A new software tool to predict astrometric errors for ELTs
-
1.
Indian Institute of Astrophysics
-
2.
University of California, San Diego
-
3.
University of California, Berkeley
Contributors
Others:
Abstract
Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) have precision requirements of a few tens of micro-arcsec for differential astrometry science cases. Each ELT project has its own astrometric error budget taking into consideration the specific design parameters of the observatory. A version of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) astrometry error budget has previously been established and the details were presented at SPIE 2016.1 In this paper, we briefly revisit this error budget analysis. The main focus of this paper is a new python-based astrometry calculator which was developed for a more user-friendly application of the error budget. It facilitates direct evaluation of and comparison between different scenarios such as absolute vs differential astrometry; dense vs spare observation fields; science fields with and without reference objects, etc. The details of the astrometry calculator and its general functions are described. A few example science sensitivity studies are presented and the procedure of estimating astrometric errors for other observatories is outlined.
Additional Information
© 2020 SPIE. This work was done in collaboration as part of the TMT Early Career Initiative (TECI). The authors would like to thank TECI, which is managed by the Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators and funded by the Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory and University of California Observatories. The TMT Project gratefully acknowledges the support of the TMT collaborating institutions. They are the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the National Astronomical Observatories of China and their consortium partners, the Department of Science and Technology of India and their supported institutes, and the National Research Council of Canada. This work was supported as well by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), the U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan, and the Department of Atomic Energy of India.Attached Files
Published - 114501S.pdf
Presentation - SPIE-AS20-bac24df6-5e04-ea11-813b-005056be78dc.pdf
Files
114501S.pdf
Additional details
Identifiers
- Eprint ID
- 110024
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20210727-164429668
Related works
- Describes
- https://github.com/chamarthisireesha/TMTAstrometry (URL)
Funding
- Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory
- University of California Observatories
- Caltech
- University of California
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
- National Astronomical Observatories of China
- Department of Science and Technology (India)
- National Research Council of Canada
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Canada Foundation for Innovation
- Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund
- Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA)
- Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)
- NSF
- National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan
- Department of Atomic Energy (India)
Dates
- Created
-
2021-08-02Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-08-02Created from EPrint's last_modified field
Caltech Custom Metadata
- Caltech groups
- Thirty Meter Telescope
- Series Name
- Proceedings of SPIE
- Series Volume or Issue Number
- 11450