Replacement and upgrade of the Optical and Infrared Cameras for Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic

蒙特-姆萨甘蒂天文台（OMM）是小型望远镜国际网络的一部分，它们将相当大一部分时间用于对候选者凌日系外行星的后续观测，例如来自美国宇航局凌日系外行星调查卫星和未来的欧空局ARIEL任务。OMM在其任务中非常成功，例如最近发现了TOI-1452b，这是最好的水世界候选者之一，一颗小（1.7倍地球）的行星围绕可居住区内的一颗低质量恒星运行，这颗行星可能被深层液态海洋覆盖。这一发现将很快引发詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜的后续观测，以表征其大气特征，特别是寻找水的光谱特征。这一关键发现的部分原因是OMM的光学仪器PESTO，不幸的是，由于其相机子系统的重大故障，该仪器将于2022年8月停止运行。OMM还配备了一个独特的红外摄像机（capir），用于搜索和研究褐矮星和行星质量物体。虽然摄像机仍在工作，但摄像机的冷却系统（液氮）的操作要求非常高，成本也很高。这一成功的建议将取代非常高效的PESTO相机，并为capir配备现代化的闭式循环制冷机，这不仅将降低其运行成本，而且将简化我们天文台的整体操作。CPAPIR和PESTO都是OMM天文学家最需要的仪器，由于可以很容易地从一种仪器切换到另一种仪器，因此它们在一年中的大部分时间都在望远镜上。OMM在加拿大是一个独特的设施，因为它使本科生和研究生能够获得最先进的天文仪器和现代排队模式望远镜操作的实践经验。由于在学习期间获得的经验，许多毕业生找到了在大型天文台或行业工作的方式。

The Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic (OMM) is part of an international network of small telescopes dedicating a significant fraction of their time to follow-up observations of candidate transiting exoplanets, e.g., from the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and the future ARIEL ESA mission. The OMM has been very successful in its task, for instance with the recent discovery of TOI-1452b, one of the best water world candidates, a small (1.7 R_Earth) planet orbiting a low-mass star within the habitable zone, a planet that may be covered by a deep liquid ocean. This discovery will soon trigger follow-up observations with the James Webb Space Telescope to characterize its atmosphere, in particular to seek the spectral signature of water. This key discovery was made possible partly thanks to OMM's optical instrument PESTO which is unfortunately no longer operational as of August 2022 due to a major failure of its camera sub-system. The OMM also features a unique infrared camera (CPAPIR) used for searching and studying brown dwarfs and planetary mass objects. While the camera is still working, the camera's cooling system (liquid nitrogen) is operationally very demanding and costly. This successful proposal will enable the replacement of the very productive PESTO camera and equip CPAPIR with a modern close-cycled cryo-cooler that will not only reduce its operational cost but simplify the overall operations of our observatory. Both CPAPIR and PESTO are the most requested instruments by astronomers at the OMM and, as it is possible to easily switch from one instrument to the other, they are on the telescope for the majority of the year. The OMM is a unique facility in Canada, as it enables undergraduate and graduate students to get hands-on experience with state-of-the-art astronomical instruments and modern queue-mode telescope operations. Thanks to the experience acquired during their studies, many of graduates find their way to work on large observatories or in the industry.