A low-cost chopping system and uncooled microbolometer array for ground-based astronomy

DOI
10.1007/s10686-021-09744-6
S. D. Bates,; J. H. Knapen; M. F. Rashman; I. A. Steele
Bibliographical reference

Experimental Astronomy, 51, 273

Advertised on:
2022
Journal
Experimental Astronomy
Description
Mid-Infrared imaging is vital for the study of a wide variety of astronomical phenomena, including evolved stars, exoplanets, and dust enshrouded processes such as star formation in galaxies. However, infrared detectors have traditionally been expensive and it is difficult to achieve the sensitivity needed to see beyond the overwhelming mid-infrared background. Here we describe the upgrade and commissioning of a simple prototype, low-cost 10 μ m imaging instrument. The system was built using commercially available components including an uncooled microbolometer focal plane array and chopping system. The system was deployed for a week on the 1.52 m Carlos Sanchez Telescope and used to observe several very bright mid-infrared sources with catalogue fluxes down to ∼600 Jy. We report a sensitivity improvement of ∼4 mag over our previous unchopped observations, in line with our earlier predictions.
Type
Refereed
Instrumentation

It may interest you

  • Refereed
    NGTS-28Ab: a short period transiting brown dwarf

    We report the discovery of a brown dwarf orbiting a M1 host star. We first identified the brown dwarf within the Next Generation Transit Survey data, with supporting observations found in TESS sectors 11 and 38. We confirmed the discovery with follow-up photometry from the South African Astronomical Observatory, SPECULOOS-S, and TRAPPIST-S, and

    Henderson, Beth A. et al.

    Advertised on:

    5
    2024
    Bibcode
    2024MNRAS.530..318H
    Citations
    0
  • Refereed
    First characterization of the emission behavior of Mrk 421 from radio to very high-energy gamma rays with simultaneous X-ray polarization measurements

    Aims: We have performed the first broadband study of Mrk 421 from radio to TeV gamma rays with simultaneous measurements of the X-ray polarization from IXPE. Methods: The data were collected as part of an extensive multiwavelength campaign carried out between May and June 2022 using MAGIC, Fermi-LAT, NuSTAR, XMM-Newton, Swift, and several optical

    Abe, S. et al.

    Advertised on:

    4
    2024
    Bibcode
    2024A&A...684A.127A
    Citations
    0
  • Refereed
    Effects of density and temperature variations on the metallicity of Mrk 71

    In a very recent work, [1] claim that the scenario of temperature inhomogeneities proposed by [2] ($t2$ > 0) is not able to explain the O$^{2+}$/H$^{+}$ abundance discrepancy observed between the calculations based on the optical [OIII] collisional excited lines (CELs) and the OII recombination lines (RLs) in the star forming galaxy Mrk71. In this

    Méndez-Delgado, J. Eduardo et al.

    Advertised on:

    3
    2024
    Bibcode
    2024NatAs...8..275M
    Citations
    2