Collaborative Research: RUI: Integral Field Unit Speckle Imager

合作研究：RUI：整体现场单元散斑成像仪

• 批准号: 2206099
• 负责人: Elliott Horch
• 金额: $ 54.23万
• 依托单位: Southern Connecticut State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2206099&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; RUI; Integral; Field

This project will build a new kind of imaging system for astronomical observations. The innovative new imager will be capable of removing the effect of turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere, leading to images with extremely fine detail, while simultaneously collecting all wavelengths of visible light at every point in the image. The instrument will separate the light from each point into its constituent colors for further, comprehensive analysis. These design features will lead to extremely precise measurements of the properties of stars in close binary systems, including being able to identify whether a planet in a binary star system is orbiting the brighter or the fainter star of the gravitationally-bound pair. The Kepler and TESS satellite missions have led to the discovery of a growing number of cases where planets exist in binary star systems, and this instrument will be uniquely capable of characterizing these systems. The statistics of such planet-hosting binary stars will help provide an understanding of star and planet formation processes, potentially including the formation of Earthlike planets. An education and public outreach portion of the project will create and disseminate three teaching modules for teachers suitable for science classes in Connecticut public schools and beyond. These modules will highlight the technology aspects of the project.The investigators seek to build the first hyperspectral speckle imaging instrument by using a custom-made integral field unit and taking advantage of the speed at which large-format EMCCDs can read out to capture spectra of resolved speckles on the image plane. The instrument will collect all visible light between approximately 450 and 770 nm and allow for complete flexibility in reassembling and analyzing speckle images from the raw data at all desired wavelengths. This innovation obviates the need for dispersion correction and removes the main systematic errors that limit speckle photometry. The instrument will have no moving parts and be flexible enough to use at telescopes from the 1-m class up to 4-m class. The creation of this instrument will enable two main areas in stellar and exoplanetary astronomy. First, it will resolve visible spectra of components of binary stars down to the diffraction limit. This means it will be possible to measure effective temperatures and luminosities of close binary stars in a much more robust way than with current speckle imagers or space-based surveys such as Gaia. Second, there are now many exoplanets known that are found in binary star systems. This instrument will be uniquely capable of determining which star in a binary system the planet orbits for transiting exoplanets by measuring the magnitude difference of the binary while the planet is in transit and comparing the result to when it is not. The derived statistics will lead to a better understanding of star and planet formation mechanisms as well as more accurate characterization of planetary radii and densities. An education and public outreach portion of the project will create and disseminate curriculum modules for high school science classes consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards for K-12 education.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.

该项目将建立一种用于天文观测的新型成像系统。创新的新型成像仪将能够消除地球大气层湍流的影响，从而获得具有极其精细细节的图像，同时收集图像中每个点的所有波长的可见光。该仪器会将来自每个点的光分成其组成颜色，以进行进一步的综合分析。这些设计特征将导致对紧密双星系统中恒星特性的极其精确的测量，包括能够识别双星系统中的行星是否正在围绕引力束缚对中较亮或较暗的恒星运行。开普勒和 TESS 卫星任务发现了越来越多的双星系统中存在行星的情况，而该仪器将具有独特的能力来表征这些系统。这种拥有行星的双星的统计数据将有助于了解恒星和行星的形成过程，可能包括类地行星的形成。该项目的教育和公共外展部分将为适合康涅狄格州公立学校及其他地区科学课程的教师创建和传播三个教学模块。这些模块将突出该项目的技术方面。研究人员试图通过使用定制的整体现场单元并利用大格式 EMCCD 的读取速度来捕获图像平面上解析的散斑的光谱，从而构建第一台高光谱散斑成像仪器。该仪器将收集大约 450 至 770 nm 之间的所有可见光，并在重新组装和分析所有所需波长的原始数据中的散斑图像时具有完全的灵活性。这项创新消除了色散校正的需要，并消除了限制散斑光度测量的主要系统误差。该仪器没有移动部件，并且足够灵活，可以在 1 米级到 4 米级的望远镜上使用。该仪器的创建将使恒星和系外行星天文学的两个主要领域成为可能。首先，它将把双星组件的可见光谱解析到衍射极限。这意味着将有可能以比当前散斑成像仪或盖亚等太空勘测更可靠的方式测量近距离双星的有效温度和光度。其次，现在有许多已知的系外行星存在于双星系统中。该仪器将具有独特的能力，通过测量双星系统中行星凌日时的星等差异，并将结果与​​非凌日时的结果进行比较，确定该行星围绕凌日系外行星运行的双星系统中的哪一颗恒星。得出的统计数据将有助于更好地了解恒星和行星的形成机制，以及更准确地描述行星半径和密度。该项目的教育和公共外展部分将为高中科学课程创建和传播符合 K-12 教育下一代科学标准的课程模块。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。