Instrumentation School

Dunlap Institute Summer School 2012

Introduction to Astronomical Instrumentation

 

Tools and Techniques for Pioneering Astronomers

This five day summer school provides an introduction to cutting-edge astronomical instrumentation for current and future telescope facilities.

The school is designed around both lecture and interactive laboratory activities from world-renowned astronomers who specialize in building astronomical instruments. Activities will delve into the basic principles of optics and detectors and lead into more advanced topics on instrument design and development.

Target Audience

This summer school is designed with both lectures and laboratory activities intended for senior undergraduates and graduate students with a background in Astronomy, Physics, or Engineering.

Participants do not need to have a background in instrumentation. This school will include a focus on laboratory, computer, and data acquisition skills.

Applying

We encourage applications from senior undergraduates and graduate students with an interest in how to develop new astronomical instruments and how to use them for answering the most fundamental questions about the universe. Please scroll down and apply using the form at the bottom of this page!

FAQs

Questions? Read these FAQs

Additional Information

Still have a question? Contact us at summer.school@di.utoronto.ca

This page will be updated as we get closer to the deadlines: please check back regularly.

Organization

 

Date: July 30 – August 3, 2012

Location: University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Organizer: Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics

Partners: Yale University, Cornell University, Connaught Institute

Registration

 

Registration opens: March 1, 2012

Deadline for registration: May 18, 2012

Registration fee (includes meals and accomodation): CAD$500.00

NOTE THAT THE DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR A TRAVEL GRANT AND TUITION WAIVER HAS PAST.

 

Learning Objectives

At the end of the week, the participants should have gained an understanding of the following:

  • What are the basic principles of astronomical instrumentation?
  • How do telescopes and astronomical detectors work?
  • How do advanced astronomical cameras work?
  • How do high-precision spectrographs work?
  • Engage in in hands-on laboratory activities

Sample Topics

  • What are the latest and upcoming innovative instruments and telescopes?
  • How are we discovering extrasolar planets?
  • How do we discover and weigh supermassive black holes?
  • How will future instruments discover the first stars and galaxies?
  • How and why do we use Adaptive Optics on ground-based telescopes?

Tentative List of Instructors

  • Debra Fischer (Yale)
  • Michael Fitzgerald (UCLA)
  • Olivier Guyon (Arizona)
  • Markus Kissler-Patig (ESO)
  • Sergio Leon-Saval (Sydney)
  • Jamie Lloyd (Cornell)
  • Suvrath Mahadevan (Penn)
  • George Rieke (Arizona)
  • Christian Schwab (Yale)
  • Luc Simard (HIA)
  • Julien Spronck (Yale)

Science and Local Organizing Committee

  • Bob Abraham
  • Alice Chow
  • Debra Fischer
  • James Graham
  • David Law
  • Jamie Lloyd
  • Jerome Maire
  • Dae-Sik Moon
  • Mike Reid
  • Suresh Sivanandam
  • Anne-Marie Weijmans
  • Shelley Wright

 

Apply Now

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Instruments

Designed and Built Here in Collaboration with our Partners

GPI

Local Member: James Graham (Project Scientist), Quinn Konopacky, Jerome Maire.

The Gemini Planet Imager is the next generation adaptive optics instrument being built for the Gemini Telescope. The goal is to image extrasolar planets orbiting nearby stars.

GPI will produce the first comprehensive survey of giant planets in the region where giant planets exist in our solar system — from 5 to 40 astronomical units radius. Dozens of these planets will be bright enough for high signal-to-noise ratio spectroscopy, moving our studies of extrasolar planets into the realm of detailed astrophysics.

We want to directly detect the light from an extrasolar planet to determine its mass and composition, with an ultimate goal of determining the nature of our own planetary system. More than 200 extrasolar planets are now known, but mostly through indirect Doppler techniques that indicate the planet’s mass and orbit. If we can directly pick out a planet from the star’s glare, we can use spectroscopy to measure the planet’s size, temperature, gravity, and even the composition of its atmosphere. By targeting many stars we will understand how common or unusual our own planetary system may be.

Initially, GPI will be deployed at Gemini South, a telescope with an 8-meter diameter mirror located on Cerro Pachon (Chilean Andes) at an altitude of 2715 meters (9000 feet). Later, GPI may also be used at the twin facility Gemini North, which is located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

First light and science operations are planned for mid-2012.

IRIS

  Local member of the collaborations: Shelley Wright (Project Scientist) and David Law.

IRIS is a first generation near-infrared (0.85-2.5 μm) instrument being designed to sample the diffraction limit of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). IRIS will include an integral field spectrograph (R~4000) and imaging camera (17″x17″). Both the spectrograph and imager will take advantage of the high spatial resolution achieved with the Narrow-Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS) at four spatial scales (0.004″, 0.009″, 0.025″, 0.05″). IRIS will achieve an angular resolution ten times better than images from the Hubble Space Telescope, and will be the highest angular resolution near-infrared instrument in the world.

Arctic Telescope

Local member of the collaborations: Nick Law (PI) and Suresh Sivanandam.

The Dunlap Institute Arctic Telescope is a wide-field half-metre telescope designed to search for habitable transiting planets around cool stars. The system will operate in the high Canadian arctic, where 24-hour darkness will improve the survey’s detection efficiency by a large factor compared to mid-latitude sites.

Robo-AO

Local member of the collaboration: Nick Law (Project Scientist).

Robo-AO (formerly CAMERA) is a robotic laser guide star adaptive optics system designed for the Palomar 60-inch telescope.

The system is planned to achieve first light in mid-2011.

Our SPIE paper has more details.

TMT NSCU

Local member of the collaboration: Dae-Sik Moon (PI). TMT NSCU is science calibration system for the adaptive optics and infrared instruments of the future Thirty Meter Telescope.

WIFIS

Local member of the collaboration: Dae-Sik Moon (PI).

WIFIS (Wide Integral-Field Infrared Spectrograph) is a near-infared integral-field spectrograph with 6″ x 12″ field on a 10-m telescope (or 15″ x 30″ on a 4-m telescope) and R = 5000 spectral resolving power.

Potential host telescopes include Palomar 5-m, IRTF 3-m and 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (in collaboration with the University of Florida).

First light expected for 2012.

Our SPIE paper has more details.

NIRES

Local member of the collaboration: Dae-Sik Moon.

NIRES (Near-Infrared Echelle Spectrograph) is the facility near-infrared spectrograph of the 10-m Keck II telescope.

Status: Almost ready, first light expected for 2011.

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IR Imaging Spectrograph

Overview

 

PI: James Larkin (UCLA)

Co-PI: Anna Moore (Caltech)

Project Scientist: Shelley Wright (Dunlap Institute, University of Toronto)

Other Local Member: David Law (Dunlap Institute, University of Toronto)

 

IRIS is a first generation near-infrared (0.85-2.5 μm) instrument being designed to sample the diffraction limit of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). IRIS will include an integral field spectrograph (R~4000) and imaging camera (17″x17″). Both the spectrograph and imager will take advantage of the high spatial resolution achieved with the Narrow-Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS) at four spatial scales (0.004″, 0.009″, 0.025″, 0.05″). IRIS will achieve an angular resolution ten times better than images from the Hubble Space Telescope, and will be the highest angular resolution near-infrared instrument in the world.

Integral field Spectrograph

Wavelength coverage 0.8–2.5 μm; multiple gratings (shared by lenslet and slicer)
Spectral Resolution R=4000; potential R=8000
Spatial Scales Lenslet: 0.004&Prime, 0.009&Prime
Slicer: 0.025&Prime, 0.05&Prime
Field Size BB=Broadband, NB=Narrowband
4mas: 0.064″x0.512″(BB); 0.458″x0.512″(NB)
9mas: 0.144″x1.152″(BB); 1.008″x1.152″(NB)
25mas: 1.1″x2.275″
50mas: 2.2″x4.55″
Image Quality Wavefront error less than 30 nm; coarser scales (25/50mas) may deviate from this
Filters Broadband filters (Y, Z, J, H, K), Narrowband (5 % bandpass) filters, and specialized filters (< 1% bandpass)
Detector 4096 x 4096 Teledyne Technologies Hawaii-4RG and ASIC; 15 μm pixels, long-wavelength cutoff @2.5 μm; low charge persistence; highest QE

Imager

Wavelength coverage 0.8–2.5 μm
Spatial Scale 0.004&Prime per pixel
Field Size 17.2&Prime x 17.2&Prime
Image Quality Wavefront error less than 30 nm
Astrometry Absolute accuracy = 2 mas
Relative accuracy = 30 μas
Filters Broadband filters (Y, Z, J, H, K), Narrowband (5 % bandpass) filters, and specialized filters (< 1% bandpass)
Detector 4096 x 4096 Teledyne Technologies Hawaii-4RG and ASIC; 15 μm pixels, long-wavelength cutoff @2.5 μm; low charge persistence; highest QE

Integral Field Spectrograph

Team Leads: James Larkin(UCLA), Anna Moore(Caltech), Brian Bauman(UCSC)

The purpose of an integral field spectrograph (IFS) is to acquire spectra over a two-dimensional area of the sky, where for each spatial location (or dissecting element) a spectrum is produced. IRIS is designed with two spatial sampling techniques, lenslet array and mirror slicer, to optimize the best quality spectra with both high throughput and low wavefront error. Both the lenslet array and slicer optics are fed into a single spectrograph, and share similar optics (i.e., TMAs, reimaging optics, gratings, filters, and detector). The lenslet array is used for the finest spatial resolutions (0.004″, 0.009″) and the mirror slicer is used for the coarsest spatial resolutions (0.025″, 0.05″). When delivered, IRIS will have a fully packaged data reduction pipeline for real-time reductions during observations and final reductions for user astronomers.

 

Cartoon illustration showing how a lenslet array (top) and slicer (bottom) samples the plane of the sky and the locations of the spectra along the 2D detector. The IRIS pipeline will then extract each spectrum from the detector and generate a reduced cube (x, y, wavelength).

Imager

Team Leads: Ryuji Suzuki (IfA), Masahiro Konishi (NAOJ), Tomonori Usuda (NAOJ) The near-infared (0.8 – 2.5 μm) imager will have a sp ati al sampling of 0.004″ per pixel with a total field of view of 17.2″ x 17.2″. The optical design has been optimized to achieve the lowest wavefront error (~30 nm) in order to sample the high spatial resolutions achieved from the adaptive optics system, NFIRAOS. The leading science cases for the imager require a high level of astrometric precision (e.g., Galactic Center, star forming regions,). The imager is expected to achieve an astrometric absolute accuracy of 2-4 mas and relative accuracy of 30 μas.

Picture of the latest Hawaii-2RG detector being tested at UCLA’s infrared laboratory. Both the IRIS imager and spectrograph are being desiged to use the developing Teledyne Hawaii-4RG detector, which should have similar low readout and detector noise and high quantum efficiencies to the Hawaii-2RG detector.

On-Instrument Wavefront Sensors (OIWFS)

Team Leads: David Loop (HIA) and Anna Moore(Caltech)

IRIS will house low-order wavefront sensors (WFS) that will be used by NFIRAOS to monitor tip-tilt, astigmatism, and focus. IRIS will have three WFSs, which will sample stars as faint as J = 22 mag over a 2 arcminute field-of-view (FOV). The WFSs must be deployable over the entire FOV to maximize sky coverage, and allow for optimum AO correction (the best correction is obtained when the WFSs are deployed symmetrically about the science target). The figure below shows the geometric configuration of the three tip-tilt guide arms and the locations of the IRIS imager and spectrograph.

Geometric configuration for the three wavefront sensor arms that can be positioned over the entire 2 arcminute field-of-view. The IRIS imager (red) is on-axis and the integral field spectrograph (blue) is 18″ off-axis.

Atmosphere Dispersion Corrector (ADC)

Team Lead: Drew Philips (UCSC)

One of the challenges of generating an instrument with high angular resolutions (0.004″) is compensating for the dispersion that occurs within Earth’s atmosphere. In order to counter this effect IRIS will house an atmospheric dispersion corrector (ADC) in front of IRIS science’s dewar. beIt will use real-time knowledge of atmospheric conditions (temperature, pressure, humidity) and optical elements to correct for dispersion over varying observing elevations.

Atmospheric dispersion that occurs for six different wavelengths over varying airmasses. IRIS’s ADC will  able to correct for these observed dispersions over the entire near-infared wavelength range (0.85 – 2.5 μm).

IRIS Science

Team Lead: Shelley Wright (UofT)

The combination of a large collecting area and unprecedented angular resolution will have a direct impact on a broad range of science programs that span topics as diverse as the search for extrasolar planets to studies of the first stars to illuminate the Universe. The science team has generated a plethora of astronomical topics that IRIS will be capable of exploring.

Summary of Science Cases

First Light:

Identification and characterization of first light galaxies and population III stars. Figure on the left is a simulation of a forming galaxy at z=12.5 and the expected hydrogen number density (Johnson, Greif, Bromm 2008). The dense gas (orange-white) just left of the center of the galaxy represents the formation of two Pop III stars. Overlaid on the figure is a 1″x3″ field of view (3.6kpc x 10.8kpc), which is close to the FOV using IRIS’s 0.025″ slicer scale.

 

High-z Galaxy Dynamics and Morphologies:

Studying galaxy formation and mass assembly over cosmic time (1 < z <5). Using optical emission lines (e.g., Hα, Hβ, [OIII]) to map 2D dynamics of galaxies during the peak epoch of star formation and AGN accretion. The anticipated S/N ratios for Hα emission from four high-z galaxies as observed using the IRIS IFS 0.05″ spatial sampling (see Law et al. 2006).

 

Metallicity Evolution and Gradients:

Tracing metallicity over cosmic time (1 < z <5) using multiple optical emission lines to determine the chemical enrichment history. The IFS will be able to map metallicity gradients over individual high-z galaxies from different galactic components (i.e.,bulge, disk, outflows, and inflows.The figure on the right is a [NII]/Hα ratio map of a z~1.6 galaxy from the Keck AO system, and shows high spatial concentration (yellow) of [NII]/Hα which shows the presence of a weak AGN within this star-forming dominated galaxy (Wright et al. 2009). IRIS will be essential for distinguishing between AGN and star forming emission from different regions of a galaxy.

 

Supermassive Black Holes:

A study of AGN, black hole demographics and growth throughout cosmic history.The left figure is of the MBH-σ relation plotted for measured black hole masses versus observed dispersions of late-type spirals and nuclear star clusters (Barth et al. 2009). There is a large phase-space regime that requires both higher sensitivity and angular resolution observations of low mass black holes (106 Msun) and high mass black holes (109 Msun). IRIS’s finest scale (0.004″) is very suitable for this study.

 

Local Galaxies and Stellar Populations:

A study of stellar populations in galaxies from the local group to the Virgo cluster. IRIS with its high-angular resolution and sensitivity will be able to produce near-infrared spectra and images of individual stars in nearby galaxies, and will probe the chemical enrichment and formation histories for a range of Hubble types.A one-degree image of the Virgo cluster (18 Mpc) from HST, with the lenticular galaxy at the center and other spiral galaxies on the outskirts. IRIS will be able to study each of these galaxies to an unprecedented image depth.

 

Dwarf Galaxies:

A study of local dwarf galaxy’s dynamical and chemical enrichment to probe the dark matter distribution and differing dark matter models (warm vs. cold).On the left, the cumulative number of Milky Way satellite galaxies as a function of their observed cicular velocities (black points). These observations are compared to the Via Lactea N-body simulation of predicted number of satellites and how differing reionization epochs influences the expected satellite number distribution (Simon & Geha 2007).

 

Galactic Center:

Studying the properties and conditions surrounding the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of the Galaxy. The relative astrometric accuracy of 30 μas will allow measurements to better constrain MBH, test General Relativity, determine GC distance, and the stellar dynamical history.Right figure is of the current imaging capabilities of the central arcsecond sources from Keck-AO. The image on the right represents the depth and resolution that TMT and IRIS will provide (see UCLA Galactic Center).

 

Star Formation:

Investigating star formation properties in star clusters: timescale of star formation and efficiencies, initial cluster mass function (ICMF), initial mass function, multiplicity and kinematicsThe figure on the left illustrates three clusters with varying masses (30Dor: 105Msun, NGC3603: 104 Msun, Orion: 103 Msun) which will be resolved with IRIS at distances up to 20 Mpc away.

 

Microlensing:

Constraining models of stellar structure and evolution by determining precise stellar masses from astrometric microlensing. IRIS, with its high astrometric relative accuracy, will be able to fit microlens light curves to accurately determine stellar masses for a range of stellar-types.On the right, a proper motion curve for a star over 5 years that has been lensed (solid curve) and without being lens (dashed lens) (Belukurov & Evans 2002).

 

Extrasolar Planets:

The detection and characterization of extrasolar planets and planet forming environments.On the left, an image of the first extrasolar multiple planet system ever directly-imaged, around the young star HR 8799 (Marois et al. 2008). The image is a near-infrared color composite of J, H, and K bands taken from both Keck and Gemini telescopes using adaptive optics. Each planet is respectively 70, 40, and 25 AU from the central star. A system such as HR 8799 would be easily studied using IRIS.

 

Solar System:

The formation history of our solar system. Using near-infrared spectroscopy for compositional and dynamical studies of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBO) and transneptunian objects (TNOs).Near infared spectra of Pluto and the TNO, 2005 FY9, show strong methane absorption in the figure on the right (Licandro et al. 2006).

 

Lastly, and perhaps the most intriguing, are the new discoveries that will likely be revealed by IRIS. As is stated in The Exploration of the Unknown by Kellermann el al. 2009, “The excitement of the next generation of astronomical facilities is not in the old questions which will be answered, but in the new questions that they will raise.” With IRIS and TMT extending our current technology by orders of magnitude in sensitivity and angular resolution it has the promise of doing just that.

 

IRIS Team Members

IRIS is a multi-institutional collaboration from USA, Canada, and Japan.

 

IRIS technical team:

  • James Larkin (UCLA): Principal investigator, IFS design lead
  • Anna Moore (Caltech): Co-principal investigator, Slicer design lead
  • Brian Bauman (UCSC): Optical designer
  • John Canfield (UCLA): Mechanical engineer
  • David Crampton (HIA): TMT Instrument Project manager
  • Alex Delacroix (Caltech): Mechannical engineer
  • Murray Fletcher (HIA): OIWFS team member
  • Masahiro Konishi (NAOJ): Imager team
  • David Loop (HIA): OIWFS design lead
  • Dae-Sik Moon (UofT): Science calibration unit lead`
  • Drew Phillips (UCSC): ADC design lead
  • Vladmir Reshetov (HIA): Mechanical engineer
  • Luc Simard (HIA): IRIS/NFIRAOS technical interface
  • Ryuji Suzuki (IfA): Imager optical design
  • Tomonori Usuda (NAOJ): Imager team
IRIS science team:

  • Shelley Wright (UofT): Project Scientist, High-Redshift Universe
  • Maté Adamkovics (Berkeley): Solar System
  • Lee Armus (IPAC): Galaxies, ULIRG
  • Aaron Barth (UCI): Black Holes and Bulges
  • Joshua Bloom (Berkeley): Microlensing
  • Pat Coté (HIA): Black Holes and Nuclear Star Clusters
  • Will Clarkson (UCLA): Astrometry
  • Tim Davidge (HIA): Stellar Populations of Nearby Galaxies
  • Tuan Do (UCI): IRIS Sensitvities, Galactic Center
  • Andrea Ghez (UCLA): Galactic Center and Star Clusters
  • Miwa Goto (MPIA): Star Formation
  • David Law (UofT): High-Redshift Universe
  • Nobunari Kashikawa (NAO): First Light Galaxies
  • Bruce Macintosh (LLNL): Exoplanets
  • Christian Marois (HIA): Exoplanets
  • Shri Kulkarni (Caltech): Astrometry
  • Jessica Lu (UH): Star Formation, Astrometry, and Galactic Center
  • Hajime Sugai (Kyoto U): AGN, Starbursts and the Early Universe
  • Jonathan Tan (Florida): Star Formation
  • Tomasso Treu (UCSB): Gravitational Lensing
  • Tomonori Usuda (NAOJ): Star formation
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Surveys

ATLAS3D

Local member of the collaboration: Dr. Anne-Marie Weijmans.

The ATLAS3D project (Cappellari et al. 2011) combines a multi-wavelength survey of a complete sample of 260 early-type galaxies within the local (42Mpc) volume (1.16×105 Mpc3) with numerical simulations and semi-analytic modeling of galaxy formation. This project aims to quantify the global stellar kinematics and dynamics of a statistically significant sample of objects to characterize the class of early-type galaxies, and relate this to their formation and evolution.

The observational part of the project consists of optical integral-field spectroscopy using the SAURON integral-field unit on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), radio and millimeter observation with the Westerbork Radio Synthesis Telescope (WRST), the IRAM 30m telescope and the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA).

The data will be released at the completion of the project, providing a unique Legacy Survey.

State-of-the-art numerical simulations will help and support the interpretation of this unique set of data, assessing signatures in the dynamics and stellar populations of the formation and evolution processes of early-type galaxies. An extensive series of high resolution N-body + gas (SPH and/or sticky particles) simulations are being performed, including e.g., star formation and feedback, both for isolated or interacting galaxies, binary and multiple mergers, as well as cosmologically motivated simulations.

Palomar Transient Factory

Local member of the collaboration: Nick Law (Project Scientist).

The Palomar Transient Factory is a transient search using an 8-square-degree imager on the Palomar 48-inch telescope.

The system has been running reliably since January 2009. PTF (PI: Shri Kulkarni) is a collaboration of over 70 people in many institutions. The system completed commissioning in summer 2009; a full description of the system is published in Law et al. 2009 (PASP 121.1395L).

PTF has already found over a thousand extragalactic transients and discovered a whole new class of supernova!

PTF/M-dwarfs

Local member of the collaboration: Nick Law (PI). PTF/M-dwarfs is a new search for giant planets around M-dwarfs using data from the Palomar Transient Factory, as well as follow-up by other telescopes.

The project took its first observations at the end of 2009 and involves teams from Caltech, LCOGT and Hawaii.

So far we have observed over 100,000 M-dwarfs, with sensitivity to planetary transits around each one.

A brief description of the project can be found in the PTF science cases paper, a recent poster from the Cool Stars conference is here, and the Cool Stars conference proceedings are here and here.

MAAPS

Local member of the collaboration: Nick Law (PI).

MAAPS, the M-dwarf Astrometric AO Planet Search, is a Palomar adaptive-optics astrometry program. The search achieves 100-200 microarcsecond astrometric precision, sufficient to detect Jupiter-mass planets around mid-M-dwarfs.

 

MaNGA

Local member of the collaboration: David Law, Anne-Marie Weijmans, Shelley Wright

The Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MANGA) project is one of the 3 programs that will take place during the fourth incarnation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Bundling together the individual fibers in the existing BOSS spectrograph into small integral-field units (IFUs), MaNGA will study nearly 10,000 galaxies over the 6 year lifetime of the survey. The data provided will permit astronomers at the Dunlap Institute and partner institutions to study the kinematics, chemistry, and gas content of galaxies in the modern universe in exquisite detail and serve as a comparison sample with which to understand the growth of galaxies across cosmic time.

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