37 research outputs found
Millimetric ground-based observations of CMB anisotropy
Resultados del experimento Bartol-IAC sobre medidas de la anisotropía en el Fondo Cósmico de Microondas. Estas observaciones se realizaron en los meses de Junio y Julio de 1994 en el Observatorio del Teide. Se observó la región del cielo a delta=+40 grados en cuatro bandas a lamda=3,3; 2,1; 1,3 y 1,1 mm. En la tesis e han desarrollado técnicas sofisticadas de eliminación del ruido atmosférico mostrando por primera vez la posibilidad de observar en estas longitudes de onda con experimentos desde la superficie terrestre. Se analizó estadísticamente la región observada a alta latitud galáctica mostrando la existencia de una señal astronómica en una escala angular correspondiente a l=53. Estos resultados son compatibles con los de otros experimentos en similares escalas angulares y con lo que se espera de los modelos de materia oscura frí
Speckle nulling wavefront control for Palomar and Keck
We present a speckle nulling code currently being used for high contrast imaging at the Palomar and Keck telescopes. The code can operate in open and closed loop and is self-calibrating, requiring no system model and minimal hand-coded parameters. Written in a modular fashion, it is straightforward to port to different instruments. It has been used with systems operating in the optical through thermal infrared, and can deliver nearly an order of magnitude improvement in raw contrast. We will be releasing this code to the public in the near future
Laboratory and telescope demonstration of the TP3-WFS for the adaptive optics segment of AOLI
AOLI (Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager) is a state-of-art instrument that combines adaptive optics (AO) and lucky imaging (LI) with the objective of obtaining diffraction limited images in visible wavelength at mid- and big-size ground-based telescopes. The key innovation of AOLI is the development and use of the new TP3-WFS (Two Pupil Plane PositionsWavefront Sensor). The TP3-WFS, working in visible band, represents an advance over classical wavefront sensors such as the Shack-Hartmann WFS (SH-WFS) because it can theoretically use fainter natural reference stars, which would ultimately provide better sky coverages to AO instruments using this newer sensor. This paper describes the software, algorithms and procedures that enabled AOLI to become the first astronomical instrument performing real-time adaptive optics corrections
in a telescope with this new type of WFS, including the first control-related
results at the William Herschel Telescope (WHT)This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy under the projects AYA2011-29024, ESP2014-56869-C2-2-P, ESP2015-69020-C2-2-R and DPI2015-66458-C2-2-R, by project 15345/PI/10 from the Fundación Séneca, by the Spanish Ministry of Education under the grant FPU12/05573, by project ST/K002368/1 from the Science and Technology Facilities Council and by ERDF funds from the European Commission. The results presented in this paper are based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. Special thanks go to Lara Monteagudo and Marcos Pellejero for their timely contributions
Three years of harvest with the vector vortex coronagraph in the thermal infrared
For several years, we have been developing vortex phase masks based on
sub-wavelength gratings, known as Annular Groove Phase Masks. Etched onto
diamond substrates, these AGPMs are currently designed to be used in the
thermal infrared (ranging from 3 to 13 {\mu}m). Our AGPMs were first installed
on VLT/NACO and VLT/VISIR in 2012, followed by LBT/LMIRCam in 2013 and
Keck/NIRC2 in 2015. In this paper, we review the development, commissioning,
on-sky performance, and early scientific results of these new coronagraphic
modes and report on the lessons learned. We conclude with perspectives for
future developments and applications.Comment: To appear in SPIE proceedings vol. 990
AOLI-- Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager: Diffraction Limited Imaging in the Visible on Large Ground-Based Telescopes
The highest resolution images ever taken in the visible were obtained by
combining Lucky Imaging and low order adaptive optics. This paper describes a
new instrument to be deployed on the WHT 4.2m and GTC 10.4 m telescopes on La
Palma, with particular emphasis on the optical design and the expected system
performance. A new design of low order wavefront sensor using photon counting
CCD detectors and multi-plane curvature wavefront sensor will allow
dramatically fainter reference stars to be used, allowing virtually full sky
coverage with a natural guide star. This paper also describes a significant
improvements in the efficiency of Lucky Imaging, important advances in
wavefront reconstruction with curvature sensors and the results of simulations
and sensitivity limits. With a 2 x 2 array of 1024 x 1024 photon counting
EMCCDs, AOLI is likely to be the first of the new class of high sensitivity,
near diffraction limited imaging systems giving higher resolution in the
visible from the ground than hitherto been possible from space.Comment: SPIE vol 8446, 201
The AOLI low-order non-linear curvature wavefront sensor: a method for high sensitivity wavefront reconstruction
The Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager (AOLI) is a new instrument under development
to demonstrate near diffraction limited imaging in the visible on large
ground-based telescopes. We present the adaptive optics system being designed
for the instrument comprising a large stroke deformable mirror, fixed component
non-linear curvature wavefront sensor and photon-counting EMCCD detectors. We
describe the optical design of the wavefront sensor where two photoncounting
CCDs provide a total of four reference images. Simulations of the optical
characteristics of the system are discussed, with their relevance to low and
high order AO systems. The development and optimisation of high-speed wavefront
reconstruction algorithms are presented. Finally we discuss the results of
simulations to demonstrate the sensitivity of the system.Comment: 10 pages. To be published in Proc SPIE 8447: Adaptive Optics Systems
II
A near-infrared tip-tilt sensor for the Keck I laser guide star adaptive optics system
The sky coverage and performance of laser guide star (LGS) adaptive optics (AO) systems is limited by the natural guide star (NGS) used for low order correction. This limitation can be dramatically reduced by measuring the tip and tilt of the NGS in the near-infrared where the NGS is partially corrected by the LGS AO system and where stars are generally several magnitudes brighter than at visible wavelengths. We present the design of a near-infrared tip-tilt sensor that has recently been integrated with the Keck I telescope’s LGS AO system along with some initial on-sky results. The implementation involved modifications to the AO bench, real-time control system, and higher level controls and operations software that will also be discussed. The tip-tilt sensor is a H2RG-based near-infrared camera with 0.05 arc second pixels. Low noise at high sample rates is achieved by only reading a small region of interest, from 2×2 to 16×16 pixels, centered on an NGS anywhere in the 100 arc second diameter field. The sensor operates at either Ks or H-band using light reflected by a choice of dichroic beamsplitters located in front of the OSIRIS integral field spectrograph
A Cautionary Tale: MARVELS Brown Dwarf Candidate Reveals Itself To Be A Very Long Period, Highly Eccentric Spectroscopic Stellar Binary
We report the discovery of a highly eccentric, double-lined spectroscopic
binary star system (TYC 3010-1494-1), comprising two solar-type stars that we
had initially identified as a single star with a brown dwarf companion. At the
moderate resolving power of the MARVELS spectrograph and the spectrographs used
for subsequent radial-velocity (RV) measurements (R ~ <30,000), this particular
stellar binary mimics a single-lined binary with an RV signal that would be
induced by a brown dwarf companion (Msin(i)~50 M_Jup) to a solar-type primary.
At least three properties of this system allow it to masquerade as a single
star with a very low-mass companion: its large eccentricity (e~0.8), its
relatively long period (P~238 days), and the approximately perpendicular
orientation of the semi-major axis with respect to the line of sight (omega~189
degrees). As a result of these properties, for ~95% of the orbit the two sets
of stellar spectral lines are completely blended, and the RV measurements based
on centroiding on the apparently single-lined spectrum is very well fit by an
orbit solution indicative of a brown dwarf companion on a more circular orbit
(e~0.3). Only during the ~5% of the orbit near periastron passage does the
true, double-lined nature and large RV amplitude of ~15 km/s reveal itself. The
discovery of this binary system is an important lesson for RV surveys searching
for substellar companions; at a given resolution and observing cadence, a
survey will be susceptible to these kinds of astrophysical false positives for
a range of orbital parameters. Finally, for surveys like MARVELS that lack the
resolution for a useful line bisector analysis, it is imperative to monitor the
peak of the cross-correlation function for suspicious changes in width or
shape, so that such false positives can be flagged during the candidate vetting
process.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 6 table