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K. C. Chambers (Institute for Astronomy), Pan-STARRS Team
The Pan-STARRS Telescope No. 1 (PS1) is a prototype telescope for a large optical synoptic survey telescope system; the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System. PS1 is a 1.8m wide field telescope with a 7 square degree field of view and an unpreceedented 1.4 Gigapixel Camera located on the summit of Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii. Construction of the enclosure, telescope, camera, software, and data reduction pipeline are all underway, and First Light for PS1 is scheduled in January 2006. PS1 will be able to scan the entire visible sky to approximately 23th magnitude in less than a week, and this unique combination of sensitivity and cadence will open up many new possibilities in time domain astronomy and address a wide range of astrophysical problems in the Solar System, the Galaxy, and the Universe. A description of the PS1 observatory, capabilities, science drivers, and the PS1 Reference Mission will be presented. The main goals of the Reference Mission are a 5 bandpass (grizy) 3 pi steradian photometric and astrometric survey, a 5 bandpass ~ 50 square degree medium deep survey, and a single wide band (w=g+r+i) ecliptic plane survey primarily for Solar System studies and Near Earth Asteroids. This project includes contributions from The Institute for Astronomy, the Maui High Performance Computing Center, SAIC, AFRL, and Lincoln Laboratory.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: chambers@ifa.hawaii.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.