CHIMERA: a wide-field, multi-colour, high-speed photometer at the prime focus of the Hale telescope
Author(s)
Harding, L. K.; Hallinan, G.; Milburn, J.; Gardner, P.; Konidaris, N.; Singh, N.; Shao, M.; Sandhu, J.; Kyne, G.; Schlichting, Hilke E; ... Show more Show less
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The Caltech HIgh-speed Multi-colour camERA (CHIMERA) is a new instrument that has been developed for use at the prime focus of the Hale 200-inch telescope. Simultaneous optical imaging in two bands is enabled by a dichroic beam splitter centred at 567 nm, with Sloan u′ and g′ bands available on the blue arm and Sloan r′, i′ and z_s bands available on the red arm. Additional narrow-band filters will also become available as required. An electron multiplying CCD (EMCCD) detector is employed for both optical channels, each capable of simultaneously delivering sub-electron effective read noise under multiplication gain and frame rates of up to 26 fps full frame (several 1000 fps windowed), over a fully corrected 5 × 5 arcmin field of view. CHIMERA was primarily developed to enable the characterization of the size distribution of sub-km Kuiper Belt Objects via stellar occultation, a science case that motivates the frame-rate, the simultaneous multi-colour imaging and the wide field of view of the instrument. In addition, it also has unique capability in the detection of faint near-Earth asteroids and will be used for the monitoring of short-duration transient and periodic sources, particularly those discovered by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF), and the upcoming Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF).
Date issued
2016-02Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary SciencesJournal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Citation
Harding, L. K., G. Hallinan, J. Milburn, P. Gardner, N. Konidaris, N. Singh, M. Shao, J. Sandhu, G. Kyne, and H. E. Schlichting. “CHIMERA: a Wide-Field, Multi-Colour, High-Speed Photometer at the Prime Focus of the Hale Telescope.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 457, no. 3 (March 2, 2016): 3036–3049.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
0035-8711
1365-2966