A Road Map for the Generation of a Near-Infrared Guide Star Catalog for Thirty Meter Telescope Observations

The near-infrared instruments in the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will be assisted by a multi conjugate Adaptive Optics (AO) system. For the efficient operation of the AO system, during observations, a near-infrared guide star catalog which goes as faint as 22 mag in J Vega band is essentia...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of astrophysics and astronomy 2016-09, Vol.37 (3), p.1, Article 24
Main Authors: Subramanian, Smitha, Subramaniam, Annapurni, Sivarani, T., Simard, Luc, Anupama, G. C., Gillies, Kim, Ramaprakash, A. N., Reddy, B. Eswar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Astrophysics and Astroparticles
Observations and Techniques
Optics
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Radio telescopes
Stars & galaxies
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Summary:The near-infrared instruments in the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will be assisted by a multi conjugate Adaptive Optics (AO) system. For the efficient operation of the AO system, during observations, a near-infrared guide star catalog which goes as faint as 22 mag in J Vega band is essential and such a catalog does not exist. A methodology, based on stellar atmospheric models, to compute the expected near-infrared magnitudes of stellar sources from their optical magnitudes is developed. The method is applied and validated in JHKs bands for a magnitude range of J Vega 16–22 mag. The methodology is also applied and validated using the reference catalog of PAN STARRS. We verified that the properties of the final PAN STARRS optical catalog will satisfy the requirements of TMT IRGSC and will be one of the potential sources for the generation of the final catalog. In a broader context, this methodology is applicable for the generation of a guide star catalog for any existing/upcoming near-infrared telescopes.
ISSN:0250-6335
0973-7758
DOI:10.1007/s12036-016-9401-1