798 research outputs found
Observational Artifacts of NuSTAR: Ghost Rays and Stray Light
The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), launched in June 2012,
flies two conical approximation Wolter-I mirrors at the end of a 10.15m mast.
The optics are coated with multilayers of Pt/C and W/Si that operate from 3--80
keV. Since the optical path is not shrouded, aperture stops are used to limit
the field of view from background and sources outside the field of view.
However, there is still a sliver of sky (~1.0--4.0 degrees) where photons may
bypass the optics altogether and fall directly on the detector array. We term
these photons Stray-light. Additionally, there are also photons that do not
undergo the focused double reflections in the optics and we term these Ghost
Rays. We present detailed analysis and characterization of these two components
and discuss how they impact observations. Finally, we discuss how they could
have been prevented and should be in future observatories.Comment: Published in Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and
Systems. Open Access. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.3.4.04400
- …