The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2024)
FORECASTOR. I. Finding Optics Requirements and Exposure Times for the Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and UV Research Mission
- Isaac Cheng,
- Tyrone E. Woods,
- Patrick Côté,
- Jennifer Glover,
- Dhananjhay Bansal,
- Melissa Amenouche,
- Madeline A. Marshall,
- Laurie Amen,
- John Hutchings,
- Laura Ferrarese,
- Kim A. Venn,
- Michael Balogh,
- Simon Blouin,
- Ryan Cloutier,
- Nolan Dickson,
- Sarah Gallagher,
- Martin Hellmich,
- Vincent Hénault-Brunet,
- Viraja Khatu,
- Cameron Lawlor-Forsyth,
- Cameron Morgan,
- Harvey Richer,
- Marcin Sawicki,
- Robert Sorba
Affiliations
- Isaac Cheng
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada ; [email protected], [email protected]
- Tyrone E. Woods
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada ; [email protected], [email protected]; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Allen Building, 30A Sifton Road, University of Manitoba , Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
- Patrick Côté
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada ; [email protected], [email protected]; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria , Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada
- Jennifer Glover
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria , Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada
- Dhananjhay Bansal
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada ; [email protected], [email protected]
- Melissa Amenouche
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada ; [email protected], [email protected]
- Madeline A. Marshall
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada ; [email protected], [email protected]
- Laurie Amen
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada ; [email protected], [email protected]
- John Hutchings
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada ; [email protected], [email protected]
- Laura Ferrarese
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre , 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada ; [email protected], [email protected]
- Kim A. Venn
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria , Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada
- Michael Balogh
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada; Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
- Simon Blouin
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria , Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada
- Ryan Cloutier
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University , 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
- Nolan Dickson
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Physics, Saint Mary’s University , 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3, Canada
- Sarah Gallagher
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy & Institute of Earth and Space Exploration, The University of Western Ontario , 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada
- Martin Hellmich
- Department of Astronomy and Physics, Saint Mary’s University , 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3, Canada
- Vincent Hénault-Brunet
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Physics, Saint Mary’s University , 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3, Canada
- Viraja Khatu
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy & Institute of Earth and Space Exploration, The University of Western Ontario , 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada
- Cameron Lawlor-Forsyth
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada; Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
- Cameron Morgan
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada; Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
- Harvey Richer
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
- Marcin Sawicki
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy and Physics, Saint Mary’s University , 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3, Canada
- Robert Sorba
- Department of Astronomy and Physics, Saint Mary’s University , 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3, Canada
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad2987
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 167,
no. 4
p. 178
Abstract
The Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and ultraviolet Research (CASTOR) is a proposed Canadian-led 1 m class space telescope that will carry out ultraviolet and blue optical wide-field imaging, spectroscopy, and photometry. CASTOR will provide an essential bridge in the post-Hubble era, preventing a protracted UV-optical gap in space astronomy and enabling an enormous range of discovery opportunities from the solar system to the nature of the cosmos, in conjunction with the other great wide-field observatories of the next decade (e.g., Euclid, Roman, Vera Rubin). FORECASTOR (Finding Optics Requirements and Exposure times for CASTOR) will supply a coordinated suite of mission-planning tools that will serve as the one-stop shop for proposal preparation, data reduction, and analysis for the CASTOR mission. We present the first of these tools: a pixel-based, user-friendly, extensible, multi-mission exposure time calculator built in Python, including a modern browser-based graphical user interface that updates in real time. We then provide several illustrative examples of FORECASTOR’s use that advance the design of planned legacy surveys for the CASTOR mission: a search for the most massive white dwarfs in the Magellanic Clouds, a study of the frequency of flaring activity in M stars and their distribution and impacts on habitability of exoplanets, mapping the proper motions of faint stars in the Milky Way, wide and deep galaxy surveys, and time-domain studies of active galactic nuclei.
Keywords
