Wide-field telescopes like the Evryscope enable all-sky searches for fast optical transient events such as kilonovae, optical counterparts to fast-radio-bursts and other exotic events. To further understand these phenomena, we need infrastructure with the capability to monitor and quickly analyze these events. The Evryscopes are an allsky system with a total field of view of 16,512 sq. deg. that, coupled with the Evryscope Fast Transient Engine (EFTE), can catalogue fast optical transients down to g=16. In the past two years, EFTE has seen millions of transients across the sky including hundreds of flaring events from cool stars and a population of millisecond glints produced by Earth-orbiting objects that appear morphologically similar to transient astrophysical phenomena. In order to further characterize these events, the Evryscope and other all-sky optical surveys, such as the upcoming Argus Pathfinder and Argus Optical Array, require a framework to discriminate between this fog of imposter transients and real astrophysics. EFTE-Rocks is an automated orbit determination pipeline that takes short-duration transients from EFTE and associates them into tracklets based on an initial trajectory. Here we present a framework to characterize which orbital debris produce glints seen by fast, wide-field telescopes; lessons learned; and future software improvements. We also discuss its applications to upcoming surveys that are capable of probing for fainter objects at faster cadences.
ArgusSpec will be a fast-response, low-resolution spectroscopic follow-up system. Built almost entirely from off-the-shelf components, including a medium-aperture (16-in.) Ritchey-Chretien telescope, a very-low-noise CMOS detector, a low-resolution (R~100) spectrograph, and a fast-slew (50 deg/s) mount, ArgusSpec will begin observations of bright transient events (mV ≤ 13) within tens of seconds of detection. ArgusSpec will use all-sky transient alerts from the Evryscope, the Argus Pathfinder, and the planned full Argus Array; the latter two systems giving the fastest alerts for optical transients to date. Until now, the high-cadence sky has been largely inaccessible for spectroscopy. For example, large flares from active stars have dramatic impacts on orbiting exoplanets, but are difficult targets for spectroscopic follow-up due to their short-timescale evolution. Planets in the active stars’ habitable zones will be impacted by flares and superflares (energies ≥ 1033 erg), and associated high-energy particle emissions, which could strip the planet of its atmosphere and impart massive amounts of ultraviolet flux; this could be devastating to any life on the planet’s surface. There has not been a systematic spectroscopic survey of energetic flaring events across a wide range of stellar masses; almost all large flares observed spectroscopically have been from a small sample of active mid-M stars through staring campaigns. For the first time, ArgusSpec will build a library of superflare spectra from across the night sky, allowing for statistical constraints to be placed on their blackbody evolution and morphology. Here we present the design, project status, and science drivers of ArgusSpec.
Wide-field surveys using small-aperture, mass-produced telescopes have the potential to lower instrument hardware costs by orders of magnitude. The Argus Array series of instruments will open new pathways into the study of optical transients via high-cadence, all-sky imaging. The first prototype, the nine-telescope Argus Technology Demonstrator, is already onsky and validates novel concepts in tracking and high-speed data reduction. Next, the fully funded Argus Pathfinder consists of 38 telescopes on a single mount, and will observe the sky between -20° and +72° declination over the course of each night. The project is planned to culminate with the Argus Optical Array observing 20% of the entire sky simultaneously with 900 telescopes at cadences as fast as 1 second. As the number of telescopes increases, so do the maintenance requirements. For a standard open-air array on many mounts, this could result in operations costs far in excess of those of an equivalent monolithic telescope and lead to inconsistent sky coverage while parts of the array are offline. To limit wear and the need for cleaning, re-alignment and focusing, we seal our telescopes in a filtered and air-conditioned environment. This enclosure will be heavily insulated and maintained within a temperature range small enough to prevent measurable changes in telescope focus. Cameras and other power sources in the enclosure are water-cooled and the heat is removed to an isolated service module containing the array’s HVAC and support equipment. From there, the system temperature is maintained at a few seasonally changed set-points. This paper presents the design of the Pathfinder enclosure and environmental control system.
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