IR Astronomy with theItalian Robotic Antarctic

Infrared Telescope (IRAIT)(M. Busso)

• IRAIT status, June 2006 (Mounting - Container – Tent - Software)

• IRAIT – 2005/2006 & 2006/2007 activities on site.

• First examples of feasible science of interest for THIS meeting (IR surveys)

• Some characteristics of the camera (M. Dolci)

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Who is involved?

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

University of Perugia – P.I. Gino Tosti (telescope)

INAF (various Institutes, coordinated by Teramo Observatory) – AMICA camera (Straniero, Dolci)

Spanish consortium (coordinated by Granada & Barcelona groups,P.I. C. Abia): M2 and M3 (moving optics)

Plus: a ‘commissioning’ advisory council (M. Busso et al); will bechanged into a more official International Scientific Board afterCommissioning.

The optical layout

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Optical Scheme: Optical Scheme:

Classical Cassegrain +2 Classical Cassegrain +2 NNasmyth asmyth stationsstations

•Primary Mirror Diameter 800 mm

•Focal Ratio of the primary 3

•Tolal Focal Ratio 20Presently: all parts finished.Mounting under way at ‘MarconTelescopes’ (after sparate tests,in climatic room or Antarctica,of critical subsystems).From July, 1 to September, 30:Astronomical tests in Perugia.

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Tent

Completed: end of May 2006

Container

Was delivered to the Marcon Telescope company on Jan 16 Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Expedition

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

EXPEDITION IN AUTUMN!

Mirrors – ready by now!

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT M1

IRAIT M3

IRAIT M2

Mounting… (May 2006)

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Telscope Basement

Elevation wheel-pinionsTop Ring

Optical tube

…and mounting…

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Telescope center piece

Azimuth slewing bearing &IRAIT Motors

… and mounting…

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT M2 & M3 DRIVER SUBSYSTEMS(PI Carlos Abia UGR-Spain)

Construction: NTE (Barcelona), including mirrors, supportrs, focuser motor and reducer, limit switches, chopper actuators and chopper sensors. Manufacturing of mechanical parts started in January 2006. Ready by end June 2006 (mounting will start on the pre-assembled IRAIT structure in 10 days from now)

A

B

A

B

C

IRAIT Control system is on board the telescope

More details on subsystems?

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT Power Distribution Layout

MT

24

VD

C P

S

C

T

Heater Fan

T

PLCKT 97

AI AI AI DC1

Moxa

2 3 4

GA

LIL

C C CC C C C CC C C C C

Heater

Fan

Fan

Fan

Fan

Heater

Heater

Heater

MT

SWITCH

PC1 TCS

MT

C C CC C

MT

2x12

VD

C P

S

5 V

DC

PS

24 V

DC

PS

M

M

MT

SLIPRING

d

Telescope Fork Boxes

Infrared Camera Box

400VAC

M

M

Optical Tube Box

C

test

M2/M3

SBP

Container Box

SEC

CTOF

C

C

C

C

IO G C

Moxa

Moxa

C

MoxaC

GPS

24VDC

230VAC

230VAC

230VAC

24VDC

24VDC

400VAC

400VAC400VAC

F

F

F

TESTER

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT Internal Data Distribution Layout

1

Moxa 2p

2 3

Moxa 2p

4 GALIL

Moxa 2p

SWITCH

Moxa 2p

PLCKT 97

AI AI AIDCPC 1

(TCS)

GPS

AI AI AIDC

M2/M3

PC 2 (CAMERA)

AIDC

EthernetEthernet

MM Optical Fiber

CS31 Bus

CS31 Bus

Telescope Fork Box

Optical Tube Box

Infrared Camera Box

Container Box

RCN 727

RCN 727

EnDAT

SLIPRING

TESTER

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT software modules: TCS

TCSTelescope

Control System

Controller

Driver

Driver

Driver

Driver

M

M

M

M

TCP/IPI am not the right person for this! Gino should have been here, and he is in bed with a flu, instead!

But…..

You are all invited to see, and touch, and try, and drink a good glass of wine with us at the end of the test phase:

PERUGIA 12-13 September 2006: IRAIT kick-off(info will be posted on the ARENA web-page).

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Test done at Dome C in summer 2005/2006

1.Power supply stability2.WiFi Networking3.Tests on greese4.IRAIT PC server installation5.Measurements of the sky polarization

(we need to operate ALSO in summer: polarizing skylight lets you see the stars for pointing) Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT Team A Dome C

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT Team A Dome C

IRAIT first experimentsnear Concoriastro

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT Team At Dome C

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Campaign at Dome C 2006/7

• Preparation of the IRAIT Site

• Istallation of the IRAIT auxiliary devices (Meteo station, etc..)

• Transportation of IRAIT at Dumont d’Urville (Oct 2006)

• One person (R. Briguglio) of the IRAIT team during winter 2007 at Dome C.

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT at Dome C 2006/2007

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

IRAIT at Dome C 2006/2007

sIRAIT (IRAIT Team + AIP Potsdam)Installation of a small optical telescope + CCD camera & Filters(more extended tests of software, motors etc.). We shall try to operate it during winter.

Small IRAIT Focal Plane instrumentation:MAXCAM CM7-1ME Digital imaging systemUBVRI Filterrad 28mm, 8 Pos.UBVRI filtersDF-2 Digital focuser (50mm aperture)AD-1 Adapter MAXCAM AN DF-2

Small IRAIT is a 25 cm Cassegrain equatorially mounted

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Science, a few examples(for an 80-cm telescope)

• Mid-IR wavelengths: stars black-bodies (Rayleigh-Jeans, -4);• Circumstellar envelopes with dust dominate over photospheres.

(OR very cool objects: brown dwarfs, giant planets, ….).• Obvious targets: red Galactic objects, interactions between stellar

fluxes and the ISM Examples: 1. Small-scale surveys of mass losing evolved stars

(AGB);2. Small-scale surveys of dense ISM regions & SFR

• Variability studied with repeated observations (long obs. time).• (In principle, a sample of galaxies at low Z (< 0.1) accessible to

study colors, SF bursts. IR bright galaxies, as well.• Moreover, ~100 known AGN reachable - IRAS!).• Hence: science interesting in itself, not only as a test-bench for

larger instruments.

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

At 12.5 mm, 0 mag 25.88 Jy. Suppose we measure down to 0.5 Jy in 10 min, 5 (a limit reached by us with TIRCAM2 at TIRGO, not in Antarctica! See Busso et al. 2006).

This means m(12) = +4.8

AN EXAMPLE: AGB STARS

I magnitudes: 17 to 14, with large I-K (2 to 5)

Alcaino et al. 1999

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

LMC MIRAS in K

Indeed, K-magnof LMC MIRASare 9-14 (Wood, 2000)

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

-Bolometric corrections on K are huge;-K-[12.5] colors are huge, up to 10 or more[12.5] magnitudes (in a filter 1 m wide)

are huge: between -10 and -15 forred AGBs with Mbol = -4 to -7

With a distance modulus of 18.5, we haveapparent [12.5] mags for LMC AGBs are 1 -- 5

Galactic AGBs (seeGuandalini, on Friday)

With a very cautious estimate we said we can measure a mag. of 4.8 in a 1 mm wide filter at 12 mm.

We can study in mid-IR the AGB phase of LMS stars, e.g.cluster.

Rich clusters in LMC are small: 3x3’ is a typical number.With AMICA (field > 2x2) we can do ‘limited surveys’ and

study luminosities and mass loss of the final evolutionary stages, at known distance

With long time availbale (variability) this is a unique, unprecedentedresult

With a 4-m telescope: same up to 200 Kpc (all dwarf spheroidals)In MCs, down to the whole of the RGB

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Post-AGB Sources…….

As a conseqeunce….

Best use of IRAIT:

i) Preparation of automated operations for survey mode observations

ii) Identification of key small-scale survey projects, on topics like those mentioned (SFR, AGB stars, old populations in the Galaxy, & MCs).

iii) Moreover, ToO, like gamma-ray bursters: we will be operative during GLAST)

Paris, June 14-16, 2006

Astronomy is continuing to change…

J. Vermeer, The Astronomer, XVII century (The Louvre, Paris)

The Astronomer, XXI century, (Dome C, Antarctica)

Paris, June 14-16, 2006