Initial performance of the Zwicky transient facility: a wide-fast time-domain survey (Conference Presentation)

Richard G. Dekany; Roger Smith; Reed Riddle; Michael Feeney; Stephen Kaye; Michael Porter; David Hale; Jeffry Zolkower; Peter Mao; Daniel Reiley; Patrick Murphy; Hector Rodriguez; Justin Belicki; John Henning; John Cromer

doi:10.1117/12.2312353

9 July 2018 Initial performance of the Zwicky transient facility: a wide-fast time-domain survey (Conference Presentation)

Richard G. Dekany, Roger Smith, Reed Riddle, Michael Feeney, Stephen Kaye, Michael Porter, David Hale, Jeffry Zolkower, Peter Mao, Daniel Reiley, Patrick Murphy, Hector Rodriguez, Justin Belicki, John Henning, John Cromer

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10702, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII; 107020M (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312353
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018, Austin, Texas, United States

Abstract

Zwicky Transient Facility is an integrated, multi-band astronomical survey system optimized for sensitivity, observing cadence, and efficiency. The key subsystem consists of a 600 megapixel CCD focal plane mounted in a flat-fielding vacuum cryostat, located at the prime focus of the 1.2-meter Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory. Supporting subsystems include a new 2.4-meter optical shutter assembly, a 1.35-meter diameter aspheric corrector plate, a cryostat stabilizing hexapod, a commercial robotic arm-based exchanger, three 440 millimeter width filters, four guide/focus CCDs, and dedicated optics compensating individual field curvature over each of sixteen 6k x 6k science CCDs.To optimize ZTF efficiency, all telescope and dome drives were upgraded for higher speed and acceleration, fast readout electronics were implemented, and a sophisticated robotic control system has been implemented. We present for the first time on-sky results from the recently completed ZTF including its realized optical image quality, CCD noise, and observing efficiency performance and discuss engineering challenges that have been overcome. Early scientific results from the ZTF survey are also included.

Conference Presentation

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Richard G. Dekany, Roger Smith, Reed Riddle, Michael Feeney, Stephen Kaye, Michael Porter, David Hale, Jeffry Zolkower, Peter Mao, Daniel Reiley, Patrick Murphy, Hector Rodriguez, Justin Belicki, John Henning, and John Cromer "Initial performance of the Zwicky transient facility: a wide-fast time-domain survey (Conference Presentation)", Proc. SPIE 10702, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII, 107020M (9 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312353

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KEYWORDS

Charge-coupled devices

Robotics

Telescopes

Aspheric lenses

Astronomy

Camera shutters

Diamond turning

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