Calibrating Astronomical Instruments to Improve the Science Gained from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

美国未来的大型综合巡天望远镜（LSST）将通过获得长期重复观测的物体图像而使天文学发生革命性变化。 这些观察将是非常准确的。 为了从这些观测中获得最好的科学，还将使用两种额外的支持观测：过去使用不同望远镜和仪器进行的观测，以及将来使用其他望远镜和仪器进行的观测。 为了使所有这些支持性观测值都有用，它们必须与使用LSST获得的观测值一样准确。 对于这个项目，天文学家将校准望远镜，仪器和天文台的天空条件，其他观测或将进行。 该项目符合国家利益，因为它确保新望远镜获得的数据将有助于尽可能取得最佳科学成果，促进观测天文学的进步。 这些天文学家来自德克萨斯A M大学，该校大部分学生来自西班牙裔人口。 研究人员打算雇用两名研究生和8 - 10名本科生。大型综合巡天望远镜（LSST）项目将产生大量的光度数据，这将彻底改变天文学领域。 LSST的目标之一是提供前所未有的光度精度：0.5%。 来自其他望远镜的现有和正在进行的数据将用于与新的LSST观测进行比较和后续观测。 然而，这些观测需要很好地校准。 研究人员将利用现有设备为世界各地的天文台的成像系统提供精确的分光光度校准。 校准工作将包括对望远镜、光学器件、滤光器和探测器进行现场测量，以提供有关仪器透射剖面的详细信息。 还将测量观测站上空的大气传输。 总之，这些测量将有助于实现这些系统的异常准确的光度校准。 基于对DECam仪器和Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory位置的类似测量，研究人员估计，拟议的工作应该允许在大型调查和所有光谱带中的精度达到约0.2%。

The future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) of the United States will revolutionize astronomy by obtaining images of objects observed repeatedly over long periods of time. These observations will be extremely accurate. In order to get the best science from these observations, two types of additional, supporting observations will also be used: observations that have been made using different telescopes and instruments in the past, and observations that will be made with other telescopes and instruments in the future. For all of these supporting observations to be useful, they must be as accurate as the observations that will be taken using the LSST. For this project, the astronomers will calibrate the telescopes, instruments, and sky conditions of the observatories where the other observations are or will be made. This project serves the national interest, as it ensures that the data acquired with the new telescope will contribute the best scientific results possible, promoting the progress of observational astronomy. The astronomers are from Texas A & M University, which draws most of its students from a heavily Hispanic population. The investigators intend to employ two graduate students and 8 - 10 undergraduate students.The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project will produce an enormous amount of photometric data that will revolutionize the field of astronomy. One of the LSST goals is to provide an unprecedented level of photometric accuracy: 0.5%. Existing and on-going data from other telescopes will be used for comparison and follow-up observations with the new LSST observations. These observations, however, will need to be very well calibrated. The investigators will use existing equipment to provide accurate spectrophotometric calibration of imaging systems at observatories around the world. The calibration will include in-situ measurements of the telescopes, optics, filters, and detectors, providing detailed knowledge of the transmission profiles of the instruments. The atmospheric transmission above the observatory sites will also be measured. Together, these measurements will help to enable exceptionally accurate photometric calibration of these systems. Based on similar measurements of the DECam instrument and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory location, the investigators estimate that the proposed work should allow for accuracy of ~0.2% across large surveys and all spectral bands.