25 research outputs found
Methods for evaluating the performance of volume phase holographic gratings for the VIRUS spectrograph array
The Visible Integral Field Replicable Unit Spectrograph (VIRUS) is an array
of at least 150 copies of a simple, fiber-fed integral field spectrograph that
will be deployed on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) to carry out the HET Dark
Energy Experiment (HETDEX). Each spectrograph contains a volume phase
holographic grating as its dispersing element that is used in first order for
350 nm to 550 nm. We discuss the test methods used to evaluate the performance
of the prototype gratings, which have aided in modifying the fabrication
prescription for achieving the specified batch diffraction efficiency required
for HETDEX. In particular, we discuss tests in which we measure the diffraction
efficiency at the nominal grating angle of incidence in VIRUS for all orders
accessible to our test bench that are allowed by the grating equation. For
select gratings, these tests have allowed us to account for > 90% of the
incident light for wavelengths within the spectral coverage of VIRUS. The
remaining light that is unaccounted for is likely being diffracted into
reflective orders or being absorbed or scattered within the grating layer (for
bluer wavelengths especially, the latter term may dominate the others).
Finally, we discuss an apparatus that will be used to quickly verify the first
order diffraction efficiency specification for the batch of at least 150 VIRUS
production gratings.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures. To be published in Proc. SPIE, 2012,
"Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IV", 8446-20
Characterization and calibration of the James Webb space telescope mirror actuators fine stage motion
The James Webb Space Telescope’s (Webb’s) deployable primary and secondary mirrors are actively controlled to achieve and maintain precise optical alignment on-orbit. Each of the 18 primary mirror segment assemblies (PMSAs) and the secondary mirror assembly (SMA) are controlled in six degrees of freedom by using six linear actuators in a hexapod arrangement. In addition, each PMSA contains a seventh actuator that adjusts radius of curvature (RoC). The actuators are of a novel stepper motor-based cryogenic two-stage design that is capable of sub-10 nm motion accuracy over a 20 mm range. The nm-level motion of the 132 actuators were carefully tested and characterized before integration into the mirror assemblies. Using these test results as an initial condition, knowledge of each actuator’s length (and therefore mirror position) has relied on software bookkeeping and configuration control to keep an accurate motor step count from which actuator position can be calculated. These operations have been carefully performed through years of Webb test operations using both ground support actuator control software as well as the flight Mirror Control Software (MCS). While the actuator’s coarse stage length is cross-checked using a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT), no on-board cross-check exists for the nm-level length changes of the actuators’ fine stage. To ensure that the software bookkeeping of motor step count is still accurate after years of testing and to test that the actuator position knowledge was properly handed off from the ground software to the flight MCS, a series of optical tests were devised and performed through the Center of Curvature (CoC) ambient optical test campaigns at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and during the thermal-vacuum tests of the entire optical payload that were conducted in Chamber A at Johnson Space Center (JSC). In each test, the actuator Fine Step Count (FSC) value is compared to an external measurement provided by an optical metrology tool with the goal of either confirming the MCS database value, or providing a recommendation for an updated calibration if the measured FSC differs significantly from the MCS-based expectation. During ambient testing of the PMSA hexapods, the nm-level actuator length changes were measured with a custom laser deflectometer by measuring tilts of the PMSA. The PMSA RoC fine stage characterization was performed at JSC using multi-wave interferometric measurements with the CoC Optical Assembly (COCOA). Finally, the SMA hexapod fine stage characterization test was performed at JSC using the NIRCam instrument in the “pass-and-a-half” test configuration using a test source from the Aft-Optics System Source Plate Assembly (ASPA). In this paper, each of these three tests, subsequent data analyses, and uncertainty estimations will be presented. Additionally, a summary of the ensemble state of Webb’s actuator fine stages is provided, along with a comparison to a Wavefront Sensing and Control (WFSC)-based requirement for FSC errors as they relate to the optical alignment convergence of the telescope on-orbit
A Petal of the Sunflower: Photometry of the Stellar Tidal Stream in the Halo of Messier 63 (NGC 5055)
We present surface photometry of a very faint, giant arc feature in the halo
of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 5055 (M63) that is consistent with being a part
of a stellar stream resulting from the disruption of a dwarf satellite galaxy.
This faint feature was first detected in early photographic studies by van der
Kruit (1979); more recently by Mart\'inez-Delgado et al. (2010) and as
presented in this work, the loop has been realized to be the result of a recent
minor merger through evidence obtained by deep images taken with a telescope of
only 0.16 m aperture. The stellar stream is confirmed in additional images
taken with the 0.5 m of the BlackBird Remote Observatory and the 0.8 m of the
McDonald Observatory. This low surface brightness structure around the disk of
the galaxy extends ~29 kpc from its center, with a projected width of 3.3 kpc.
The stream's morphology is consistent with that of the visible part of a
"great-circle" stellar stream originating from the accretion of a ~10^8 M_sun
dwarf satellite in the last few Gyr. The progenitor satellite's current
position and fate are not conclusive from our data. The color of the stream's
stars is consistent with Local Group dwarfs and is similar to the outer regions
of M63's disk and stellar halo. We detect other low surface brightness
"plumes"; some of these may be extended spiral features related to the galaxy's
complex spiral structure and others may be tidal debris associated with the
disruption of the galaxy's outer stellar disk as a result of the accretion
event. We differentiate between features related to the tidal stream and faint,
blue features in the outskirts of the galaxy's disk previously detected by the
GALEX satellite. With its highly warped HI gaseous disk (~20 deg), M63
represents one of several examples of an isolated spiral galaxy with a warped
disk showing strong evidence of an ongoing minor merger.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables, Accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journa
The Spectrally Resolved Lyman-alpha Emission of Three Lyman-alpha Selected Field Galaxies at z~2.4 from the HETDEX Pilot Survey
We present new results on the spectrally resolved Lyman-alpha (LyA) emission
of three LyA emitting field galaxies at z~2.4 with high LyA equivalent width
(>100 Angstroms) and LyA luminosity (~10^43 erg/s). At 120 km/s (FWHM) spectral
resolution, the prominent double-peaked LyA profile straddles the systemic
velocity, where the velocity zero-point is determined from spectroscopy of the
galaxies' rest-frame optical nebular emission lines. The average velocity
offset from systemic of the stronger redshifted emission component for our
sample is 176 km/s while the average total separation between the redshifted
and main blueshifted emission components is 380 km/s. These measurements are a
factor of ~2 smaller than for UV continuum-selected galaxies that show LyA in
emission with lower LyA equivalent width. We compare our LyA spectra to the
predicted line profiles of a spherical "expanding shell" LyA radiative transfer
grid that models large-scale galaxy outflows. Specifically blueward of the
systemic velocity where two galaxies show a weak, highly blueshifted (by ~1000
km/s) tertiary emission peak, the model line profiles are a relatively poor
representation of the observed spectra. Since the neutral gas column density
has a dominant influence over the shape of the LyA line profile, we caution
against equating the observed LyA velocity offset with a physical outflow
velocity, especially at lower spectral resolution where the unresolved LyA
velocity offset is a convoluted function of several degenerate parameters.
Referring to rest-frame ultraviolet and optical Hubble Space Telescope imaging,
we find that galaxy-galaxy interactions may play an important role in inducing
a starburst that results in copious LyA emission, as well as perturbing the gas
distribution and velocity field which have strong influence over the LyA
emission line profile.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables; Accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal; Updated v2 fixes incorrectly processed LaTeX symbol
Characterization and calibration of the James Webb space telescope mirror actuators fine stage motion
The James Webb Space Telescope’s (Webb’s) deployable primary and secondary mirrors are actively controlled to achieve and maintain precise optical alignment on-orbit. Each of the 18 primary mirror segment assemblies (PMSAs) and the secondary mirror assembly (SMA) are controlled in six degrees of freedom by using six linear actuators in a hexapod arrangement. In addition, each PMSA contains a seventh actuator that adjusts radius of curvature (RoC). The actuators are of a novel stepper motor-based cryogenic two-stage design that is capable of sub-10 nm motion accuracy over a 20 mm range. The nm-level motion of the 132 actuators were carefully tested and characterized before integration into the mirror assemblies. Using these test results as an initial condition, knowledge of each actuator’s length (and therefore mirror position) has relied on software bookkeeping and configuration control to keep an accurate motor step count from which actuator position can be calculated. These operations have been carefully performed through years of Webb test operations using both ground support actuator control software as well as the flight Mirror Control Software (MCS). While the actuator’s coarse stage length is cross-checked using a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT), no on-board cross-check exists for the nm-level length changes of the actuators’ fine stage. To ensure that the software bookkeeping of motor step count is still accurate after years of testing and to test that the actuator position knowledge was properly handed off from the ground software to the flight MCS, a series of optical tests were devised and performed through the Center of Curvature (CoC) ambient optical test campaigns at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and during the thermal-vacuum tests of the entire optical payload that were conducted in Chamber A at Johnson Space Center (JSC). In each test, the actuator Fine Step Count (FSC) value is compared to an external measurement provided by an optical metrology tool with the goal of either confirming the MCS database value, or providing a recommendation for an updated calibration if the measured FSC differs significantly from the MCS-based expectation. During ambient testing of the PMSA hexapods, the nm-level actuator length changes were measured with a custom laser deflectometer by measuring tilts of the PMSA. The PMSA RoC fine stage characterization was performed at JSC using multi-wave interferometric measurements with the CoC Optical Assembly (COCOA). Finally, the SMA hexapod fine stage characterization test was performed at JSC using the NIRCam instrument in the “pass-and-a-half” test configuration using a test source from the Aft-Optics System Source Plate Assembly (ASPA). In this paper, each of these three tests, subsequent data analyses, and uncertainty estimations will be presented. Additionally, a summary of the ensemble state of Webb’s actuator fine stages is provided, along with a comparison to a Wavefront Sensing and Control (WFSC)-based requirement for FSC errors as they relate to the optical alignment convergence of the telescope on-orbit