Abstract
PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope) is a proposed Australian/European optical/infrared telescope for Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau, with target first light in 2012. The proposed telescope is 2.4m diameter, with overall focal ratio f/10, and a 1 degree field-of-view. In median seeing conditions, it delivers 0.3" FWHM widefield image quality, from 0.7-2.5 microns. In the best quartile of conditions, it delivers diffraction-limited imaging down to 1 micron, or even less with lucky imaging. The areas where PILOT offers the greatest advantages over existing ground-based telescopes are (a) very high resolution optical imaging, (b) high resolution wide-field optical imaging, and (c) all wide-field thermal infrared imaging. The proposed first generation instrumentation consists of (a) a fast, lownoise camera for diffraction-limited optical lucky imaging; (b) a gigapixel optical camera for seeing-limited imaging over a 1 degree field; (c) a 4K × 4K near-infrared (1-5 micron) camera with both wide-field and diffraction-limited modes; and (d) a double-beamed mid-infrared (7-40 micron) imaging spectrograph.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II |
Place of Publication | Bellingham, WA |
Publisher | SPIE |
Pages | 1-9 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Volume | 7014 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780819472243 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II - Marseille, France Duration: 23 Jun 2008 → 28 Jun 2008 |
Other
Other | Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy II |
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Country/Territory | France |
City | Marseille |
Period | 23/06/08 → 28/06/08 |
Keywords
- Antarctica
- Fast guiding
- Infrared
- Instrumentation
- Optical
- Tip-tilt
- Wide-field