1. MOA-cam3: a wide-field mosaic CCD camera for a gravitational microlensing survey in New Zealand.
- Author
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Sako, T., Sekiguchi, T., Sasaki, M., Okajima, K., Abe, F., Bond, I., Hearnshaw, J., Itow, Y., Kamiya, K., Kilmartin, P., Masuda, K., Matsubara, Y., Muraki, Y., Rattenbury, N., Sullivan, D., Sumi, T., Tristram, P., Yanagisawa, T., and Yock, P.
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ASTRONOMY ,CHARGE coupled devices ,DIGITAL communications ,ELECTRIC noise ,RATITES - Abstract
We have developed a wide-field mosaic CCD camera, MOA-cam3, mounted at the prime focus of the Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA) 1.8-m telescope. The camera consists of ten E2V CCD4482 chips, each having 2k×4k pixels, and covers a 2.2 deg
2 field of view with a single exposure. The optical system is well optimized to realize uniform image quality over this wide field. The chips are constantly cooled by a cryocooler at − 80° C, at which temperature dark current noise is negligible for a typical 1–3 min exposure. The CCD output charge is converted to a 16-bit digital signal by the GenIII system (Astronomical Research Cameras Inc.) and readout is within 25 s. Readout noise of 2–3 ADU (rms) is also negligible. We prepared a wide-band red filter for an effective microlensing survey and also Bessell V, I filters for standard astronomical studies. Microlensing studies have entered into a new era, which requires more statistics, and more rapid alerts to catch exotic light curves. Our new system is a powerful tool to realize both these requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2008
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