Klaus Hodapp (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii), Kenneth Chambers, and the Pan-STARRS Team (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii)
Keywords: Pan-STARRS
Abstract:
This paper describes the scientific rationale, the design, and the expected data products of the u-band Imaging Probe (UIP) for Pan-STARRS. The Pan-STARRS photometric survey itself will be conducted in the g, r, i, z, and y bands and cover the 3/4 of the sky accessible from Haleakala. In parallel to the survey conducted with the PS1 1.8m telescope, an Imaging Sky Probe (ISP, Granett et. al., these proceedings) will monitor the sky conditions, variations in transparency across the 3° field of view, provide a characterization of the astronomical diffuse sky brightness, and extend the dynamic range of PS1 stellar photometry to the brightest stars. The u-band Imaging Probe is an additional small wide-field camera to extend this bright star photometric survey to the shortest wavelengths accessible from ground-based observatories. It will thereby establish a well characterized photometric system at these wavelengths with a dense sample of stars covering 3/4 of the entire sky, including the galactic plane.
The UIP will continuously make dedicated u-band measurements, and the large number of these independent measurements together with substantial overlapping fields of view and repeated visits to standard star fields as part of the PS1 mission, has the potential of substantially improving u-band calibration and photometry across the sky over all previous u-band imaging and catalog surveys. For specific future observations with larger telescopes, this system of stars will serve as secondary calibration stars to tie these deeper observations into the photometric system established in this way. The UIP is currently in the early design stages. The UIP will be operated as an extension of the PS1 Imaging Sky Probe (ISP), and the data will be processed through the same data reduction pipeline and be made available as part of the photometric survey.
Date of Conference: September 10-14, 2006
Track: Pan-STARRS