Low-cost Access to the Deep, High-cadence Sky: the Argus Optical Array
Low-cost Access to the Deep, High-cadence Sky: the Argus Optical Array
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DOI：
10.1088/1538-3873/ac4811
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发表时间：
2021-07
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
N. Law;H. Corbett;N. Galliher;R. Gonzalez;A. Vásquez;Glenn Walters;Lawrence Machia;J. Ratzloff-J.-Ratzl
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作者：
N. Law;H. Corbett;N. Galliher;R. Gonzalez;A. Vásquez;Glenn Walters;Lawrence Machia;J. Ratzloff-J.-Ratzl
新型大规模生产的宽视场、小口径望远镜通过大大降低采集面积的成本，有可能彻底改变地面天文学。在此基础上，我们介绍了一种新型的大型望远镜：一种全天空、弧秒分辨率、1000倍口径的望远镜阵列，它通过对整个天空进行全天候的高节奏和深度观测。作为一个具体的例子，我们描述了Argus阵列，这是一个5米级的望远镜，具有全天视野，并且能够使用低噪声CMOS探测器达到极高的节奏。每55 GPix的Argus曝光覆盖整个天空的20%，每分钟mg = 19.6，每小时mg = 21.9；高速模式将允许在短时间内进行次秒级的调查。在47%的天空中，每5个夜晚的深度黑洞将达到23.6 mg；一个更大口径阵列望远镜，在鲁宾天文台附近安装了一个发射架，在5个晚上可以达到mg = 24.3。这些阵列可以建立双色的、百万历元的天空影像，能够对高速瞬变、快速射电暴、引力波、系外行星微透镜事件、遥远太阳系天体的掩星以及无数其他现象进行灵敏而快速的搜索。然而，由1000个望远镜组成的阵列将是迄今为止建造的最复杂的天文仪器之一。带有数百个跟踪支架的标准阵列需要数千个活动部件和暴露的光学元件，与单片大型望远镜相比，大规模生产的硬件成本节省将迅速超过维护成本。我们讨论了如何通过将所有光学器件放置在只有少数活动部件的热控制密封圆顶中来大大降低操作成本。再加上仔细的软件范围控制和现有管道的使用，我们表明Argus阵列可以成为最深和最快的北方天空测量，总成本在2000万美元左右。
New mass-produced, wide-field, small-aperture telescopes have the potential to revolutionize ground-based astronomy by greatly reducing the cost of collecting area. In this paper, we introduce a new class of large telescope based on these advances: an all-sky, arcsecond-resolution, 1000 telescope array which builds a simultaneously high-cadence and deep survey by observing the entire sky all night. As a concrete example, we describe the Argus Array, a 5 m-class telescope with an all-sky field of view and the ability to reach extremely high cadences using low-noise CMOS detectors. Each 55 GPix Argus exposure covers 20% of the entire sky to m g = 19.6 each minute and m g = 21.9 each hour; a high-speed mode will allow sub-second survey cadences for short times. Deep coadds will reach m g = 23.6 every five nights over 47% of the sky; a larger-aperture array telescope, with an étendue close to the Rubin Observatory, could reach m g = 24.3 in five nights. These arrays can build two-color, million-epoch movies of the sky, enabling sensitive and rapid searches for high-speed transients, fast-radio-burst counterparts, gravitational-wave counterparts, exoplanet microlensing events, occultations by distant solar system bodies, and myriad other phenomena. An array of O(1000) telescopes, however, would be one of the most complex astronomical instruments yet built. Standard arrays with hundreds of tracking mounts entail thousands of moving parts and exposed optics, and maintenance costs would rapidly outpace the mass-produced-hardware cost savings compared to a monolithic large telescope. We discuss how to greatly reduce operations costs by placing all optics in thermally controlled, sealed domes with only a few moving parts. Coupled with careful software scope control and use of existing pipelines, we show that the Argus Array could become the deepest and fastest Northern sky survey, with total costs in the $20M range.