MRI: Development of a Deployable Tertiary Mirror for the Keck I Telescope

MRI：为 Keck I 望远镜开发可展开三级镜

• 批准号: 1337609
• 负责人: Jason Prochaska
• 金额: $ 147.95万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Cruz
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1337609&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Deployable; Tertiary; Mirror

Time-domain observations will serve as the backbone for 21st century astrophysics. Wide-field imaging at all wavelengths demonstrates that the universe is highly dynamic, with variability on all time-scales. Of great interest are exploding stars, black hole mergers, eclipsing planets, gravitational microlensing events, and flaring sources, which stem from a diverse set of astrophysical processes. Central to resolving the astrophysics of these events is high-precision spectroscopy and imaging, ideally at critical times and/or high cadence. Such observations demand the use of large-aperture telescopes; but while a telescope may possess a suite of suitable instrumentation, the scientific returns of time-domain astrophysics are only available if those instruments can be flexibly and rapidly accessed on each observing night. Indeed, the growing demands for precious follow-up time using the world?s largest telescopes conflicts with the classical approach of telescope allocation: one night, one instrument.Dr. Jason Prochaska of the University of California, Santa Cruz seeks to remedy this situation for the 10-m diameter optical/infrared Keck I telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea by replacing the manually positioned tertiary mirror with a remotely-articulated mirror capable of rapid (~2 minutes) switchover among the instruments that reside on the Cass focus and either of the two Nasmyth foci. When coupled with a planned change in telescope scheduling, this technologically straightforward modification will not only enable prompt response to astronomical events (e.g., supernova eruptions, gamma-ray bursts, planetary impacts), but also more easily permit cadence observing, address limited-access targets, and select the instrument and observing program which make best use of a particular night?s weather conditions. These developments will further enhance the capabilities of what is by virtually any measure one of the most productive and significant facilities available to modern-day astronomers, and allow it to continue to play a major role in understanding the time-variable universe.Funding for development and construction of the prototype spectrograph is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its participation in the Major Research Instrumentation program.

时域观测将成为21世纪天体物理学的支柱。所有波长的宽视场成像表明，宇宙是高度动态的，在所有时间尺度上都具有可变性。人们非常感兴趣的是恒星爆炸、黑洞合并、行星日食、引力微透镜事件和耀斑源，这些都源于一系列不同的天体物理过程。解决这些事件的天体物理学问题的核心是高精度光谱和成像，理想情况下是在关键时刻和/或高节奏。这样的观测需要使用大口径望远镜；但是，虽然望远镜可能拥有一套合适的仪器，但只有在每个观测夜晚都能灵活、快速地使用这些仪器，才能获得时域天体物理学的科学回报。的确，越来越多的人需要宝贵的后续使用时间。美国最大的望远镜与传统的望远镜分配方式相冲突：一个晚上，一台仪器。加州大学圣克鲁兹分校的Jason Prochaska试图为莫纳克亚山上W. M. Keck天文台10米直径的光学/红外Keck I望远镜解决这一问题，他将手动定位的三级反射镜替换为一个远程连接的反射镜，该反射镜能够在卡斯焦点和两个内斯密斯焦点上的仪器之间快速切换（约2分钟）。如果再加上望远镜调度的计划改变，这种技术上直接的修改不仅可以对天文事件（如超新星爆发、伽马射线爆发、行星撞击）做出快速反应，而且还可以更容易地进行有节奏的观测，定位有限的目标，并选择仪器和观测程序，以充分利用特定的夜晚。天气状况。这些发展将进一步提高现代天文学家所拥有的最具生产力和最重要的设施之一的能力，并使其在理解时变宇宙方面继续发挥重要作用。美国国家科学基金会天文科学部通过其参与的主要研究仪器计划，为原型光谱仪的开发和建造提供资金。