescopes would act as light "buckets" to collect photons during long integration periods. All other technology has already been demonstrated, as humans in person delivered optical elements to the Moon's surface during the Apollo era. The disadvantages are primarily operational, in terms of requiring the establishment of a human habitat on the Moon. Likewise, all aspects of constructing a large 75 m by 75 m mirror array on the Moon's surface will be challenging. Simultaneously, the decreased gravity requires less effort and less energy to perform the construction tasks. The absence of atmosphere permits the search to extend from less than 10 to 300 μm to find Earth-like or even much colder planets.

Control of active reflector system for radio telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Guo-hua; Li, Guo-ping; Zhang, Yong; Zhang, Zhen-chao

2016-10-01

According to the control requirements of the active reflector surface in the 110 m radio telescope at QiTai(QTT) Xinjiang, a new displacement actuator and a new displacement control system were designed and manufactured and then their characteristics were tested by a dual-frequency laser interferometer in the micro-displacement laboratory. The displacement actuator was designed by a scheme of high precision worm and roller screw structures, and the displacement control system was based on a ARM micro-processor. Finally, the S curve acceleration control methods were used to design the hardware platform and software algorithm for the active reflection surface of the control system. The test experiments were performed based on the laser metrology system on an active reflector close-loop antenna prototype for large radio telescope. Experimental results indicate that it achieves a 30 mm working stroke and 5 μm RMS motion resolution. The accuracy (standard deviation) is 3.67 mm, and the error between the determined and theoretical values is 0.04% when the rated load is 300 kg, the step is 2 mm and the stroke is 30mm. Furthermore, the active reflector integrated system was tested by the laser sensors with the accuracy of 0.25 μm RMS on 4-panel radio telescope prototype, the measurement results show that the integrated precision of the active reflector closed-loop control system is less than 5 μm RMS, and well satisfies the technical requirements of active reflector control system of the QTT radio telescope in 3 mm wavelength.

A Hubble Space Telescope Survey for Novae in M87. I. Light and Color Curves, Spatial Distributions, and the Nova Rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shara, Michael M.; Doyle, Trisha F.; Lauer, Tod R.; Zurek, David; Neill, J. D.; Madrid, Juan P.; Mikołajewska, Joanna; Welch, D. L.; Baltz, Edward A.

2016-11-01

The Hubble Space Telescope has imaged the central part of M87 over a 10 week span, leading to the discovery of 32 classical novae (CNe) and nine fainter, likely very slow, and/or symbiotic novae. In this first paper of a series, we present the M87 nova finder charts, and the light and color curves of the novae. We demonstrate that the rise and decline times, and the colors of M87 novae are uncorrelated with each other and with position in the galaxy. The spatial distribution of the M87 novae follows the light of the galaxy, suggesting that novae accreted by M87 during cannibalistic episodes are well-mixed. Conservatively using only the 32 brightest CNe we derive a nova rate for M87: {363}-45+33 novae yr‑1. We also derive the luminosity-specific classical nova rate for this galaxy, which is {7.88}-2.6+2.3 {yr}}-1/{10}10 {L}ȯ {,}K. Both rates are 3–4 times higher than those reported for M87 in the past, and similarly higher than those reported for all other galaxies. We suggest that most previous ground-based surveys for novae in external galaxies, including M87, miss most faint, fast novae, and almost all slow novae near the centers of galaxies. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

The afocal telescope of the ESA ARIEL mission: analysis of the layout

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Da Deppo, Vania; Middleton, Kevin; Focardi, Mauro; Morgante, Gianluca; Corso, Alain Jody; Pace, Emanuele; Claudi, Riccardo; Micela, Giuseppina

2017-09-01

ARIEL (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey) is one of the three present candidates as an M4 ESA mission to be launched in 2026. During its foreseen 3.5 years operation, it will observe spectroscopically in the infrared a large population of known transiting planets in the neighborhood of the Solar System. The aim is to enable a deep understanding of the physics and chemistry of these exoplanets. ARIEL is based on a 1-m class telescope ahead of a suite of instruments: two spectrometer channels covering the band 1.95 to 7.8 μm and four photometric channels (two wide and two narrow band) in the range 0.5 to 1.9 μm. The ARIEL optical design is conceived as a fore-module common afocal telescope that will feed the spectrometer and photometric channels. The telescope optical design is based on an eccentric pupil two-mirror classic Cassegrain configuration coupled to a tertiary paraboloidal mirror. The temperature of the primary mirror (M1) will be monitored and finely tuned by means of an active thermal control system based on thermistors and heaters. They will be switched on and off to maintain the M1 temperature within ±1 K thanks to a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller implemented within the Telescope Control Unit (TCU), a Payload electronics subsystem mainly in charge of the active thermal control of the two detectors owning to the spectrometer. TCU will collect the housekeeping data of the controlled subsystems and will forward them to the spacecraft (S/C) by means of the Instrument Control Unit (ICU), the main Payload's electronic Unit linked to the S/C On Board Computer (OBC).

COSMOS | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Publications | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Instruments | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

News | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Astronomers | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

CCD Photometry of Cometary Nuclei, I: Observations from 1990-1995

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Licandro, Javier; Tancredi, Gonzalo; Lindgren, Mats; Rickman, Hans; Hutton, Ricardo Gil

2000-09-01

CCD photometry of 18 Jupiter family comets, observed at medium and large heliocentric distances, was carried out between April 1990 and July 1995. This is part of a long-term observational program designed to obtain their nuclear magnitudes. The observations were made with the 1.54-m Danish Telescope at ESO La Silla, the 2.5-m Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) at Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma), the 2.0-m telescope at Pic du Midi, and the 2.15-m telescope at CASLEO, Argentina. Our estimates of the absolute nuclear magnitudes are discussed in comparison with previous determinations. Estimates (sometimes upper limits) for the effective radius ( R) of the nuclei are computed considering a typical geometric albedo pv=0.04. The lowest radius found is the one of 37P/Forbes ( R=1.0 km) while the largest corresponds to 65P/Gunn ( R=11.0 km), but in this case the comet was observed very active. Wherever possible, cometary image profiles are compared with stellar profiles, in order to determine the existence of a faint coma. Seven of the comets were active, six of them at heliocentric distances larger than 4 AU. This unexpected activity is also discussed. We find a strong correlation between activity at large heliocentric distances and recent downward jumps in perihelion distance.

Quasi-simultaneous observations of BL Lac object Mrk 501 in X-ray, UV, visible, IR, and radio frequencies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kondo, Y.; Worrall, D. M.; Oke, J. B.; Yee, H. K. C.; Neugebauer, G.; Matthews, K.; Feldman, P. A.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Hackney, R. L.; Hackney, K. R. H.

1981-01-01

Observations in the X-ray, UV, visible, IR and radio regions of the BL Lac object Mrk 501 made over the course of two months are reported. The measurements were made with the A2 experiment on HEAO 1 (X-ray), the SWP and LWR cameras on IUE (UV), the 5-m Hale telescope (visible), the 2.5-m telescope at Mount Wilson (IR), the NRAO 92-m radio telescope at Green Bank (4750 MHz) and the 46-m radio telescope at the Algonquin Observatory (10275 and 10650 MHz). The quasi-simultaneously observed spectral slope is found to be positive and continuous from the X-ray to the UV, but to gradually flatten and possibly turn down from the mid-UV to the visible; the optical-radio emission cannot be accounted for by a single power law. The total spectrum is shown to be compatible with a synchrotron self-Compton emission mechanism, while the spectrum from the visible to the X-ray is consistent with synchrotron radiation or inverse-Compton scattering by a hot thermal electron cloud. The continuity of the spectrum from the UV to the X-ray is noted to imply a total luminosity greater than previous estimates by a factor of 3-4.

Evaluation of the basic propertied of the novel 1.5 in. size PMTs from Hamamatsu Photonics and Electron Tubes Enterprises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toyama, T.; Hanabata, Y.; Hose, J.; Menzel, U.; Mirzoyan, R.; Nakajima, D.; Takahashi, M.; Teshima, M.; Yamamoto, T.

2015-07-01

Currently the standard light sensors for Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes are the classical photo multiplier tubes that are using bialkali photocathodes. About 8 years ago we initiated an improvement program with the Photo Multiplier Tube manufacturers Hamamatsu in Japan, Electron Tubes Enterprises in England and Photonis in France for the needs of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. As a result, after about 40 years of "stagnation" of the peak Quantum Efficiency on the level of 25-27%, new PMTs appeared with a peak QE of 35%. These have got the name "super-bialkali". The second significant upgrade has happened very recently, as a result of a dedicated improvement program for the candidate PMT for Cherenkov Telescope Array. The latter is going to be the next generation major instrument in the field of very high energy gamma astrophysics and will consist of over 100 telescopes of three different sizes of 23 m, 12 m and 4-7 m. Now PMTs with average peak Quantum Efficiency of approximately 40% became available. Also, the photo electron collection efficiency of the previous generation PMTs of 80-90% has been enhanced towards 95-98% for the new ones. The after-pulsing of novel PMTs has been reduced towards the level of 0.02% for the set threshold of 4 photo electrons. Hamamatsu produced the PMT R-12992-100 as the final version for Cherenkov Telescope Array project. Electron Tubes produced the latest PMT D569/3SA as intermediate version and will produce the final version in 2015. We will report on the PMT development work by the companies Electron Tubes Enterprises and Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., show the achieved results and the current status.

Mid-IR Imaging of Orion BN/KL: Modeling of Physical Conditions and Energy Balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gezari, Daniel; Varosi, Frank; Dwek, Eli; Danchi, William; Tan, Jonathan; Okumura, Shin-Ichiro

We have modeled two mid-infrared imaging photometry data sets to determine the spatial distribution of physical conditions in the BN/KL infrared complex. We observed the BN/KL region using the 10-m Keck I telescope and the LWS in the direct imaging mode, over a 13'' × 19'' field (Figure 1, left). We also modeled images obtained with COMICS (Kataza et al. 2000) at the 8.2-m SUBARU telescope, over a total field of view is 31'' × 41'' (Figure 1, right), in a total of nine bands: 7.8, 8.8, 9.7, 10.5, 11.7, 12.4, 18.5, 20.8 and 24.8 μm with ~1 μm bandwidth interference filters.

The Javalambre Survey Telescope (JST/T250): a multi-filter surveying machine for the Northern hemisphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cenarro, Javier; Marin-Franch, Antonio; Moles, Mariano; Cristobal-Hornillos, David; Dupke, Renato a.; Benitez, Txitxo; Taylor, Keith

2015-08-01

The Javalambre Survey Telescope (JST/T250) is a 2.55m Richey-Chretien, alt-azimuthal telescope with a field of view of diameter 3 deg and an effective etendue of 26.5 m2deg2 operated by the Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón (CEFCA) at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ). JST/T250 is particularly conceived and defined for carrying out large sky multi-filter surveys, like J-PAS (http://j-pas.org), which will be the main survey to be conducted during the first years of operation. To guarantee a seeing limited image quality all over the ~0.5m diameter focal plane, JST/T250 hosts state-of-the-arte optics, including complex hyperbolic M1 and M2 mirrors and a challenging field corrector of three lenses with 4 aspherical surfaces and high slopes. The optical configuration ends up with the powered entrance window of JPCam, the panoramic camera for J-PAS, with ~1200Mpix in a mosaic of 14 large format CCDs of 9.2k x 9.2k, and a set of 56 narrow-band, contiguous, optical filters. In this poster we present a detailed view of the telescope configuration, its optical performance and the expected operation for the J-PAS survey execution.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Time minima of EP Aur (Li+, 2015)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, H.-L.; Wei, J.-Y.; Yang, Y.-G.; Li, K.; Zhang, X.-B.

2015-07-01

From 2003 December to 2014 January, the photometry of EP Aur was performed by using the 60-cm telescope and the 85-cm telescope at the Xinglong station (XLs) of National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC), and the 1.0-m telescope at the Weihai Observatory (WHO) of Shandong University. The three telescopes were equipped with standard Johnson-Cousins UBVRcIc systems. All observed images were reduced by using the IMREDIMRED and APPHOTAPPHOT packages in IRAF in a standard fashion. The multi-color photometry of EP Aur was carried out on 2013 December 1, 2, 3, and 5, 2009 January 3, 4 and 5 using the 60-cm telescope at XLs. TYC 2420-434-1 and TYC 2420-193-1 were taken as the comparison and check stars respectively. (2 data files).

Error budgets for the Exoplanet Starshade (Exo-S) probe-class mission study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaklan, Stuart B.; Marchen, Luis; Cady, Eric; Ames, William; Lisman, P. Douglas; Martin, Stefan R.; Thomson, Mark; Regehr, Martin

2015-09-01

Exo-S is a probe-class mission study that includes the Dedicated mission, a 30 m starshade co-launched with a 1.1 m commercial telescope in an Earth-leading deep-space orbit, and the Rendezvous mission, a 34 m starshade intended to work with a 2.4 m telescope in an Earth-Sun L2 orbit. A third design, referred to as the Rendezvous Earth Finder mission, is based on a 40 m starshade and is currently under study. This paper presents error budgets for the detection of Earth-like planets with each of these missions. The budgets include manufacture and deployment tolerances, the allowed thermal fluctuations and dynamic motions, formation flying alignment requirements, surface and edge reflectivity requirements, and the allowed transmission due to micrometeoroid damage.

NOAO-S EPO Programs | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

La Serena. Some examples are the National School Astronomy Congress and the International Amateur Astronomy Congress in 2009, each with the participation of 200 students, teaches and general public. Intern

SMARTS Consortium | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

New Projects | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Optical Engineering | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Astronomer's Tools | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Multimedia Gallery | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Press Release | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Astro Chile | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Optical Spectrographs | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Seminar Journalist | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Employment Opportunities | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Program PIA Program GO-FAAR Program Other Opportunities Tourism Visits to Tololo Astro tourism in Chile Tourism in Chile Information for travelers Visit Tololo Media Relations News Press Release Publications

Large fully retractable telescope enclosures still closable in strong wind

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bettonvil, Felix C. M.; Hammerschlag, Robert H.; Jägers, Aswin P. L.; Sliepen, Guus

2008-07-01

Two prototypes of fully retractable enclosures with diameters of 7 and 9 m have been built for the high-resolution solar telescopes DOT (Dutch Open Telescope) and GREGOR, both located at the Canary Islands. These enclosures protect the instruments for bad weather and are fully open when the telescopes are in operation. The telescopes and enclosures also operate in hard wind. The prototypes are based on tensioned membrane between movable but stiff bows, which fold together to a ring when opened. The height of the ring is small. The prototypes already survived several storms, with often snow and ice, without any damage, including hurricane Delta with wind speeds up to 68 m/s. The enclosures can still be closed and opened with wind speeds of 20 m/s without any problems or restrictions. The DOT successfully demonstrated the open, wind-flushing concept for astronomical telescopes. It is now widely recognized that also large future telescopes benefit from wind-flushing and retractable enclosures. These telescopes require enclosures with diameters of 30 m until roughly 100 m, the largest sizes for the ELTs (Extreme Large Telescopes), which will be built in the near future. We discuss developments and required technology for the realization of these large sizes.

Remote access and operation of telescopes by the scientific users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edwards, P. G.; Amy, S.; Brodrick, D.; Carretti, E.; Hoyle, S.; Indermuehle, B.; McConnell, D.; Mader, S.; Mirtschin, P.; Preisig, B.; Smith, M.; Stevens, J.; Wark, R.; Wieringa, M.; Wu, X.

2014-08-01

The Australia Telescope National Facility operates three radio telescopes: the Parkes 64m Telescope, the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), and the Mopra 22m Telescope. Scientific operation of all these is conducted by members of the investigating teams rather than by professional operators. All three can now be accessed and controlled from any location served by the internet, the telescopes themselves being unattended for part or all of the time. Here we describe the rationale, advantages, and means of implementing this operational model.

High-fidelity cryothermal test of a subscale large space telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DiPirro, M.; Tuttle, J.; Ollendorf, S.; Mattern, A.; Leisawitz, D.; Jackson, M.; Francis, J.; Hait, T.; Cleveland, P.; Muheim, D.; Mastropietro, A. J.

2007-09-01

To take advantage of the unique environment of space and optimize infrared observations for faint sources, space telescopes must be cooled to low temperatures. The new paradigm in cooling large space telescopes is to use a combination of passive radiative cooling and mechanical cryocoolers. The passive system must shield the telescope from the Sun, Earth, and the warm spacecraft components while providing radiative cooling to deep space. This shield system is larger than the telescope itself, and must attenuate the incoming energy by over one million to limit heat input to the telescope. Testing of such a system on the ground is a daunting task due to the size of the thermal/vacuum chamber required and the degree of thermal isolation necessary between the room temperature and cryogenic parts of the shield. These problems have been attacked in two ways: by designing a subscale version of a larger sunshield and by carefully closing out radiation sneak paths. The 18% scale (the largest diameter shield was 1.5 m) version of the SPIRIT Origins Probe telescope shield was tested in a low cost helium shroud within a 3.1 m diameter x 4.6 m long LN II shrouded vacuum chamber. Thermal straps connected from three shield stages to the liquid helium cooled shroud were instrumented with heaters and thermometers to simulate mechanical cryocooler stages at 6 K, 18-20 K, and 45-51 K. Performance data showed that less than 10 microwatts of radiative heat leaked from the warm to cold sides of the shields during the test. The excellent agreement between the data and the thermal models is discussed along with shroud construction techniques.

High-resolution maps of H2 regions at far-infrared wavelengths. [balloon-borne cassegrain telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fazio, G. G.; Kleinmann, D. E.; Noyes, R. W.; Wright, E. L.; Zeilik, M., II; Low, F. J.

1974-01-01

The first successful flight of a balloon-borne 1-m telescope for far-infrared (40 micron) astronomy occurred on 4 February 1974 (UT), from Palestine, Texas. During 6 h at float altitude, the gyrostabilized telescope mapped the intensity of far-infrared radiation from the H 2 regions Ori A and W3 with a resolution of 1 prime. Partial maps of these regions were made with a resolution of 0.5 prime. These sources were resolved into several components, some of which were previously unknown. Observations of Mars were used for calibration.

First Light from the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope At Lowell Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, Jeffrey C.; Levine, S.

2013-01-01

Seven years after groundbreaking on July 12, 2005, the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) is now complete and into commissioning. We obtained first light images in mid 2012 with a 4K x 4K CCD and have recently obtained our first images with the DCT's main camera, the 6K x 6K Large Monolithic Imager (LMI, see adjacent poster by Massey). We held a celebratory gala on July 21, 2012, in Flagstaff. The DCT's delivered image quality is regularly subarcsecond with near-uniform image quality across the FOV from zenith to >2 airmasses, although we have not fully commissioned the active optics system. We attribute this to the outstanding quality of the mirror figures, performed by the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences (for M1) and L3 Brashear (for M2). The instrument cube at the RC focus can accommodate four instruments plus the LMI. Designed and built at Lowell Observatory, the cube also contains the DCT's autoguider and wavefront sensor. First light instruments include the 4000 DeVeny spectrograph (the former KPNO White Spectrograph), a low-resolution, high-throughput IR spectrograph, and a higher-resolution IR spectrograph/imager being built by Goddard Space Flight Center in collaboration with the University of Maryland. We are seeking funding for long-slit and fiber-fed echelle spectrographs for higher resolution optical spectroscopy. The DCT can also be configured to host Nasmyth and prime focus instruments. Discovery Communications and its founder John Hendricks contributed $16M to the $53M cost of the telescope, in return for naming rights and first rights to public, educational use of images in their programming. Analysis of data and publication by astronomers in professional journals follows the same procedure as for any other major telescope facility. Discovery's first DCT feature, "Scanning the Skies," aired on September 9, 2012. Future outreach plans include initiating webcasts to classrooms via the Discovery Education networks, reaching 30-40M schoolchildren across the USA. The DCT partner consortium includes Boston University (in perpetuity), the University of Maryland, and the University of Toledo, all of whom have ongoing, long term access to the facility.

Atmospheric dispersion corrector for the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Ding-Qiang; Jia, Peng; Liu, Genrong

2012-02-01

The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) is the largest, wide field-of-view (FOV) telescope (with an aperture of 4 m), and it is equipped with the highest number (4000) of optical fibres in the world. For the LAMOST North and the LAMOST South, the FOVs are 5° and 3.5°, respectively, and the linear diameters are 1.75 m and 1.22 m, respectively. A new type of atmospheric dispersion corrector (ADC) is put forward and designed for LAMOST. It is a segmented lens, which consists of many lens-prism strips. Although it is very large, its thickness is only 12 mm. Thus, the difficulty of obtaining a large optical glass is avoided, and the aberration caused by the ADC is small. By moving this segmented lens along the optical axis, different dispersions can be obtained. We discuss the effects of ADC's slits on the diffraction energy distribution and on the obstruction of light. We calculate and discuss the aberration caused by the ADC. All these results are acceptable. Such an ADC could also be used for other optical fibre spectroscopic telescopes, especially those which a have very large FOV.

Inauguration and first light of the GCT-M prototype for the Cherenkov telescope array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Watson, J. J.; De Franco, A.; Abchiche, A.; Allan, D.; Amans, J.-P.; Armstrong, T. P.; Balzer, A.; Berge, D.; Boisson, C.; Bousquet, J.-J.; Brown, A. M.; Bryan, M.; Buchholtz, G.; Chadwick, P. M.; Costantini, H.; Cotter, G.; Daniel, M. K.; De Frondat, F.; Dournaux, J.-L.; Dumas, D.; Ernenwein, J.-P.; Fasola, G.; Funk, S.; Gironnet, J.; Graham, J. A.; Greenshaw, T.; Hervet, O.; Hidaka, N.; Hinton, J. A.; Huet, J.-M.; Jegouzo, I.; Jogler, T.; Kraus, M.; Lapington, J. S.; Laporte, P.; Lefaucheur, J.; Markoff, S.; Melse, T.; Mohrmann, L.; Molyneux, P.; Nolan, S. J.; Okumura, A.; Osborne, J. P.; Parsons, R. D.; Rosen, S.; Ross, D.; Rowell, G.; Rulten, C. B.; Sato, Y.; Sayède, F.; Schmoll, J.; Schoorlemmer, H.; Servillat, M.; Sol, H.; Stamatescu, V.; Stephan, M.; Stuik, R.; Sykes, J.; Tajima, H.; Thornhill, J.; Tibaldo, L.; Trichard, C.; Vink, J.; White, R.; Yamane, N.; Zech, A.; Zink, A.; Zorn, J.; CTA Consortium

2017-01-01

The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) is a candidate for the Small Size Telescopes (SSTs) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Its purpose is to extend the sensitivity of CTA to gamma-ray energies reaching 300 TeV. Its dual-mirror optical design and curved focal plane enables the use of a compact camera of 0.4 m diameter, while achieving a field of view of above 8 degrees. Through the use of the digitising TARGET ASICs, the Cherenkov flash is sampled once per nanosecond contin-uously and then digitised when triggering conditions are met within the analogue outputs of the photosensors. Entire waveforms (typically covering 96 ns) for all 2048 pixels are then stored for analysis, allowing for a broad spectrum of investigations to be performed on the data. Two prototypes of the GCT camera are under development, with differing photosensors: Multi-Anode Photomultipliers (MAPMs) and Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). During November 2015, the GCT MAPM (GCT-M) prototype camera was integrated onto the GCT structure at the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, where it observed the first Cherenkov light detected by a prototype instrument for CTA.

The Atmospheric Monitoring Strategy for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniel, M. K.; CTA Consortium

2015-04-01

The Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique (IACT) is unusual in astronomy as the atmosphere actually forms an intrinsic part of the detector system, with telescopes indirectly detecting very high energy particles by the generation and transport of Cherenkov photons deep within the atmosphere. This means that accurate measurement, characterisation and monitoring of the atmosphere is at the very heart of successfully operating an IACT system. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation IACT observatory with an ambitious aim to improve the sensitivity of an order of magnitude over current facilities, along with corresponding improvements in angular and energy resolution and extended energy coverage, through an array of Large (23 m), Medium (12 m) and Small (4 m) sized telescopes spread over an area of order ~km2. Whole sky coverage will be achieved by operating at two sites: one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere. This proceedings will cover the characterisation of the candidate sites and the atmospheric calibration strategy. CTA will utilise a suite of instrumentation and analysis techniques for atmospheric modelling and monitoring regarding pointing forecasts, intelligent pointing selection for the observatory operations and for offline data correction.

New robotic telescopes by Halfmann-Teleskoptechnik GmbH and Tuparev Technologies Inc.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bischoff, Karsten; Hessman, Frederic V.; Tuparev, Georg; Atanasova, Ekatarina; Pessev, Peter

2008-07-01

We will present aspects of the installation, commissioning, software development, and early operation of several new robotic telescopes: 1) the 1.2-m MONET/South telescope at Sutherland/ZA, the second Halfmann telescope for the MONET telescope network (the other telescope has been in operation at McDonald Observatory in Texas since early 2006); 2) a siderostat for a 0.5-m vacuum tower telescope for the new physics building of the Georg-August-Universitat Göttingen and 3) new developments for smaller (down to 0.5m) aperture telescopes. Special emphasis will be given to drive technology: using torque motors we adjust maximum slewing speeds of 10°/sec as standard. Although sufficient for most projects we are investigating even faster slewing speeds.

MULTI-WAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS OF COMET C/2011 L4 (PAN-STARRS)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Bin; Keane, Jacqueline; Meech, Karen

2014-04-01

The dynamically new comet C/2011 L4 (Pan-STARRS) is one of the brightest comets observed since the great comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp). Here, we present our multi-wavelength observations of C/2011 L4 during its in-bound passage to the inner solar system. A strong absorption band of water ice at 2.0 μm was detected in the near-infrared spectra, obtained with the 8 m Gemini-North and 3 m Infrared Telescope Facility Telescopes. The companion 1.5 μm band of water ice, however, was not observed. Spectral modeling shows that the absence of the 1.5 μm feature can be explained by the presence of sub-micron-sized fine ice grains.more » No gas lines (i.e., CN, HCN, or CO) were observed pre-perihelion in either the optical or the submillimeter. We derived 3σ upper limits for the CN and CO production rates. The comet exhibited a very strong continuum in the optical and its slope seemed to become redder as the comet approached the Sun. Our observations suggest that C/2011 L4 is an unusually dust-rich comet with a dust-to-gas mass ratio >4.« less

VizieR Online Data Catalog: New NSVS 14256825 eclipse times (Nasiroglu+, 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasiroglu, I.; Gozdziewski, K.; Slowikowska, A.; Krzeszowski, K.; Zejmo, M.; Zola, S.; Er, H.; Ogloza, W.; Drozdz, M.; Koziel-Wierzbowska, D.; Debski, B.; Karaman, N.

2018-05-01

In this study, we present 83 new mid-eclipse times of NSVS 14256825 obtained between 2009 August 21 and 2016 November 03 that together with the literature data give 153 eclipses over the time span of 17 years. We combined our new data with the previously published measurements to analyze the orbital period variations of this system. We performed photometric observations of NSVS 14256825 with five different telescopes: the 1.3 m telescope at the Skinakas Observatory (SKO, Creete, Greece), the 0.5 m telescope at the Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University (KRK, Krakow, Poland), the 0.6 m telescope at the Mt. Suhora Observatory (SUH, Koninki, Poland), the 0.6 m telescope at the Adiyaman University Observatory (ADYU60, Adiyaman, Turkey), and the 1 m telescope at the TUBITAK National Observatory (TUG, Antalya, Turkey). (3 data files).

Asteroid observations with NCSFCT AZT-8 telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kozhukhov, O. M.; Maigurova, N. V.

2017-02-01

The asteroid observations of the small Solar System bodies were carried out with the AZT-8 telescope (D = 0.7 m, f/4) of the National Center of Space Facilities Control and Testing (NCSFCT) during 2010-2013. The telescope is located near Yevpatoria, the observatory code according IAU is B17. The observational program included perturbed main belt asteroids and NEO's for the GAIA FUN-SSO Company. The MPC database contains more than 4500 asteroids positions and magnitudes obtained during this period at AZT-8 telescope. The article presents analysis of the positional accuracy of B17 observations obtained from the comparison with the JPL HORIZONS ephemeris, and data from AstD-yS-2 and NEODyS-2 web services.