The SED Machine - Fast classification of transient objects
Abstract
The field of time-domain astronomy is expected to enjoy a golden age during this decade. However, the traditional method for the classification of transient candidates using spectra obtained with medium- to large-aperture telescopes is extremely time consuming and struggling to keep up with the discovery rate. The Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) Machine uses a new approach in order to overcome this shortcoming. It employs a lenslet-based Integral-Field Unit (IFU) with a Field-of-View (FoV) of 26"x 26" and 3,600 hexagonal ~ 0.675" spaxels, as well as a 4-colour Rainbow Camera (RC) for flux calibration. The nearly constant resolution of R≈100 over an extremely wide wavelength range 360-980 nm is sufficient to effectively classify transients. Using off-the-shelf CCD cameras the costs of the instrument are moderate. The SED Machine is currently being tested on the Palomar 60-inch (P60) telescope.
Additional Information
© 2014 Astronomical Institute. Received: October 18, 2013; Accepted: January 17, 2014. Funding for the project has been provided by the National Science Foundation (award number 1106171) and by the Taiwanese National Science Council (grant numbers NSC 101-2112-M-008-017-MY3 and NSC 101-2119-M-008-007-MY3).Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 48346
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20140811-150957961
- AST-1106171
- NSF
- NSC 101-2112-M-008-017-MY3
- National Science Council (Taipei)
- NSC 101-2119-M-008-007-MY3
- National Science Council (Taipei)
- Created
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2014-08-11Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2022-10-24Created from EPrint's last_modified field