Surveying a Slice of the Universe: The Charge Coupled Device (CCD) Transit Instrument (CTI) Survey

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The Charge-Coupled Device (CCD)/Transit Instrument (CTI) surveys nightly about 15 square degrees of the sky in two optical colors to a limiting magnitude of visual brightness greater than 21 signal to noise S/N greater than 5). Each night the V magnitude is measured as well as one of Ultraviolet (U), Blue (B), Red (R), or Infrared (I). The colors will be selected to optimize S/N relative to the sky brightness. An infrared CCD will provide nightly K magnitudes for about four square degrees of the same strip. The observing program of CTI is to remain on the same strip of sky for several years, intensively observing the same 45 square degrees per year for several years (12 square degrees in the IR), both to monitor the brightness changes of the objects in the strip and to acquire deeper images by adding data from multiple nights. Data derived from this instrument will be used to address a variety of astronomical problems ranging from discovery of nearby stars to measurement of variability of distant quasars. Three scientific programs will be addressed by project astronomers. These programs are : 1) the discovery and monitoring of quasars on the basis of variability and color, 2) a determination of the supernovae production rate, and 3) discovery of supernovae for use as distance indicators.