The wide-field infrared transient explorer (WINTER)
Name
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Description
Published version
Size
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Format
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Lourie, Nathan P
Baker, John W
Burruss, Richard S
Egan, Mark D
Furész, Gábor
Frostig, Danielle
Garcia-Zych, Allan A
Ganciu, Nicolae
Haworth, Kari
Hinrichsen, Erik
Date Issued
2020
Journal
Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VIII
Publisher
SPIE-Intl Soc Optical Eng
Citation
Lourie, Nathan P, Baker, John W, Burruss, Richard S, Egan, Mark D, Furész, Gábor et al. 2020. "The wide-field infrared transient explorer (WINTER)." Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VIII.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The Wide-Field Infrared Transient Explorer (WINTER) is a new infrared
time-domain survey instrument which will be deployed on a dedicated 1 meter
robotic telescope at Palomar Observatory. WINTER will perform a seeing-limited
time domain survey of the infrared (IR) sky, with a particular emphasis on
identifying r-process material in binary neutron star (BNS) merger remnants
detected by LIGO. We describe the scientific goals and survey design of the
WINTER instrument. With a dedicated trigger and the ability to map the full
LIGO O4 positional error contour in the IR to a distance of 190 Mpc within four
hours, WINTER will be a powerful kilonova discovery engine and tool for
multi-messenger astrophysics investigations. In addition to follow-up
observations of merging binaries, WINTER will facilitate a wide range of
time-domain astronomical observations, all the while building up a deep coadded
image of the static infrared sky suitable for survey science.
WINTER's custom camera features six commercial large-format Indium Gallium
Arsenide (InGaAs) sensors and a tiled optical system which covers a
$>$1-square-degree field of view with 90% fill factor. The instrument observes
in Y, J and a short-H (Hs) band tuned to the long-wave cutoff of the InGaAs
sensors, covering a wavelength range from 0.9 - 1.7 microns. We present the
design of the WINTER instrument and current progress towards final integration
at Palomar Observatory and commissioning planned for mid-2021.
MIT Department
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561210
