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GravityCam : wide-field, high-resolution imaging and high-speed photometry instrument

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Mackay_2016_GravityCam_ProcSPIE_99083L.pdf (1.070Mb)
Date
19/08/2016
Author
Mackay, Craig
Dominik, Martin
Steele, Iain
Keywords
Asteroseismology
CMOS detectors
EMCCDs
Exoplanet detection
Gravitational microlensing
Kuiper belt
Weak shear
QB Astronomy
QC Physics
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Condensed Matter Physics
Computer Science Applications
Applied Mathematics
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
NDAS
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Abstract
The limits to the angular resolution achievable with conventional ground-based telescopes are unchanged over 70 years. Atmospheric turbulence limits image quality to typically ∼1 arcsec in practice. We have developed a new concept of ground-based imaging instrument called GravityCam capable of delivering significantly sharper images from the ground than is normally possible without adaptive optics. The acquisition of visible images at high speed without significant noise penalty has been made possible by advances in optical and near IR imaging technologies. Images are recorded at high speed and then aligned before combination and can yield a 3-5 fold improvement in image resolution. Very wide survey fields are possible with widefield telescope optics. We describe GravityCam and detail its application to accelerate greatly the rate of detection of Earth size planets by gravitational microlensing. GravityCam will also improve substantially the quality of weak shear studies of dark matter distribution in distant clusters of galaxies. The microlensing survey will also provide a vast dataset for asteroseismology studies. In addition, GravityCam promises to generate a unique data set that will help us understand of the population of the Kuiper belt and possibly the Oort cloud.
Citation
Mackay , C , Dominik , M & Steele , I 2016 , GravityCam : wide-field, high-resolution imaging and high-speed photometry instrument . in C J Evans , L Simard & H Takami (eds) , Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI . , 99083L , Proceedings of SPIE , vol. 9908 , SPIE , Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI , Edinburgh , United Kingdom , 26/06/16 . https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2230901
 
conference
 
Publication
Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2230901
ISSN
0277-786X
Type
Conference item
Rights
© 2016, SPIE. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org / https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2230901
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/10267

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