279 research outputs found
SAOLIM, a prototype of a low cost System for Adaptive Optics with Lucky Imaging
A prototype of a low cost Adaptive Optics (AO) system has been developed at
the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (CSIC) and tested at the 2.2m
telescope of the Calar Alto observatory. We present here the status of the
project, which includes the image stabilization system and compensation of high
order wavefront aberrations with a membrane deformable mirror. The image
stabilization system consists of magnet driven tip-tilt mirror. The higher
order compensation system comprises of a Shack-Hartmann sensor, a membrane
deformable mirror with 39 actuators and the control computer that allows
operations up to 420Hz in closed loop mode. We have successfully closed the
high order AO loop on natural guide stars. An improvement of 4 times in terms
of FWHM was achieved. The description and the results obtained on the sky are
presented in this paper.Comment: Accepted for publishing in PASP, 11 pages, 14 figures, 6 table
An All Sky Transmission Monitor: ASTMON
We present here the All Sky Transmission MONitor (ASTMON), designed to
perform a continuous monitoring of the surface brightness of the complete
night-sky in several bands. The data acquired are used to derive, in addition,
a subsequent map of the multiband atmospheric extinction at any location in the
sky, and a map of the cloud coverage. The instrument has been manufactured to
afford extreme weather conditions, and remain operative. Designed to be fully
robotic, it is ideal to be installed outdoors, as a permanent monitoring
station. The preliminary results based on two of the currently operative units
(at Do\~nana National Park - Huelva- and at the Calar Alto Observatory -
Almer\'ia -, in Spain), are presented here. The parameters derived using ASTMON
are in good agreement with previously reported ones, what illustrates the
validity of the design and the accuracy of the manufacturing. The information
provided by this instrument will be presented in forthcoming articles, once we
have accumulated a statistically amount of data.Comment: 12 Figures, Accepted for publishing in PAS
CAFE: Calar Alto Fiber-fed Echelle spectrograph
We present here CAFE, the Calar Alto Fiber-fed Echelle spectrograph, a new
instrument built at the Centro Astronomico Hispano Alem\'an (CAHA). CAFE is a
single fiber, high-resolution (70000) spectrograph, covering the
wavelength range between 3650-9800\AA. It was built on the basis of the common
design for Echelle spectrographs. Its main aim is to measure radial velocities
of stellar objects up to 13-14 mag with a precision as good as a few
tens of . To achieve this goal the design was simplified at maximum,
removing all possible movable components, the central wavelength is fixed, so
the wavelentgth coverage; no filter wheel, one slit and so on, with a
particular care taken in the thermal and mechanical stability. The instrument
is fully operational and publically accessible at the 2.2m telescope of the
Calar Alto Observatory.
In this article we describe (i) the design, summarizing its manufacturing
phase; (ii) characterize the main properties of the instrument; (iii) describe
the reduction pipeline; and (iv) show the results from the first light and
commissioning runs. The preliminar results indicate that the instrument fulfill
the specifications and it can achieve the foreseen goals. In particular, they
show that the instrument is more efficient than anticipated, reaching a
20 for a stellar object as faint as 14.5 mag in 2700s
integration time. The instrument is a wonderful machine for exoplanetary
research (by studying large samples of possible systems cotaining massive
planets), galactic dynamics (high precise radial velocities in moving groups or
stellar associations) or astrochemistry.Comment: 12 pages, 23 figures; Acepted for publishing in A&A, 201
Temporal stimulated intersubband emission of photoexcited electrons
We have studied the transient evolution of electrons distributed over two
levels in a wide quantum well, with the two levels below the optical phonon
energy, after an ultrafast interband excitation and cascade emission of optical
phonons. If electrons are distributed near the top of the passive region, a
temporal negative absorption appears to be dominant in the intersubband
response. This is due to the effective broadening of the upper level state
under the optical phonon emission. We have then considered the amplification of
the ground mode in a THz waveguide with a multiquantum well placed at the
center of the cavity. A huge increase of the probe signal is obtained, which
permits the temporal stimulated emission regime of the photoexcited electrons
in the THz spectral region.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, brief repor
The night-sky at the Calar Alto Observatory
We present a characterization of the main properties of the night-sky at the
Calar Alto observatory for the time period between 2004 and 2007. We use
optical spectrophotometric data, photometric calibrated images taken in
moonless observing periods, together with the observing conditions regularly
monitored at the observatory, such as atmospheric extinction and seeing. We
derive, for the first time, the typical moonless night-sky optical spectrum for
the observatory. The spectrum shows a strong contamination by different
pollution lines, in particular from Mercury lines, which contribution to the
sky-brightness in the different bands is of the order of ~0.09 mag, ~0.16 mag
and ~0.10 mag in B, V and R respectively. The zenith-corrected values of the
moonless night-sky surface brightness are 22.39, 22.86, 22.01, 21.36 and 19.25
mag arcsec^-2 in U, B, V, R and I, which indicates that Calar Alto is a
particularly dark site for optical observations up to the I-band. The fraction
of astronomical useful nights at the observatory is ~70%, with a ~30% of
photometric nights. The typical extinction at the observatory is k_V~0.15 mag
in the Winter season, with little dispersion. In summer the extinction has a
wider range of values, although it does not reach the extreme peaks observed at
other sites. The median seeing for the last two years (2005-6) was ~0.90",
being smaller in the Summer (~0.87") than in the Winter (~0.96"). We conclude
in general that after 26 years of operations Calar Alto is still a good
astronomical site, being a natural candidate for future large aperture optical
telescopes.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publishing in the Publications of
Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP
Transient quantum evolution of 2D electrons under photoexcitation of a deep center
We have considered the ballistic propagation of the 2D electron Wigner
distribution, which is excited by an ultrashort optical pulse from a
short-range impurity into the first quantized subband of a selectively-doped
heterostructure with high mobility. Transient ionization of a deep local state
into a continuum conduction c-band state is described. Since the quantum nature
of the photoexcitation, the Wigner distribution over 2D plane appears to be an
alternating-sign function. Due to a negative contribution to the Wigner
function, the mean values (concentration, energy, and flow) demonstrate an
oscillating transient evolution in contrast to the diffusive classical regime
of propagation.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, pape
No variations in transit times for Qatar-1 b
The transiting hot Jupiter planet Qatar-1 b was presented to exhibit
variations in transit times that could be of perturbative nature. A hot Jupiter
with a planetary companion on a nearby orbit would constitute an unprecedented
planetary configuration, important for theories of formation and evolution of
planetary systems. We performed a photometric follow-up campaign to confirm or
refute transit timing variations. We extend the baseline of transit
observations by acquiring 18 new transit light curves acquired with 0.6-2.0 m
telescopes. These photometric time series, together with data available in the
literature, were analyzed in a homogenous way to derive reliable transit
parameters and their uncertainties. We show that the dataset of transit times
is consistent with a linear ephemeris leaving no hint for any periodic
variations with a range of 1 min. We find no compelling evidence for the
existence of a close-in planetary companion to Qatar-1 b. This finding is in
line with a paradigm that hot Jupiters are not components of compact
multi-planetary systems. Based on dynamical simulations, we place tighter
constraints on a mass of any fictitious nearby planet in the system.
Furthermore, new transit light curves allowed us to redetermine system
parameters with the precision better than that reported in previous studies.
Our values generally agree with previous determinations.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
The night-sky at the Calar Alto Observatory II: The sky at the near infrared
We present here the characterization of the night sky-brightness at the
near-infrared, the telescope seeing, and the fraction of useful time at the
Calar Alto observatory. For this study we have collected a large dataset
comprising 7311 near-infrared images taken regularly along the last four years
for the ALHAMBRA survey (J, H and Ks-bands), together with a more reduced
dataset of additional near-infrared images taken for the current study. In
addition we collected the information derived by the meteorological station at
the observatory during the last 10 years, together with the results from the
cloud sensor for the last ~2 years. We analyze the dependency of the
near-infrared night sky-brightness with the airmass and the seasons, studying
its origins and proposing a zenithal correction. A strong correlation is found
between the night sky-brightness in the Ks-band and the air temperature, with a
gradient of ~ -0.08 mag per 1 C degree. The typical (darkest) night
sky-brightness in the J, H and Ks-band are 15.95 mag (16.95 mag), 13.99 mag
(14.98 mag) and 12.39 mag (13.55 mag), respectively. These values show that
Calar Alto is as dark in the near-infrared as most of the other astronomical
astronomical sites in the world that we could compare with. Only Mauna Kea is
clearly darker in the Ks-band. The typical telescope seeing at the 3.5m is
~1.0" when converted to the V-band, being only slightly larger than the
atmospheric seeing measured at the same time by the seeing monitor, ~0.9".
Finally we estimate the fraction of useful time based on the relative humidity,
gust wind speed and presence of clouds. This fraction, ~72%, is very similar to
the one derived in Paper I, based on the fraction of time when the extinction
monitor is working.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted to be published in PAS
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