proto-Lightspeed: a high-speed, ultra-low read noise imager on the Magellan Clay Telescope
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arXiv
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| Autori principali: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2026
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| author | Layden, Christopher Burdge, Kevin Furesz, Gabor Garcia-Mejia, Juliana Dinsmore, Jack Mo, Geoffrey Osip, David Piotrowski, John J. Romani, Roger W. Berne, August Chakrabarty, Deepto Chickles, Emma |
| author_facet | Layden, Christopher Burdge, Kevin Furesz, Gabor Garcia-Mejia, Juliana Dinsmore, Jack Mo, Geoffrey Osip, David Piotrowski, John J. Romani, Roger W. Berne, August Chakrabarty, Deepto Chickles, Emma |
| contents | proto-Lightspeed is a new instrument that has been commissioned on the Nasmyth East port of the Magellan Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory to deliver high-speed optical imaging with deep sub-electron read noise. Making use of commercial re-imaging lenses and the ORCA-Quest 2 camera from Hamamatsu, proto-Lightspeed images a field $1'$ in diameter at up to $200$ Hz or windowed fields at higher rates, up to 6600 Hz for a $1.6''\times 1'$ field of view. proto-Lightspeed delivers seeing-limited image quality in the $g'$, $r'$, and $i'$ bands and adjustable magnification for pixel scales between $0.017''-0.050''$. proto-Lightspeed is well suited to studying compact binary systems, exoplanet transits, rapid flaring associated with accretion, periodic optical emission from pulsars, occultations of background stars by small trans-Neptunian Objects, and any other rapidly variable source. proto-Lightspeed will be a P.I. instrument beginning in 2026B, available for use by members of the Magellan Consortium. In this paper, we discuss the design and performance of the instrument, results from its two commissioning runs, and plans for a facility instrument, Lightspeed, to support simultaneous multicolor imaging across a $7'\times4'$ field. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_16268 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | proto-Lightspeed: a high-speed, ultra-low read noise imager on the Magellan Clay Telescope Layden, Christopher Burdge, Kevin Furesz, Gabor Garcia-Mejia, Juliana Dinsmore, Jack Mo, Geoffrey Osip, David Piotrowski, John J. Romani, Roger W. Berne, August Chakrabarty, Deepto Chickles, Emma Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Earth and Planetary Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Solar and Stellar Astrophysics proto-Lightspeed is a new instrument that has been commissioned on the Nasmyth East port of the Magellan Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory to deliver high-speed optical imaging with deep sub-electron read noise. Making use of commercial re-imaging lenses and the ORCA-Quest 2 camera from Hamamatsu, proto-Lightspeed images a field $1'$ in diameter at up to $200$ Hz or windowed fields at higher rates, up to 6600 Hz for a $1.6''\times 1'$ field of view. proto-Lightspeed delivers seeing-limited image quality in the $g'$, $r'$, and $i'$ bands and adjustable magnification for pixel scales between $0.017''-0.050''$. proto-Lightspeed is well suited to studying compact binary systems, exoplanet transits, rapid flaring associated with accretion, periodic optical emission from pulsars, occultations of background stars by small trans-Neptunian Objects, and any other rapidly variable source. proto-Lightspeed will be a P.I. instrument beginning in 2026B, available for use by members of the Magellan Consortium. In this paper, we discuss the design and performance of the instrument, results from its two commissioning runs, and plans for a facility instrument, Lightspeed, to support simultaneous multicolor imaging across a $7'\times4'$ field. |
| title | proto-Lightspeed: a high-speed, ultra-low read noise imager on the Magellan Clay Telescope |
| topic | Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Earth and Planetary Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Solar and Stellar Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.16268 |