NELIOTA: The wide-field, high-cadence lunar monitoring system at the prime focus of the Kryoneri telescope
| Autor: | Vassilis Charmandaris, A. Fytsilis, P. Boumis, Alexios Liakos, G. Dimou, A. Dapergolas, I. Bellas-Velidis, Vicente Navarro, Alceste Z. Bonanos, Kleomenis Tsiganis, Kanaris Tsinganos, I. Alikakos, Emmanuel M. Xilouris, Detlef Koschny, A. Maroussis, M. Kelley |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences FOS: Physical sciences Astronomy and Astrophysics Monitoring system Astrophysics 01 natural sciences Wide field Semiconductor detector law.invention Telescope Space and Planetary Science Observatory Single site law 0103 physical sciences Focus (optics) Cadence Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) 0105 earth and related environmental sciences |
| Popis: | We present the technical specifications and first results of the ESA-funded, lunar monitoring project "NELIOTA" (NEO Lunar Impacts and Optical TrAnsients) at the National Observatory of Athens, which aims to determine the size-frequency distribution of small Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) via detection of impact flashes on the surface of the Moon. For the purposes of this project a twin camera instrument was specially designed and installed at the 1.2 m Kryoneri telescope utilizing the fast-frame capabilities of scientific Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor detectors (sCMOS). The system provides a wide field-of-view (17.0' $\times$ 14.4') and simultaneous observations in two photometric bands (R and I), reaching limiting magnitudes of 18.7 mag in 10 sec in both bands at a 2.5 signal-to-noise level. This makes it a unique instrument that can be used for the detection of NEO impacts on the Moon, as well as for any astronomy projects that demand high-cadence multicolor observations. The wide field-of-view ensures that a large portion of the Moon is observed, while the simultaneous, high-cadence, monitoring in two photometric bands makes possible, for the first time, the determination of the temperatures of the impacts on the Moon's surface and the validation of the impact flashes from a single site. Considering the varying background level on the Moon's surface we demonstrate that the NELIOTA system can detect NEO impact flashes at a 2.5 signal-to-noise level of ~12.4 mag in the I-band and R-band for observations made at low lunar phases ~0.1. We report 31 NEO impact flashes detected during the first year of the NELIOTA campaign. The faintest flash was at 11.24 mag in the R-band (about two magnitudes fainter than ever observed before) at lunar phase 0.32. Our observations suggest a detection rate of $1.96 \times 10^{-7}$ events $km^{-2} h^{-1}$. Accepted for publication in A&A |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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