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2013-05-28T11:00
Current Instruments
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1100 |
Halpern, Mark |
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1115 |
Bastien, Pierre |
POL-2: a Polarimeter for the James-Clerk-Maxwell Telescope |
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POL-2 is a polarimeter for the submillimetre built with a CFI grant for use with the SCUBA-2 camera on the James-Clerk-Maxwell telescope. After a description of the instrument and its properties, I will discuss the commissioning data obtained in September 2012 and February 2013, the data reduction, and present an update about its current status. Co-authors: P. Ade, S. Bernier, D. S. Berry, E. Bissonette, A. Chrysostomou, S. Coudé, P. Friberg, B. G. Gom, J. Greaves, W. Holland, M. Houde, T. Hezareh, D. Johnstone, T. Jenness, J.-T. Landry, M. Leclerc, B. C. Matthews, D. A. Naylor, G. Pisano, G. Savini, A. Simon |
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1130 |
Cannon, Kipp |
Status of LIGO and Virgo |
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Update on the status of the Advanced LIGO and Virgo antennas, and highlights of recently published results in the on-going effort to direcctly observe gravitational radiation. |
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1145 |
Zhang, Jielai |
Dragonfly: A Quest for Ultra Low Surface Brightness |
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The limiting factors in observing extended low surface brightness objects are instrument systematics and sky background- traditional telescopes cannot overcome this with more integration time or larger apertures. A novel telescope, Dragonfly, is designed to reduce systematic noise via the use of independent and offset optical paths, unobstructed pupils and a novel nano-structure grown optical coating. Together with the implementation of a variety of techniques during observation and image processing, a survey of local galaxies is beginning to be carried out. The survey aims to look for substructure that is predicted by hierarchical models of galaxy formation. |
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1200 |
Manset, Nadine |
Current data reduction pipeline developments for CFHT's MegaCam, WIRCam, and ESPaDOnS |
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For its 3 queue-operated instruments, CFHT provides detrended data, using pipelines developed in house: Elixir for MegaCam, Iiwi for WIRCam, and Upena/Libre-Esprit for ESPaDOnS. Based on the experience of CFHT's astronomers and input from the communities, those pipelines are from time to time improved or expanded. In the past few years, Elixir was expanded to include a low-surface-brightness reduction mode (LSB) that improves the background subtraction and helps reveal very faint structures in galaxies. Iiwi is undergoing similar improvements regarding sky subtraction. CFHT is currently developing a brand new pipeline for the reduction of ESPaDOnS (or other instruments) data, called OPERA. Results and updates will be presented. |
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1215 |
Matthews, Jaymie |
BRITE: A new constellation in the sky |
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BRITE (BRIght Target Explorer) Constellation is a Canadian-Austrian-Polish project that will feature 6 nanosatellites in low Earth orbit, photometrically monitoring the brightest stars in the night sky through two bandpasses. The sample of apparently brightest stars is heavily weighted towards the most luminous massive stars, and evolved cool giants and supergiants. BRITE Constellation will measure in these two populations (1) pulsational frequency spectra to enable asteroseismology of stellar structures and evolutionary states, (2) structures and time scales of the massive stellar winds, (3) turbulent convection in the giants and supergiants, (4) activity cycles and rotational dynamics, and (5) exoplanetary transits. The BRITE Constellation is currently a binary system in the sky, with the launch of the first two nanosats in late February aboard an Indian rocket. The next stars will rise later this year aboard a Russian Dnper rocket, and the full Constellation is expected to be above the horizon by 2014. |
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