Graduate Student Participation and CCD Procurement for the Original PolyOculus Array

该项目继续开发一种新的望远镜配置，称为PolyOculus，它能够以显著较低的成本实现大型望远镜阵列。这使得预算有限的规模较小的大学和学院能够从事前沿研究。该系统使用小型业余望远镜来创造机器人集光器。这些单元指向相同的目标，光被馈入定制的光缆。一个光子灯笼被用来合成来自平行光纤的光。光可以再次与其他类似的单元进一步结合，以制造更大的望远镜。PolyOculus系统将作为研究维拉·鲁宾天文台确定的目标的探路者，以研究暗能量的性质并寻找类似地球的行星。后续光谱学对于确定通过对夜空进行时间序列观测而发现的新源(例如超新星、耀斑恒星、潮汐扰动事件或新的天体类别)的基本性质、确定这些事件的关键物理性质(温度、成分、径向速度、外流等)具有重要的科学意义。并跟踪这些特性随时间的演变。传统的大型光谱设备建造成本很高。该项目将开发一种制造大面积等效望远镜的方法，方法是使用光子技术将多个半自主、小型、廉价、商用现成的望远镜连接起来。至关重要的是，这种可伸缩的设计比同等的传统大面积望远镜的建造成本低得多。该项目的创新阵列方法代表了一种获得时间域天文学光谱跟踪的新方法。两名研究生将在拉古纳山天文台参与仪器的部署和调试。这一奖励反映了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。

This project continues development of a new telescope configuration that is referred to as PolyOculus, which enables large telescope arrays at significantly lower cost. This allows smaller universities and colleges with limited budgets to engage in forefront research. The system uses small amateur telescopes to create robotic light collectors. These units are pointed at the same target and the light is fed into custom fiber optic cables. A photonic lantern is used to combine the light from the parallel fibers. Light can be further combined again with other similar units to make even bigger telescopes. The PolyOculus system would serve as a pathfinder for studies of targets identified by the Vera Rubin Observatory, to study the nature of Dark Energy and search for Earth-like planets. Follow-up spectroscopy is scientifically important for identifying the basic nature of new sources that are being discovered by time series observation of the night sky (e.g. supernovae, flare stars, tidal disruption events, or new classes of objects), for determining the key physical properties of these events(temperature, composition, radial velocity, outflows, etc.) and to follow the evolution of those properties with time. Traditional large spectroscopic facilities are expensive to construct. This project will develop a method for producing large-area-equivalent telescopes by using photonic technology to link multiple semi-autonomous, small, inexpensive, commercial-off-the-shelf telescopes. Crucially, this scalable design has construction costs which are substantially lower than equivalent traditional large-area telescopes. This project’s innovative array approach represents a new approach to obtaining spectroscopic follow-up for time-domain astronomy. Two graduate students will be engaged in the deployment and commissioning of the instrument at the Mount Laguna Observatory.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.