共查询到20条相似文献，搜索用时 15 毫秒
1.
We present studies for optimizing the next generation of ground-based imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). Results focus on mid-sized telescopes (MSTs) for CTA, detecting very high energy gamma rays in the energy range from a few hundred GeV to a few tens of TeV. We describe a novel, flexible detector Monte Carlo package, FAST (FAst Simulation for imaging air cherenkov Telescopes), that we use to simulate different array and telescope designs. The simulation is somewhat simplified to allow for efficient exploration over a large telescope design parameter space. We investigate a wide range of telescope performance parameters including optical resolution, camera pixel size, and light collection area. In order to ensure a comparison of the arrays at their maximum sensitivity, we analyze the simulations with the most sensitive techniques used in the field, such as maximum likelihood template reconstruction and boosted decision trees for background rejection. Choosing telescope design parameters representative of the proposed Davies–Cotton (DC) and Schwarzchild–Couder (SC) MST designs, we compare the performance of the arrays by examining the gamma-ray angular resolution and differential point-source sensitivity. We further investigate the array performance under a wide range of conditions, determining the impact of the number of telescopes, telescope separation, night sky background, and geomagnetic field. We find a 30–40% improvement in the gamma-ray angular resolution at all energies when comparing arrays with an equal number of SC and DC telescopes, significantly enhancing point-source sensitivity in the MST energy range. We attribute the increase in point-source sensitivity to the improved optical point-spread function and smaller pixel size of the SC telescope design. 相似文献
2.
Dainis Dravins Stephan LeBohec Hannes Jensen Paul D. Nuñez 《New Astronomy Reviews》2012,56(5):143-167
Using kilometric arrays of air Cherenkov telescopes at short wavelengths, intensity interferometry may increase the spatial resolution achieved in optical astronomy by an order of magnitude, enabling images of rapidly rotating hot stars with structures in their circumstellar disks and winds, or mapping out patterns of nonradial pulsations across stellar surfaces. Intensity interferometry (once pioneered by Hanbury Brown and Twiss) connects telescopes only electronically, and is practically insensitive to atmospheric turbulence and optical imperfections, permitting observations over long baselines and through large airmasses, also at short optical wavelengths. The required large telescopes (～10 m) with very fast detectors (～ns) are becoming available as the arrays primarily erected to measure Cherenkov light emitted in air by particle cascades initiated by energetic gamma rays. Planned facilities (e.g., CTA, Cherenkov Telescope Array) envision many tens of telescopes distributed over a few square km. Digital signal handling enables very many baselines (from tens of meters to over a kilometer) to be simultaneously synthesized between many pairs of telescopes, while stars may be tracked across the sky with electronic time delays, in effect synthesizing an optical interferometer in software. Simulated observations indicate limiting magnitudes around mV = 8, reaching angular resolutions ～30 μarcsec in the violet. The signal-to-noise ratio favors high-temperature sources and emission-line structures, and is independent of the optical passband, be it a single spectral line or the broad spectral continuum. Intensity interferometry directly provides the modulus (but not phase) of any spatial frequency component of the source image; for this reason a full image reconstruction requires phase retrieval techniques. This is feasible if sufficient coverage of the interferometric (u, v)-plane is available, as was verified through numerical simulations. Laboratory and field experiments are in progress; test telescopes have been erected, intensity interferometry has been achieved in the laboratory, and first full-scale tests of connecting large Cherenkov telescopes have been carried out. This paper reviews this interferometric method in view of the new possibilities offered by arrays of air Cherenkov telescopes, and outlines observational programs that should become realistic already in the rather near future. 相似文献
3.
For reliable event reconstruction of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), calibration of the optical throughput efficiency is required. Within current facilities, this is achieved through the use of ring shaped images generated by muons. Here, a complementary approach is explored, achieving cross calibration of elements of IACT arrays through pairwise comparisons between telescopes, focussing on its applicability to the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Intercalibration of telescopes of a particular type using eventwise comparisons of shower image amplitudes has previously been demonstrated to recover the relative telescope optical responses. A method utilising the reconstructed energy as an alternative to image amplitude is presented, enabling cross calibration between telescopes of varying types within an IACT array. Monte Carlo studies for two plausible CTA layouts have shown that this calibration procedure recovers the relative telescope response efficiencies at the few per cent level. 相似文献
4.
Woodruff T. Sullivan III 《Experimental Astronomy》2009,25(1-3):107-124
Forged by the development of radar during World War II, radio astronomy revolutionized astronomy during the decade after the war. A new universe was revealed, centered not on stars and planets, but on the gas between the stars, on explosive sources of unprecedented luminosity, and on hundreds of mysterious discrete sources with no optical identifications. Using “radio telescopes” that looked nothing like traditional (optical) telescopes, radio astronomers were a very different breed from traditional (optical) astronomers. This pathbreaking of radio astronomy also made it much easier for later “astronomies” and their “telescopes” (X-ray, ultraviolet, infrared, gamma-ray) to become integrated into astronomy after the launch of the space age in the 1960s. This paper traces the history of radio telescopes from 1945 through about 1990, from the era of converted small-sized, military radar antennas to that of large interferometric arrays connected by complex electronics and computers; from the era of strip-chart recordings measured by rulers to powerful computers and display graphics; from the era of individuals and small groups building their own equipment to that of Big Science, large collaborations and national observatories. 相似文献
5.
A telescope based upon dark-lens diffractive optics would be a uniquely new instrument for solar astronomy. The image formation
process in such a telescope gives an intrinsically higher resolving power and a greatly reduced image intensity compared to
that of refracting or reflecting optical systems of similar lens dimension. This low image intensity would be an advantage
for solar observations made using a very large imaging element. After a brief overview of the history of solar instrument
development, a quantitative evaluation of the dark-lens diffracting solar telescope concept is presented, showing the potential
of this imaging method to meet or even to exceed the most demanding resolution goals currently being considered for future
space-borne solar telescopes. 相似文献
6.
8~10m级光学／红外望远镜的高分辨率光谱仪 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
介绍并比较了KeckSubaruVLTHET及Gemini中的5架8～10m天文望远镜的高分辨率光谱仪,分析这些仪器与2～4m级望远镜的阶梯光栅光谱仪或Coude光谱仪相比所采用的新设计思想和新技术. 相似文献
7.
We present analysis techniques to improve the energy resolution of stereoscopic systems of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, using the HEGRA telescope system as an example. The techniques include (i) the determination of the height of the shower maximum, which is then taken into account in the energy determination, and (ii) the determination of the location of the shower core with the additional constraint that the direction of the gamma rays is known a priori. This constraint can be applied for gamma ray point sources, and results in a significant improvement in the localization of the shower core, which translates into better energy resolution. Combining both techniques, the HEGRA telescopes reach an energy resolution between 9% and 12%, over the entire energy range from 1 TeV to almost 100 TeV. Options for further improvements of the energy resolution are discussed. 相似文献
8.
The Cherenkov Telescopes Array (CTA) is planned as the future instrument for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy with a wide energy range of four orders of magnitude and an improvement in sensitivity compared to current instruments of about an order of magnitude. Monte Carlo simulations are a crucial tool in the design of CTA. The ultimate goal of these simulations is to find the most cost-effective solution for given physics goals and thus sensitivity goals or to find, for a given cost, the solution best suited for different types of targets with CTA. Apart from uncertain component cost estimates, the main problem in this procedure is the dependence on a huge number of configuration parameters, both in specifications of individual telescope types and in the array layout. This is addressed by simulation of a huge array intended as a superset of many different realistic array layouts, and also by simulation of array subsets for different telescope parameters. Different analysis methods – in use with current installations and extended (or developed specifically) for CTA – are applied to the simulated data sets for deriving the expected sensitivity of CTA. In this paper we describe the current status of this iterative approach to optimize the CTA design and layout. 相似文献
9.
Riccardo Giacconi 《Experimental Astronomy》2009,25(1-3):143-156
The development of X-ray telescopes over the last 45 years is briefly summarized. The first applications to the study of solar X-ray emission are described up to the 1973 Skylab mission. The rather convoluted path that led to the first stellar X-ray orbiting telescope Einstein (1978) and later to Chandra (1999) are discussed. During this 45 years period the angular resolution improved from 20 to 0.5 arc sec and the sensitivity by ten billions. X-ray observations have discovered new types of stellar systems (binary X-ray sources containing neutron stars and black holes) and intergalactic high temperature plasmas containing most of the baryonic mass of the universe. They have become an indispensable tool to study the role of energetic phenomena in the creation and dynamic evolution of cosmic structures. The methodology introduced by X-ray astronomy has influenced all of astronomy. 相似文献
10.
Shaukat Goderya 《Astrophysics and Space Science》2002,282(1):121-130
Astronomical research with a small telescope (20 cm – 40 cm) has always been a challenging problem. The invention of CCD cameras
and personal computers has now put this question to past as small telescopes can do good and practicle science. This paper
describes the use of small telescope in the study of eclipsing binary stars. Binary stars play an important role as astrophysical
laboratories in our quest to understand the evolution and structure of stars. The most useful aspects of research with a small
telescope in binary star research is; 1) as a viable teaching laboratory for begining students 2) to teach and learn the fundamental
observational techniques that are common to many types of astronomical research areas 3) as a starting point to initiate research
programs in observational astronomy, optics, instrumentation, computational astrophysics and 4) as a foundation to develop
an infrastructure and technical know how for larger telescope facility.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
11.
《Chinese Astronomy and Astrophysics》2021,45(3):281-300
-ray is a unique probe for extreme events in the universe. Detecting the -ray provides an important opportunity to understand the composition of universe, the evolution of stars, the origin of cosmic rays, etc. -ray astronomy involves in various frontier scientific issues, and the observed energy spectrum spans over a wide range from a few hundreds of keV to a few hundreds of TeV. Different -ray telescopes are in need for different scientific goals and spectral bands. In this work, 5 kinds of space- and ground-based -ray observing techniques were summarized, including the Coded-aperture telescopes, Compton telescopes, Pair-production telescopes, Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, and Extensive Air Shower Arrays. The progress in -ray astronomy in the past 70 years, motivated by the observation capability, was reviewed. Great achievements have been made in the high-energy domain and very-high-energy domain, while because of the limited missions conducted, as well as a lower sensitivity comparing with other domains, discoveries in low- and medium-energy are few, and due to the high observation difficulty, as well as the late start, relevant scientific yields in ultra- and extremely-high energy are limited. Moreover, the future planned missions and capabilities of the -ray telescopes and their possible scientific outputs were discussed. Among these missions, low- and medium-energy space telescopes e-ASTROGAM (enhanced-ASTROGAM), AMEGO (All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory), and very-high-energy ground-based arrays LHAASO (Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory) and CTA (Cherenkov Telescope Array) greatly improve sensitivity than their corresponding last generation, thus expect very likely to further expand our knowledge on the -universe. 相似文献
12.
伽马射线作为宇宙中极端事件的独特探针,探测伽马射线是人们了解宇宙构成、星体演化和宇宙线起源等的重要途经.伽马天文涉及了宇宙中的各种前沿科学问题并且观测所需能谱跨度极宽(102 keV–102 TeV),针对不同的科学目标和细分谱段,必须利用不同的伽马望远镜探测技术.总结了空间和地面的共5大类伽马射线观测技术,分别是编码孔径望远镜、康普顿望远镜、电子对望远镜、成像大气切伦科夫望远镜和广延大气簇射阵列;回顾了70 yr来在观测设备和技术进步的推动下伽马射线天文学领域的巨大进展,其中包含高能和甚高能谱段取得的大量成就,中低能段由于已有观测任务有限以及灵敏度低,超高能和极高能段由于观测难度大、起步时间晚,数据和成果相对其他谱段产出较少;展望了未来已经规划的伽马望远镜任务、能力及预期科学产出,其中,中低能段空间望远镜增强型ASTROGAM望远镜(e-ASTROGAM)、全天区中能伽马射线观测站(AMEGO)和甚高能段地面望远镜阵列高海拔宇宙线观测站(LHAASO)、切伦科夫望远镜阵列(CTA),由于灵敏度较同谱段已有任务灵敏度有大幅提升,极有可能在20 yr内从不同角度再度扩展人类对伽马宇宙的认知. 相似文献
13.
Jacques M. Beckers 《Solar physics》1996,169(2):431-442
The development of telescope capabilities tends to go in spurts. These are triggered by the availability of new techniques in optics, mechanics and/or instrumentation. So has nighttime telescope technology developed since the construction in the nineteen-forties of the 5-m Hale telescope, first by the introduction in the sixties of high efficiency electronic detectors, followed recently by the production of large 8- to 10-m mirrors and now by the implementation of adaptive optics. In solar astronomy, major steps were the introduction of the coronagraph by Lyot in the nineteen-thirties and the vacuum telescope concept by Dunn in the sixties. In the last thirty years, telescope developments in solar astronomy have relied primarily on improved instrumental capabilities. As in nighttime astronomy, these instruments and their detectors are reaching their limits set by the quantum nature of light and the telescope diffraction. Larger telescopes are needed to increase sensitivity and angular resolution of the observations. In this paper, I will review recent efforts to increase substantially the telescope capabilities themselves. I will emphasize the concept of a large all-wavelength, coronagraphic telescope (CLEAR) which is presently being developed.Dedicated to Cornelis de Jager 相似文献
14.
In a novel approach in observational high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, observations carried out by imaging atmospheric Cherenkov
telescopes provide necessary templates to pinpoint the nature of intriguing, yet unidentified EGRET gamma-ray sources. Using
GeV-photons detected by EGRET and taking advantage of high spatial resolution images from H.E.S.S. observations, we were able
to shed new light on the EGRET observed gamma-ray emission in the Kookaburra complex, whose previous coverage in the literature
is somewhat contradictory. 3EG J1420–6038 very likely accounts for two GeV gamma-ray sources (E>1 GeV), both in positional coincidence with the recently reported pulsar wind nebulae (PWN) by HESS in the Kookaburra/Rabbit
complex. PWN associations at VHE energies, supported by accumulating evidence from observations in the radio and X-ray band,
are indicative for the PSR/plerionic origin of spatially coincident, but still unidentified Galactic gamma-ray sources from
EGRET. This not only supports the already suggested connection between variable, but unidentified low-latitude gamma-ray sources
with pulsar wind nebulae (3EG J1420–6038 has been suggested as PWN candidate previously), it also documents the ability of
resolving apparently confused EGRET sources by connecting the GeV emission as measured from a large-aperture space-based gamma-ray
instrument with narrow field-of-view but superior spatial resolution observations by ground-based atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes,
a very promising identification technique for achieving convincing individual source identifications in the era of GLAST-LAT.
相似文献
15.
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a project for a next-generation observatory for very high energy (GeV–TeV) ground-based gamma-ray astronomy, currently in its design phase, and foreseen to be operative a few years from now. Several tens of telescopes of 2–3 different sizes, distributed over a large area, will allow for a sensitivity about a factor 10 better than current instruments such as H.E.S.S, MAGIC and VERITAS, an energy coverage from a few tens of GeV to several tens of TeV, and a field of view of up to 10°. In the following study, we investigate the prospects for CTA to study several science questions that can profoundly influence our current knowledge of fundamental physics. Based on conservative assumptions for the performance of the different CTA telescope configurations currently under discussion, we employ a Monte Carlo based approach to evaluate the prospects for detection and characterisation of new physics with the array.First, we discuss CTA prospects for cold dark matter searches, following different observational strategies: in dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, which are virtually void of astrophysical background and have a relatively well known dark matter density; in the region close to the Galactic Centre, where the dark matter density is expected to be large while the astrophysical background due to the Galactic Centre can be excluded; and in clusters of galaxies, where the intrinsic flux may be boosted significantly by the large number of halo substructures. The possible search for spatial signatures, facilitated by the larger field of view of CTA, is also discussed. Next we consider searches for axion-like particles which, besides being possible candidates for dark matter may also explain the unexpectedly low absorption by extragalactic background light of gamma-rays from very distant blazars. We establish the axion mass range CTA could probe through observation of long-lasting flares in distant sources. Simulated light-curves of flaring sources are also used to determine the sensitivity to violations of Lorentz invariance by detection of the possible delay between the arrival times of photons at different energies. Finally, we mention searches for other exotic physics with CTA. 相似文献
16.
M. F. Cawley D. J. Fegan K. Harris A. M. Hillas P. W. Kwok R. C. Lamb M. J. Lang D. A. Lewis D. Macomb P. T. Reynolds D. J. Schmid G. Vacanti T. C. Weekes 《Experimental Astronomy》1990,1(3):173-193
Details are presented of an atmospheric Cherenkov telescope for use in very high energy gamma-ray astronomy which consists of a cluster of 109 close-packed photomultiplier tubes at the focus of a 10 meter optical reflector. The images of the Cherenkov flashes generated both by gamma-ray and charged cosmic-ray events are digitized and recorded. Subsequent off-line analysis of the images improves the significance of the signal to noise ratio by a factor of 10 compared with non-imaging techniques. 相似文献
17.
In this exploratory simulation study, we compare the event-progenitor classification potential of a variety of measurable parameters of atmospheric Cherenkov pulses which are produced by ultrahigh energy γ-ray and hadron progenitors and are likely to be recorded by the TACTIC (TeV atmospheric Cherenkov telescope with imaging camera) array of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The parameters derived from Cherenkov images include Hillas, fractal and wavelet moments, while those obtained from non-image Cherenkov data consist of pulse profile rise time and base width and the relative ultraviolet to visible light content of the Cherenkov event. It is shown by a neural-net approach that these parameters, when used in suitable combinations, can bring about a proper segregation of the two event types, even with modest sized data samples of progenitor particles. 相似文献
18.
N. Bulian A. Daum G. Hermann M. Heß W. Hofmann H. Lampeitl G. Pühlhofer C. Köhler M. Panter M. Stein G. Börst G. Rauterberg M. Samorski C. Sauerland W. Stamm 《Astroparticle Physics》1998,8(4):223-233
The HEGRA-collaboration is operating a system of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes to search for sources of TeV-γ-rays. Air showers are observed in stereoscopic mode with several telescopes simultaneously. To trigger the telescope system a versatile two-level trigger scheme has been implemented, which allows a significant reduction of the energy threshold with respect to single telescopes. The technical implementation of this trigger scheme and the performance of the trigger system are described. Results include the dependence of single- and multi-telescope trigger rates on the trigger thresholds, on the orientation of the telescopes, and on the type of the primary particle. 相似文献
19.
Yan Zheng-zhou Lu Xiao-meng Tian Jian-feng Zhang Chun-guang Wang Kun Deng Li-cai 《Chinese Astronomy and Astrophysics》2018,42(4):609-625
Driven by the technological advancements and scientific objectives, the data acquisition in observational astronomy has been changed greatly in recent years. Fully automated or even autonomous ground-based network of telescopes has now become a tendency for time-domain observational projects. The Stellar Observations Network Group (SONG) is an international collaboration with the participation and contribution of the Chinese astronomy community. The scientific goal of SONG is time-domain astrophysics, such as the astroseismology and the research of variable stars in open clusters. The SONG project aims to build a global network of one-meter telescopes equipped with high-precision and high-resolution spectrographs, and two-channel lucky-imaging cameras. It is the Chinese initiative to install a 50 cm binocular photometry telescope at each SONG node to share the network platform and infrastructure. This work is focused on the design and implementation of SONG/50BiN in technology and methodology, for the ground-based network composed of multiple sites and a variety of instruments. 相似文献
20.
漂移扫描CCD用于地球同步轨道卫星观测的初步结果 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
对于地球同步轨道卫星,目前国内主要采用两种观测手段,即小光电望远镜短曝光观测和天文望远镜跟踪恒星(或卫星)观测.事实上,这两种手段都各自存在不足,尤其对于暗弱目标问题更加显著.利用CCD漂移扫描模式和凝视模式相结合观测地球同步轨道卫星具有明显的优势,小口径望远镜(口径约25cm)就能够获得高质量的目标和恒星圆星像与高精度的定位结果.本文重点阐述了获得高精度地球同步轨道卫星光学位置与星等的原理、方法及步骤;最后,利用实测资料的数据处理结果,分析了所获得的地球同步轨道卫星的内部精度及其误差源. 相似文献