Bibcode
Skottfelt, J.; Bramich, D. M.; Hundertmark, M.; Jørgensen, U. G.; Michaelsen, N.; Kjærgaard, P.; Southworth, J.; Sørensen, A. N.; Andersen, M. F.; Andersen, M. I.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Frandsen, S.; Grundahl, F.; Harpsøe, K. B. W.; Kjeldsen, H.; Pallé, P. L.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 574, id.A54, 16 pp.
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2
2015
Journal
Citations
45
Refereed citations
44
Description
We report on the implemented design of a two-colour instrument based on
electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD) detectors. This instrument is currently
installed at the Danish 1.54 m telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory
in Chile, and will be available at the SONG (Stellar Observations
Network Group) 1m telescope node at Tenerife and at other SONG nodes as
well. We present the software system for controlling the two-colour
instrument and calibrating the high frame-rate imaging data delivered by
the EMCCD cameras. An analysis of the performance of the Two-Colour
Instrument at the Danish telescope shows an improvement in spatial
resolution of up to a factor of two when doing shift-and-add compared
with conventional imaging, and the possibility of doing high-precision
photometry of EMCCD data in crowded fields. The Danish telescope, which
was commissioned in 1979, is limited by a triangular coma at spatial
resolutions below 0.5 arcsec, and better results will thus be achieved
at the near diffraction-limited optical system on the SONG telescopes,
where spatial resolutions close to 0.2 arcsec have been achieved.
Regular EMCCD operations have been running at the Danish telescope for
several years and produced a number of scientific discoveries, including
microlensing detected exoplanets, detecting previously unknown variable
stars in dense globular clusters, and discovering two rings around the
small asteroid-like object (10199) Chariklo.
Based on data collected with the Danish 1.54m telescope at ESO's La
Silla Observatory.
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Savita
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