Time-domain astronomy is important in the field of modern astronomy, and monitoring observations in the mid-infrared region with 1% photometric accuracy to study the variables and transients is becoming essential. The non-uniformity of the sensitivity caused by the optical characteristics of instruments and differences in the response curves of individual detector pixels degrade photometric accuracy. Therefore, to achieve 1% photometric accuracy, a flat-field correction for the non-uniformity with an accuracy of better than 1% is required. We developed a flat calibration unit (FCU) consisting of a silicon lens, a blackbody source, and two flat folding mirrors. We conducted proof-of-concept tests of the FCU by measuring the accuracy and stability of flat frames obtained using the FCU. The accuracies of the flat frames were 0.23% at 7.7 μm, 0.43% at 9.6 μm, 0.34% at 11.5 μm, and 0.84% at 20.9 μm, which are sufficient to achieve 1% photometric accuracy. The flat frames obtained using the FCU were stable over a period of 29 h within the accuracies of 0.13% at 7.7 μm, 0.12% at 9.6 μm, 0.22% at 11.5 μm, and 0.52% at 20.9 μm, indicating that it is sufficient to obtain flat frames once per night.
The Ka-/Q-band in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum is important for astrophysical and astrochemical research, particularly in the subfield of interstellar medium (ISM). The two bands cover not only the fundamental lines of the abundant dense gas tracer CS and its isotopologues but also a vast number of transitions of relatively large, long-chain, and/or complex organic species. Here, through a Taiwan-Japan collaboration, an extended Q-band (30-50GHz) receiver is built for Nobeyama 45-m telescope. The receiver front-end was installed at Nobeyama 45-m telescope in Nov. 2021 and obtained its first light in the same month. Commissioning and science verification (CSV) of the receiver was conducted in the first half of 2022. After commissioning, this receiver will be the only one in the world providing capability to cover 3 Zeeman transitions simultaneously at 7mm wavelength installed at large single dish telescope. It will be one of the most powerful facilities to explore the magnetic fields towards the pre-protostellar cores.
MIMIZUKU is a mid-infrared instrument for the TAO 6.5-m telescope under construction in the Atacama Desert, Chile, and will be the world’s first mid-infrared monitoring observation station. We aim to achieve a photometric accuracy of 1%. For this purpose, highly accurate flat fielding with an accuracy of 0.1% is needed. Although flat fielding has been conducted using sky images and dark images conventionally, the correction has uncertainties of several percent. The reason is that the non-linearity of the detector is not considered. To improve this, it is necessary to create flat frames from data in the same count level as during observation. Highly accurate flat frames were derived by taking differential counts against the time variation of the atmospheric radiation. However, this method cannot be used under stable conditions suitable for observations. Therefore, we developed a flat calibration unit which irradiates the detector uniformly and vary the irradiation intensity with time to enable the improved flat fielding under any conditions. We designed the unit that irradiates the detector uniformly by placing a silicon lens and a blackbody source in front of the camera. The blackbody source is put at the pupil position of the optical system. We made some tests to create flat images with the unit. By improving flat fielding, we have successfully corrected for patterns originating from the detector, which appeared in the conventional one. We also clarified that the accuracy of the improved flat fielding was 0.29%, while the accuracy of the conventional one was 1.3%.
Machine learning-based analysis has become essential to efficiently handle the increasing massive data from modern astronomical instruments in recent years. Churchwell et al. (2006, 2007) identified infrared ring structures, which are believed to relate to the formation of massive stars, with the human eye. Recently, Ueda et al. (2020) showed that Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) can detect objects with indistinct boundaries such as infrared rings with comparable accuracy as the human eye. However, such a classification-based object detector requires a long processing time, making it impractical to apply to existing all-sky 12 μm and 22 μm data captured by WISE. We introduced the Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD, Liu W. et al. 2016), which directly outputs the locations and confidences of targets, to significantly reduce the time for identification. We applied an SSD model to the rings toward the 6 deg2 region in the Galactic plane which is the same region used in Ueda et al. (2020), and confirmed that the time for identification was reduced by about 1/80 with maintaining almost the same accuracy. Since detecting small rings is still difficult by even this model, an input image should be cropped
into small images, which increases the number of applications of the model. There is still room for reducing the
processing time. In the future, we will try to solve this problem and detect the rings faster.
Photogrammetry technique is widely used for the initial alignment of main-reflector panels of millimeter/ submillimeter-wave telescopes by analyzing a great number of photos of the reflector at the rest state taken from different angles and distances. In this study, we investigated a possibility that the photogrammetry can be applied for real-time surface measurements which is important to realize active surface controls that improve reflector surface accuracy during scientific observations. The technique is important especially for realizing larger aperture and higher frequency telescopes. We developed a simulator to investigate the accuracy of the surface measurements with photos taken with fixed cameras mounted on the stays of the sub-reflector. As a result, we found that the accuracy of surface measurement is roughly inversely proportional to square-root of the number of fixed cameras, and the calculation time roughly proportional to the product of the numbers of cameras and measurement points. For the case of Nobeyama 45-m telescope, the accuracy of 1 mm (rms) was achieved for 164 surface points by 10 cameras with a calculation time of ∼2 sec by a developed python code using a single-core Xeon processor. In order to improve the accuracy with a minimum number of cameras, more various camera positions (e.g., surrounding the vertex hole of the main reflector and surrounding the main reflector) should be investigated, and their combination should be optimized. Applying high-performing technologies such as multiprocessors and/or GPUs, faster calculation is to be considered.
The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) is a project to build and operate an infrared-optimized 6.5m telescope at the summit of Cerro Chajnantor (5640 m.a.s.l). This is promoted by Institute of Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, the University of Tokyo in collaboration with many universities and institutes. The project is now approaching the final phase of the construction. Production of major components are almost completed. The primary mirror fabricated by Steward Observatory Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab in the University of Arizona was temporarily assembled in its support system and confirmed its performance by the optical test in the laboratory. The telescope mount, the enclosure system, and the mirror coating system were fabricated in Japan and already shipped to Chile. They are now stored in an open yard located in the foot area of Cerro Chajanator. The expansion of the summit access road, the summit leveling, the foundation work was completed. Now the construction work of the summit facilities is on-going. TAO will equip three instruments in early science phase. A near-infrared instrument SWIMS is completed, and now used as a PI-type instrument of Subaru telescope. A near-infrared spectrograph NICE which was used on the 1.6m Pirka telescope in Japan is being refurbished for TAO. A mid-infrared instrument MIMIZUKU successfully saw the first light on Subaru telescope and is being prepared for TAO in Japan. We expect to start science operation in FY2023.
MIMIZUKU is the first-generation mid-infrared instrument for the TAO 6.5-m telescope. It has three internal optical channels to cover a wide wavelength range from 2 to 38 µm. Of the three channels, the NIR channel is responsible for observations in the shortest wavelength range, shorter than 5.3 µm. The performance of the NIR channel is evaluated in the laboratory. Through the tests, we confirm the followings: 1) the detector (HAWAII 1RG with 5.3-µm cutoff) likely achieves ∼80% quantum efficiency; 2) imaging performance is sufficient to achieve seeing-limit spatial resolution; 3) system efficiencies in imaging mode are 2.4–31%; and 4) the system efficiencies in spectroscopic modes is 5–18%. These results suggest that the optical performance of the NIR channel is achieved as expected from characteristics of the optical components. However, calculations of the background levels and on-sky sensitivity based on these results suggest that neutral density (ND) filters are needed to avoid saturation in L ′ - and M′ -band observations and that the ND filters and the entrance window, made of chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD) diamond, significantly degrade the sensitivity in these bands. This means that the use of different window materials and improvements of the detector readout speed are required to achieve both near-infrared and long-wavelength mid-infrared (>30 µm) observations.
Owing to recent performance improvement and lower pricing of computers, built-in computers are equipped in virtually all measurement/control hardware, and small computers (e.g., Raspberry-Pi) can be obtained inexpensively to monitor the environment and/or hardware status. Those devices are able to communicate via network. The system having flexibility adaptable with the rapidly changing trend of hardware is desired in order to provide powerful functions quickly for the telescope control. Software developed for robot operations could be used for this purpose that controlling distributed and network-linked hardware. The Robot Operating System (ROS) is an open source software platform and one of the most used frameworks for robot operations. It has a number of libraries and tools to help us create robot applications. Under this background, we are developing NECST (NEw Control System for Telescope) using ROS framework. In NECST, each atomic operation (such as device operation and arithmetic operation) is divided into a node which is an elemental object in ROS. Nodes are grouped and packaged by their functionalities for convenience. The control systems of telescope and receiver are built by combining those packages. Since there are about ∼100 nodes even in the telescope control part, we also developed utilities to manage nodes that visualizes sent/received data in real time. Currently, NECST is installed and operated mainly for receiver control and antenna control of 1.85-m mm-submm wave telescope.
Currently, we are performing a large-scale survey of molecular clouds toward the Galactic Plane in 12CO, 13CO, and C18O(J = 2–1) with the 1.85-m mm-submm telescope from Nobeyama Radio Observatory. In addition, we are proceeding with the preparation of a new project to observe several additional molecular lines including higher transitions of CO isotopes, such as 12CO, 13CO, and C18O(J = 2–1, 3–2) simultaneously with a wideband receiver (210–375 GHz). The optics has a Cassegrain reflector antenna with Nasmyth beam-waveguide feed and is composed of Main-reflector, Sub-reflector, ellipsoidal mirrors, and plane mirrors. New wideband optics will be required to achieve this goal. In order to accomplish the optics, we have designed a corrugated horn with a fractional bandwidth of ∼56 %, and frequency independent optics to couple the beam from the telescope onto the horn. The corrugated horn has a conical profile and the variable corrugation depth. It has been optimized by using CHAMP, our targeting return loss of better than −20 dB, cross-polarization loss of better than −25 dB, and far-field good radiation pattern. The simulation of the corrugated horn results in low return loss, low crosspolarization, and symmetric beam pattern in that frequency band. The simulated aperture efficiency of the designed receiver optics on the 1.85-m telescope is above 0.76 at all frequencies by using GRASP. Recently, we have succeeded in simultaneous observation of 12CO, 13CO, and C18O(J = 2–1 and 3–2) toward Orion KL with the optics for the first time.
The 1.85-m mm-submm telescope has been operated at Nobeyama Radio Observatory to observe molecular clouds in the nearby Galactic Plane based on the molecular lines of 12CO, 13CO, C18O(J = 2–1). We are planning to relocate the telescope to a site (∼2,500 m) at the Atacama Desert in Chile and to newly install a dual-band receiver for simultaneous observations of lines of CO isotopes with the transitions of J = 2–1 and J = 3–2. In order to achieve this goal, we have developed a wideband diplexer to separate radio frequency (RF) 211–275 GHz (ALMA Band 6) and 275–373 GHz (ALMA Band 7). We adopted a waveguide type FrequencySeparation Filters (FSF) as the basic concept of the wideband diplexer in 210–375 GHz. The wideband diplexer (α) has already been fabricated and measured as the prototype, and we thus obtained reasonable performance in the CO lines band. On the other hand, the measurement result indicates the return loss is relatively worse in 280–300 GHz, although it doesn’t affect the simultaneous observations of 230 GHz and 345 GHz band. We carried out 3D shape measurement with an optical microscope, and then, found that there are machining errors in the parts of the resonator in High Pass Filter. The analysis based on electromagnetic simulation reveals that the errors significantly affect return loss around cut-off frequency. In this paper, we describes the design of the waveguide diplexer, S-parameter measurement, and detailed analysis to verify the discrepancy between simulation and measurement.
The Near-Infrared Cross-dispersed Echelle spectrograph (NICE) is a first light instrument for the TAO 6.5 m telescope. The instrument covers a wavelength range of 0.9 to 2.4 µm and has a resolving power of λ/∆λ ~2,600. NICE was first used on the 1.5 m infrared telescope at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan from 2001 to 2005 and on the 1.6 m Pirka telescope in Japan from 2009 to 2018. We are now upgrading the cryogenics and computer system for the installation of NICE on the TAO telescope. Here we report on the current status and future schedules of instrumentation updates, control system, and modified specifications of NICE for its transfer to the TAO 6.5 m telescope.
We report the current status of the 1.85-m mm-submm telescope installed at the Nobeyama Radio Observatory (altitude 1400 m) and the future plan. The scientific goal is to reveal the physical/chemical properties of molecular clouds in the Galaxy by obtaining large-scale distributions of molecular gas with an angular resolution of several arcminutes. A semi-automatic observation system created mainly in Python on Linux-PCs enables effective operations. A large-scale CO J =2–1 survey of the molecular clouds (e.g., Orion-A/B, Cygnus-X/OB7, Taurus- California-Perseus complex, and Galactic Plane), and a pilot survey of emission lines from minor molecular species toward Orion clouds have been conducted so far. The telescope also is providing the opportunities for technical demonstrations of new devices and ideas. For example, the practical realizations of PLM (Path Length Modulator) and waveguide-based sideband separating filter, installation of the newly designed waveguide-based circular polarizer and OMT (Orthomode Transducer), and so on. As the next step, we are now planning to relocate the telescope to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile (altitude 2500 m), and are developing very wideband receiver covering 210–375 GHz (corresponding to Bands 6–7 of ALMA) and full-automatic observation system. The new telescope system will provide large-scale data in the spatial and frequency domain of molecular clouds of Galactic plane and Large/Small Magellanic Clouds at the southern hemisphere. The data will be precious for the comparison with those of extra-galactic ones that will be obtained with ALMA as the Bands 6/7 are the most efficient frequency bands for the surveys in extra-galaxies for ALMA.
We are promoting the Hybrid Installation Project in Nobeyama, Triple-band Oriented (HINOTORI), a project aiming at triple-band simultaneous single-dish and VLBI observation in the 22-, 43- and 86-GHz bands using the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope. The triple-band simultaneous observation becomes possible by developing two perforated plates and mounting them in the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope optics. One is a 22/43-GHz-band perforated plate, which transmits the higher frequency (43-GHz) band and reflects the lower frequency (22-GHz) band, and the other is a 43/86-GHz-band perforated plate, which transmits the 86-GHz band and reflects the 43-GHz band or lower. Both plates are designed to be installed in the large telescope optics with a beam diameter as large as 50 cm and insertion/reflection losses are both 0.22 dB (5%) or less in the design. The receivers used in triple-band simultaneous observation system are the H22 and H40 receivers, which are already installed in the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope, and the TZ receiver, which is a 100-GHz-band receiver including the 86-GHz band and reinstalled in the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope. A system of simultaneous observations in the 22- and 43-GHz bands of the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope with the 22/43- GHz-band perforated plate has been completed and commissioned for scientific observations. Also VLBI fringes between the Nobeyama 45-m telescope with the dual-band observation system and the VERA 20-m telescopes at 22 and 43 GHz was detected successfully.
We report the current status of the NASCO (NAnten2 Super CO survey as legacy) project which aims to provide all-sky CO data cube of southern hemisphere using the NANTEN2 4-m submillimeter telescope installed at the Atacama Desert through developing a new multi-beam receiver and a new telescope control system. The receiver consists of 5 beams. The four beams, located at the four corners of a square with the beam separation of 720′′, are installed with a 100 GHz band SIS receiver having 2-polarization sideband-separation filter. The other beam, located at the optical axis, is installed with a 200 GHz band SIS receiver having 2-polarization sideband-separation filter. The cooled component is modularized for each beam, and cooled mirrors are used. The IF bandwidths are 8 and 4 GHz for 100 and 200 GHz bands, respectively. Using XFFTS spectrometers with a bandwidth of 2 GHz, the lines of 12CO, 13CO, and C18O of J=1−0 or J=2−1 can be observed simultaneously for each beam. The control system is reconstructed on the ROS architecture, which is an open source framework for robot control, to enable a flexible observation mode and to handle a large amount of data. The framework is commonly used and maintained in a robotic field, and thereby reliability, flexibility, expandability, and efficiency in development are improved as compared with the system previously used. The receiver and control system are installed on the NANTEN2 telescope in December 2019, and its commissioning and science verification are on-going. We are planning to start science operation in early 2021.
Recently, the amount of data obtained from astronomical instruments has been increasing explosively, and data science methods such as Machine Learning/Deep Learning gain attention on the back of the growth in demand for automatic analysis. Using these methods, the number of applications to the target sources that have clear boundaries with the background i.e., stars, planets, and galaxies is increasing year by year. However, there are a few studies which applied the data science methods to the interstellar medium (ISM) distributed in the Galactic plane, which have complicated and ambiguous silhouettes. We aim to develop classifiers to automatically extract various structures of the ISM by Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) that is strong in image recognition even in deep learning. In this study, we focus on the infra-red (IR) ring structures distributed in the Galactic plane. Based on the catalog of Churchwell et al. (2006, 2007), we created a “Ring” dataset from the Spitzer/GLIMPSE 8 μm and Spitzer/MIPSGAL 24 μm data and optimized the parameters of the CNN model. We applied the developed model to a range of 16.5° ≤ l ≤ 19.5°, |b| ≤ 1° . As a result, 234 “Ring” candidates are detected. The “Ring” candidates were matched with 75% Milky Way Project (MWP, Simpson et al. 2012) “Ring” and 65% WISE Hii region catalog (Anderson et al. 2014). In addition, new“Ring”and Hii region candidate objects were also found. For these results, we conclude that the CNN model may have a recognition accuracy equal to or better than that of human eyes.
We report the development of the new 4-beam, 2-polarization, 2-sideband, 100 GHz band SIS receiver "FOREST" (FOur beam REceiver System on the 45-m Telescope) and the results from commissioning and observations on the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope operated by Nobeyama Radio Observatory, a branch of National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. FOREST aims to add new capabilities of large-area mapping and simultaneous multi-line observation at 80 { 116 GHz band to the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope, which is one of the largest millimeter radio telescopes in the world. The configuration of the four beams is a quadrate of 2 x 2 with the separation between adjacent beams of 50". Beam size of each beam is ~ 15" at 115 GHz. Receiver noise temperature is as low as that of ALMA Band 3 receivers, so that mapping speed is more than four times as high as that of the other 100 GHz band receivers on the 45-m Telescope. The IF bandwidth is 8 GHz (4 { 12 GHz) realizing simultaneous 12CO(J = 1-0), 13CO(J = 1-0), and C18O(J = 1-0) observations. Cooled components inside of cryostat are modularized per beam. IF signals from the cryostat are processed by the room temperature IF system, and then passed to spectrometers. We have installed the FOREST receiver into the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope, evaluated its performance, and made large area mapping observations. These demonstrate the excellent performance of the FOREST receiver and the Nobeyama 45-m Telescope.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.