Fast CCD Photometry in the Taiwan-America Occultation Survey

Chen W. P.; Zhang Z. W.; King S. K.; Alcock C.; Byun Y. I.; Cook K. H.; Dave R.; Giammarco J.; Lee T.; Lehner M.; Liang C.; Lissauer J.; Marshall S.; Pater I. de; Porrata R.; Rice J.; Wang A.; Wang S. Y.; Wen C. Y.

doi:10.1515/astro-2017-0082

Open Astronomy (Dec 2003)

Fast CCD Photometry in the Taiwan-America Occultation Survey

Chen W. P.,
Zhang Z. W.,
King S. K.,
Alcock C.,
Byun Y. I.,
Cook K. H.,
Dave R.,
Giammarco J.,
Lee T.,
Lehner M.,
Liang C.,
Lissauer J.,
Marshall S.,
Pater I. de,
Porrata R.,
Rice J.,
Wang A.,
Wang S. Y.,
Wen C. Y.

Affiliations

Chen W. P.: Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Chung-Li 32054, Taiwan, Province of China
Zhang Z. W.: Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Chung-Li 32054, Taiwan, Province of China
King S. K.: Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China
Alcock C.: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America
Byun Y. I.: Department of Astronomy, Yonsei University, Korea (Republic of)
Cook K. H.: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States of America
Dave R.: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America
Giammarco J.: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America
Lee T.: Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China
Lehner M.: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America
Liang C.: Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
Lissauer J.: NASA Ames Research Center, United States of America
Marshall S.: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States of America
Pater I. de: Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
Porrata R.: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, United States of America
Rice J.: Department of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America
Wang A.: Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China
Wang S. Y.: Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China
Wen C. Y.: Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/astro-2017-0082
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12, no. 4
pp. 568 – 573

Abstract

Read online

We describe the efforts of the Taiwan-America Occultation Survey (TAOS) project to develop a data acquisition and analysis scheme for fast CCD imaging photometry. The TAOS project aims to conduct a census of the Kuiper-belt objects (KBOs) by detecting chance stellar occultation events by these small bodies in the outer reach of the solar system. An array of telescopes, each with fast optics (f/2) of 0.5 m aperture and equipped with a 2K CCD camera (3 square degrees FOV), have been set up in central Taiwan to monitor a couple thousand stars simultaneously. By reading out the CCD chip sequentially a few rows of pixels at a time (pause-and-shift), it is possible to achieve stellar photometry with a sampling rate up to several hertz. Here we report how such a setup has been used to observe the SX Phoenicis type variable CY Aqr to illustrate the potential usefulness of the TAOS database in stellar variability studies.

Published in Open Astronomy

ISSN: 2543-6376 (Online)
Publisher: De Gruyter
Country of publisher: Poland
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy
Website: https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/astro

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords