Probing the Low Surface Brightness Universe with the World's Largest Refractor: the Metre-Class Dragonfly Telephoto Array

用世界上最大的折射镜探索低表面亮度宇宙：米级蜻蜓长焦阵列

• 批准号: RTI-2016-00473
• 负责人: Abraham, Roberto
• 金额: $ 9.38万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=591453
• 关键词: Probing; Low; Surface; Brightness; Universe

The University of Toronto and Yale have developed a novel new telescope, the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, which is designed to probe the composition of the Universe at very low surface brightness levels. This is an area of astronomy that is almost totally unexplored, and in the last 18 months we have used this telescope (constructed from an array of 10 high-end commercial telephoto lenses) to probe the Universe down to hitherto impossibly faint surface brightness levels. A number of interesting discoveries have been made, including the existence of a new population of giant but faint galaxies that preferentially inhabit rich galaxy clusters. These "ultra diffuse galaxies" are as big as the Milky Way galaxy but 1/100 of its mass, and explaining how they survive in the very hostile environment of a galaxy cluster is a major puzzle. These results are only the tip of the iceberg. It is now clear that the low surface brightness Universe is a treasure trove of almost unexplored astrophysical phenomena, ranging from giant dust rings around planets in our Solar system, to supernova light echoes, to high velocity clouds raining onto the disk of the Milky Way, to intra-group and intra-cluster light and even to new emission mechanisms in rich clusters of galaxies. The race is now on to study these, but a major limiting factor is the small size of the Dragonfly Telephoto Array, which currently requires extremely long exposure times to get down to ultra-faint surface brightness levels. We have therefore devised a plan to increase the size of the array by a factor of six. In this proposal we seek the funds needed for the final component of the upgraded telescope - two large equatorial mounts that will support 58 telephoto lenses we have already secured. When completed, the upgraded Dragonfly Telephoto Array will be the world's largest refracting telescope.

多伦多大学和耶鲁大学开发了一种新颖的新望远镜，蜻蜓长焦阵列，旨在探测宇宙的组成在非常低的表面亮度水平。这是一个几乎完全未被探索的天文学领域，在过去的18个月里，我们使用这台望远镜（由10个高端商业长焦镜头组成）探测宇宙，直到迄今为止不可能微弱的表面亮度水平。已经有许多有趣的发现，包括存在一个新的巨大但微弱的星系群，它们优先居住在丰富的星系团中。这些“超扩散星系”与银河系一样大，但质量是银河系的1/100，解释它们如何在星系团的非常恶劣的环境中生存是一个主要的难题。这些结果只是冰山一角。现在很清楚，低表面亮度的宇宙是一个几乎未被探索的天体物理现象的宝库，从我们太阳系行星周围的巨大尘埃环，到超新星的光回波，到高速云雨到银河系的磁盘，到集团内和集团内的光，甚至到丰富星系团中的新发射机制。现在正在研究这些，但一个主要的限制因素是蜻蜓长焦阵列的小尺寸，目前需要极长的曝光时间才能达到超微弱的表面亮度水平。因此，我们制定了一项计划，将数组的大小增加到六倍。 在这份提案中，我们寻求升级望远镜的最后一部分所需的资金-两个大型赤道支架，将支持我们已经获得的58个长焦镜头。完成后，升级后的蜻蜓长焦阵列将成为世界上最大的折射望远镜。