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

Mont-Mégantic天文台是一个国际小型望远镜网络的一部分，这些望远镜将很大一部分时间用于对凌日系外行星的后续观测，例如来自NASA凌日系外行星调查卫星和未来的Ariel ESA飞行任务。OMM的任务非常成功，例如，最近发现了TOI-1452b，这是最好的水世界候选者之一，这是一颗小行星(1.7R_Earth)，绕着宜居带内的一颗低质量恒星运行，这颗行星可能被深液态海覆盖。这一发现将很快引发詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜的后续观测，以确定其大气的特征，特别是寻找水的光谱特征。这一关键发现之所以成为可能，部分要归功于OMM的光学仪器PESTO，不幸的是，由于相机子系统的重大故障，该仪器到2022年8月已不再运行。OMM还配备了一个独特的红外相机(CPAPIR)，用于搜索和研究棕矮星和行星质量物体。当相机仍在工作时，相机的冷却系统(液氮)在操作上要求非常高，成本也很高。这一成功的提议将使我们能够取代生产率很高的PESTO相机，并为CPAPIR配备一台现代化的闭路循环制冷机，这不仅将降低其运营成本，还将简化我们天文台的整体运营。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，因此一年中的大部分时间它们都在望远镜上。OMM是加拿大独一无二的设施，因为它使本科生和研究生能够亲身体验最先进的天文仪器和现代排队模式望远镜操作。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该行业工作的途径。

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.