The Evryscope: the first full-sky gigapixel-scale telescope

Evryscope：第一台全天空十亿像素级望远镜

• 批准号: 1407589
• 负责人: Nicholas Law
• 金额: $ 46.25万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-15 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1407589&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Evryscope; first; full; sky; gigapixel

Astronomy traditionally deals with precise and detailed observations of celestial objects taken one at a time. A complementary approach is becoming more important, which is to patrol large areas of sky over substantial intervals of time, and a wide range of important science is enabled by this approach. The "Evryscope" robotic telescope being built under this project covers a very wide field of view on the sky, using an array of twenty-three individual apertures of 7 cm diameter, each outfitted with large-format detectors. This telescope will produce a complete record of Northern sky events, and will be able to monitor the light output from all Northern stars, down to significantly faint levels. By these observations, sensitive searches for planets around other stars will be carried out, as well as studies of stellar outbursts and activity. The system will also be sensitive to the famous gamma-ray burst (GRB) sources, nearby supernovae, and possible counterparts to any gravitational wave detections that might be made by gravitational wave observatories now in operation.Evryscope utilizes 29 Megapixel imagers on each individual telescope, and each covers 394 square degrees of field. The design sensitivity is such that Northern sky events down to 19th magnitude will be monitored. Light curves of better than 1% precision, with high cadence and many years' duration, will be obtained for every Northern star brighter than 16th magnitude. The system will be capable of detecting transiting exoplanets around every solar-type star brighter than 12th magnitude, providing at least few-millimagnitude photometric precision in long-term light curves. Around the brightest and closest stars it is expected to double the known number of transiting hot Jupiters. The Evryscope will also search for small planets transiting nearby M-dwarfs, for planetary occultations of white dwarfs, and will perform eclipse-timing searches for exoplanets around exotic stellar systems inaccessible to other planet-finding methods.This project will integrate undergraduates into the research program, and plans an innovative collaboration with planetariums to create zoom-able images of the sky that will involve the general public in astronomical research.Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.

天文学传统上涉及对天体一次进行精确而详细的观测。 一种补充方法变得越来越重要，即在相当长的时间间隔内巡逻大片天空，并且通过这种方法可以实现广泛的重要科学。 该项目正在建造的“Evryscope”机器人望远镜覆盖了非常广阔的天空视野，使用由 23 个直径 7 厘米的独立孔径组成的阵列，每个孔径都配备了大尺寸探测器。 该望远镜将产生北方天空事件的完整记录，并将能够监测所有北方恒星的光输出，低至明显微弱的水平。 通过这些观测，将对其他恒星周围的行星进行敏感的搜索，并对恒星爆发和活动进行研究。 该系统还将对著名的伽马射线爆发（GRB）源、附近的超新星以及目前正在运行的引力波天文台可能进行的任何引力波探测的可能对应物敏感。Evryscope 在每个单独的望远镜上使用 29 个百万像素成像器，每个覆盖 394 平方度的视场。 设计灵敏度使得北方天空事件低至 19 级都将受到监测。 对于每颗亮于 16 等的北极星，都将获得精度优于 1%、高节奏且持续多年的光变曲线。 该系统将能够探测每颗亮度超过 12 等的太阳型恒星周围的凌日系外行星，在长期光变曲线中提供至少几毫数量级的光度精度。在最亮和最近的恒星周围，预计凌日热木星的数量将增加一倍。 Evryscope 还将搜索 M 矮星附近凌日的小行星，寻找白矮星的行星掩星，并将在其他行星寻找方法无法到达的奇异恒星系统周围进行日食计时搜索系外行星。该项目将把本科生纳入研究计划，并计划与天文馆进行创新合作，创建可缩放的天空图像， 让公众参与天文学研究。该项目的资金由美国国家科学基金会天文科学部通过其先进技术和仪器计划提供。