ULTRACAM operations

ULTRACAM是一种数码相机，每秒能够拍摄（并存储）多达500张红色、绿色和蓝色图像。该仪器是由谢菲尔德大学、沃里克大学和爱丁堡英国天文技术中心的一个财团在不到3年的时间内建造的，使用了STFC授予的30万英镑赠款。ULTRACAM于2002年5月在拉帕尔马的4.2米威廉赫歇尔望远镜（WHT）上看到了“第一束光”，并于2005年5月在智利的8.2米甚大望远镜（VLT）上看到了第一束光。到目前为止，ULTRACAM已被授予在这些望远镜上总共147个夜晚的时间，以研究白色矮星、褐矮星、双星、黑洞/中子星X射线双星、伽马射线爆发、激变变星、食双星、太阳系外行星、耀斑星、超紧凑双星、活动星系核、星震学和太阳系天体掩星（泰坦，冥王星，天王星的卫星和柯伊伯带天体）。这项赠款提案要求提供资金，用于ULTRACAM的适当维护和运行，以及一个小规模升级的适度方案，从而确保ULTRACAM保持其作为世界上高速光学天体物理学首要仪器的地位。除了最大限度地提高STFC的原始投资回报率外，这笔资金还将使我们能够继续向天文学界希望使用它的其他人提供ULTRACAM。

ULTRACAM is a digital camera capable of taking (and storing) up to 500 red, green and blue images every second. The instrument was built in just under 3 years by a consortium from the Universities of Sheffield, Warwick and the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, using a £300,000 grant awarded by STFC. ULTRACAM saw 'first light' in May 2002 on the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma, and first light on the 8.2-m Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile in May 2005. To date, ULTRACAM has been awarded a total of 147 nights of time on these telescopes to study white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, pulsars, black-hole/neutron-star X-ray binaries, gamma-ray bursts, cataclysmic variables, eclipsing binary stars, extrasolar planets, flare stars, ultra-compact binaries, active galactic nuclei, asteroseismology and occultations by Solar System objects (Titan, Pluto, the moons of Uranus and Kuiper Belt Objects). This grant proposal requests funding for the proper maintenance and operation of ULTRACAM, as well as a modest programme of minor upgrades, thereby ensuring that ULTRACAM maintains its status as the world's premier instrument for high-speed optical astrophysics. As well as maximising the return on STFC's original investment, this money will also allow us to continue to offer ULTRACAM to others in the astronomical community who wish to use it.