Observational techniquesmeeting #5
Future surveys
Narrow (pencil beam):
HDFUDFGOODsCosmosMCTJWST
Future surveys
Deep/wide:
CFHTLS (Megacam)Subaru Suprimecam
Hypersuprimecam
DES
Future surveys
All/most sky/time domain:
PTF
PS1/skymapper
LSST
The Palomar Transient Factory
There is nothing like searching, if you want to find something.You usually find something, if you search,but it is not always quite the something you were after.
Thorin Oakenshild
Palomar Transient Factory (PTF)• A 100 Mega-pixel, 7 deg2 camera
(CFH12K) on the 48 inch Schmidt Telescope at Palomar that:
-- scans 10% of the sky every few days . . . -- finds ~1000 transients per year that are tracked by small telescopes for photometry and larger (3-10m) for spectroscopy -- is creating a deep sky image and lightcurves in 2 bands (g’ and R) that will yield galactic science -- H-alpha surveys in four bands starting May 2011.
# 7
P60:Followup
P60:FollowupP48:
Discovery Engine7.26 sq. deg. camera
P48:Discovery Engine
7.26 sq. deg. camera
The Palomar Transient Factory
Instrumentation, system design, first results Law, Kulkarni, Dekany et al. 2009 PASP 121 1395L
Science plans Rau, Kulkarni, Law et al. 2009 PASP 121 1334R
2010 survey status Law et al. 2010 SPIE 7735
P200:Followup
P200:Followup
The PTF camera field of view92 MPix
1.0 arcsec samplingR=21 in 60 seconds
FWHM and Limiting Magnitude
In 2010: 81% of nights usable 36,933 science images >7 TB
PTF Publications (so far)Real-Time Detection of a Highly Subluminous Type II-P Supernova with PTF
2011 ApJL submittedThe Extreme Hosts of Extreme Supernovae
2010 ApJ acceptedEvidence for an FU Orionis Outburst from a Classical T Tauri Star
2010 submitted to ApJPTF10nvg: An Outbursting Class I Protostar in the Pelican/North American Nebula
2010, submitted to ApJHubble Space Telescope Studies of Nearby Type Ia Supernovae
2010 submitted to ApJLGalaxy Zoo Supernovae
2010 accepted by MNRASRapidly Decaying Supernova 2010X: A Candidate ".Ia" Explosion
2010 ApJL, 723, 98-102Supernova PTF 09uj: A Possible Shock Breakout from a Dense Circumstellar Wind
2010 ApJ, 724, 1396-1401The Palomar Transient Factory Survey Camera: 1st Year Performance and Results
2010 SPIE 7735PTF10fqs: A Luminous Red Nova in the Spiral Galaxy Messier 99
2010 submitted to ApJCore-Collapse Supernovae from PTF: Indications for a Different Population in Dwarf Galaxies
ApJ 2010 721 777-784Mysterious transients unmasked as the bright blue death throes of massive stars
2010 submitted to NatureThe Palomar Transient Factory: System Overview, Performance and First Results
2009 PASP 121 1395LExploring the Optical Transient Sky with the Palomar Transient Factory
2009 PASP 121 1334RThe 12Kx8K CCD mosaic camera for the Palomar Transient Factory
2008 SPIE 7014
Detectors
Eye
QE: 1-4%Short integration time (<1s)
Photographic plates
QE: 1-2%Long integration times
Photomultipliers
QE ~ 50%Long integration timesFast modes
Photomultipliers: applications
Optical pulsars
“Great errors”(video)
CMOS (active pixel arrays)
Arrays of pixels, each composed on a photodetector (photodiode), amplifier, and readout electronics, realized on chip using CMOS technology
Material Sensitivity range (nm)
Silicon 190 - 1100
InGaAs 800 - 2600
PbS 1000 - 3500
High QE (>90%), fast readout, cheap, relatively high noise
End