Mapping diffuse gas with the prototype Dragonfly filter tilter array

蜻蜓计划由一种新技术组成，可以成像星系周围的气体。将对类似银河系的星系进行观测，以便更好地了解这种“环星系介质”。为此，蜻蜓仪器将升级为新的用户界面和遥控器。这种用户界面和遥控器非常适合课堂教学和演示。《蜻蜓》上多达10%的时间将用于高中生提出的项目。蜻蜓的数据和图像将被用来创建一个与莱特纳天文馆共同开发的简短程序，将公众与夜空联系起来，并强调保护黑暗天空的努力。首席研究员开发了一种新技术，以分布式口径望远镜的概念为基础，以前所未有的灵敏度拍摄宇宙中电离气体的分布。他的团队在望远镜的入射光瞳前使用了一个可倾斜的超窄干涉滤光片，创造了一个灵敏度非常高、带通没有退化的可调滤光片。该项目的直接目标是通过一个校准、硬件改进和软件开发的计划来开发原型。更广泛地说，目的是为未来对升级阵列的环星系介质的研究奠定基础。该设备将能够直接揭示嵌入星系的电离气体分布，提供电离通量以及关于金属度、冲击和整体速度的关键物理信息。该计划将为研究生提供端到端的培训和学习环境，他们将在仪器设计、光学、探测器、计算机控制、数据分析、“大数据”方面以及在科学方面的培训方面获得宝贵的经验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Dragonfly project consists of a new technique to image gas surrounding galaxies. Galaxies similar to the Milky Way will be observed so as to better understand this "circumgalactic medium". To do this, the Dragonfly instrument will be upgraded with a new user interface and remote control. This user interface and remote control lend themselves very well to classroom teaching and demonstrations. Up to 10% of the time on Dragonfly will be devoted to projects proposed by high school students. Dragonfly data and imagery will be used to create a short program developed with the Leitner Planetarium, connecting the public to the night sky and emphasizing dark sky preservation efforts. The principal investigator has developed a new technique to image the distribution of ionized gas in the universe with unprecedented sensitivity, building on the concept of a distributed-aperture telescope. His team uses a tiltable ultra-narrow interference filter in front of the entrance pupil of a telescope, creating a tunable filter with very high sensitivity and no degradation of the bandpass. The immediate goal of the project is to develop the prototype, through a program of calibrations, hardware refinements, and software development. More broadly, the aim is to lay the groundwork for future studies of the circumgalactic medium with upgraded arrays. This facility will be able to directly reveal the ionized gas distributions in which galaxies are embedded, providing the ionizing flux as well as key physical information on metallicities, shocks, and bulk velocities. This program will provide end-to-end training and learning environment for graduate students, who will gain invaluable experience in instrument design, optics, detectors, computer control, data analysis, “big data” aspects, as well as training in the science.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.