Optimal site selection for an optical-astronomical observatory in Pakistan using Multicriteria Decision Analysis

An astronomical observatory is the core component of any astronomical research facility that connects astronomers with their lab: the Cosmos. The research quality of an astronomical facility is rooted in the precision of data, collected by its observatory. For optimal performance, an observatory is sited while considering certain astronomical, environmental, geological and social parameters. This study aims to identify the potential sites in Pakistan for locating an optical-astronomical observatory using the Multicriteria Decision Analysis(MCDA) technique. The study uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) for deriving the influence weights of nine evaluation criteria: Photometric Night Fraction;Night-time Sky Brightness;Sky Transparency;Aerosol Concentration;Altitude;Terrain Slope;Accessibility;Seismic Vulnerability;and Landuse/Land Cover. On the basis of experts’ opinions and previous studies, the evaluation criteria have been ordered in two possible preference sequences for identifying their influence weights with respect to each other for taking part in MCDA. Consequently, the process of MCDA identified certain areas with respect to each preference sequence, whereas some areas were found to be suitable according to both preference sequences. The study synchronizes the required eclectic data into an evaluation matrix that augments the process of astronomical site selection. In the future, this study will be useful for astronomical societies and for furthering astronomical research in the country.

Optical fiber positioning based on four-quadrant detector with Gaussian fitting method

With the development of large-scale spectral surveys, fiber positioning technology has been developing rapidly. Because of the performance advantages of a four-quadrant（4Q） detector, a fiber positioning and real-time monitoring system based on the 4Q detector is proposed. The detection accuracy of this system is directly determined by the precision of the center of the spot. A Gaussian fitting algorithm based on the 4Q detector is studied and applied in the fiber positioning process to improve the calculated accuracy of the spot center. The relationship between the center position of the incident spot and the detector output signal is deduced. An experimental platform is built to complete the simulated experiment. Then we use the Gaussian fitting method to process experimental data, compare the fitting value with the theoretical one and calculate the corresponding error.

Digitizer of astronomical plates at Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and its performance test

Before CCD detectors were widely employed in observational astronomy, the main method of detection was the use of glass astrophotographic plates. Astronomical plates have been used to record information on the position and activity of celestial bodies for more than 100 years. There are about 30 000 astronomical plates in China, and the digitization of astronomical plates is of great significance for permanent preservation and to make full use of these valuable observation data. A digitizer with high precision and high measuring speed is a key piece of equipment for carrying out the task of dig- itizing these astronomical plates. A digitizer for glass astrophotographic plates was developed jointly by Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and Nishimura Co., Ltd of Japan. The digitizer＇s hardware was manufactured by Nishimura Co., Ltd, and the performance test, error corrections as well as image pro- cessing of the digitizer were carried out by Shanghai Astronomical Observatory. The main structure and working mode of the digitizer are introduced in this paper. A performance test shows that brightness uniformity of illumination within the measuring area is better than 0.15%, the repeatability of digitized positions is better than 0.2 μm and the repeatability of digitized brightness is better than 0.01 instrumen- tal magnitude. The systematic factors affecting digitized positions, such as lens distortion, the actual optical resolution, non-linearity of guide rails, non-uniformity of linear motors in the mobile platform, deviation of the image mosaic, and non-orthogonality between the direction of scanning and camera lin- ear array, are calibrated and evaluated. Based on an astronomical plate with a size of 300 mm × 300 mm, which was digitized at different angles, the conversion residuals of positions of common stars on dif- ferent images were investigated. The results show that the standard deviations of the residuals are better than 0.9μm and the residual distribution is almost random, which demonstrates the digitizer has a higher precision for digitization.

Direct Ion Beam Figuring Process and Rotational Measurement Method for Ultra-smooth Aspherical Surfaces of a 46.5 nm Telescope

This paper describes a fabrication process for the hyperboloidal concave mirror of a 46.5 nm telescope. The180 mm aperture hyperboloidal concave mirror and 70 mm aperture compensator are machined directly from chemical mechanical polishing of a spherical surface to a high-accuracy aspherical surface by ion beam figuring.The aspherical measurement method is the Dall null test. To minimize system errors in the measurement process,the rotational measurement method with six rotations is used in the null test. The results of the analysis for the ME(first solve the machined surface profile, then solve the system errors) and EM(first solve the system errors, then solve the machined surface profile) methods of calculation in the measurement are given. The ME method is a more accurate rotational test method, and the six rotations are appropriate for rotational measurements. After the figuring process, the hyperboloidal concave mirror surface profile reached 8.27 nm rms and the compensator surface profile is approximately 4 nm rms. The roughness of the hyperboloidal concave mirror is smooth to0.160 nm rms.

NBFTP: a dedicated data transfer system for remote astronomical observation at Dome A

Dome A,Antarctica,has been thought to be one of the best astronomical sites on the Earth for decades.Since it was first visited by astronomers in 2008,dozens of facilities for astronomical observation and site testing were deployed.Due to its special geographical location,the data and message exchange between Dome A and the domestic control center could only depend on Iridium.Because the link bandwidth of Iridium is extremely limited,the network traffic cost is quite expensive and the network is rather unstable,the commonly used data transfer tools,such as rsync and scp,are not suitable in this case.In this paper,we design and implement a data transfer tool called NBFTP(narrow bandwidth file transfer protocol)for the astronomical observation of Dome A.NBFTP uses a uniform interface to arrange all types of data and matches specific transmission schemes for different data types according to rules.Break-point resuming and extensibility functions are also implemented.Our experimental results show that NBFTP consumes 60%less network traffic than rsync when detecting the data pending to be transferred.When transferring small files of 1 KB,the network traffic consumption of NBFTP is 40%less than rsync.However,as the file size increases,the network traffic consumption of NBFTP tends to approach rsync,but it is still smaller than rsync.

Estimating the mirror seeing for a large optical telescope with a numerical method

It is widely accepted that mirror seeing is caused by turbulent fluctuations in the index of air refraction in the vicinity of a telescope mirror. Computational Fluid Dynamics（CFD） is a useful tool to evaluate the effects of mirror seeing. In this paper, we present a numerical method to estimate the mirror seeing for a large optical telescope（～ 4 m） in cases of natural convection with the ANSYS ICEPAK software. We get the FWHM of the image for different inclination angles（i） of the mirror and different temperature differences（△T） between the mirror and ambient air. Our results show that the mirror seeing depends very weakly on i, which agrees with observational data from the Canada-FranceHawaii Telescope. The numerical model can be used to estimate mirror seeing in the case of natural convection although with some limitations. We can determine △T for thermal control of the primary mirror according to the simulation, empirical data and site seeing.

Prognostics and health management of FAST cable-net structure based on digital twin technology

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST)will be fully commissioned later in 2019.Once commissioned,operation and maintenance of FAST will be the most prominent task.The unique working mode of active shape-changing of FAST cable-net structure makes the traditional maintenance way,which combines routine inspection with preventive maintenances not only expensive,but also unable to effectively avoid potential risks in operations.Therefore,it is necessary to develop an economical and reliable operation/maintenance technology for FAST cable-net structure.In this paper,a Prognostics and Health Management(PHM)system is proposed based on the advanced Digital Twin(DT)technology.Through the finite element analysis of DT model,the current safety status of FAST cablenet is evaluated,and the fatigue life of components in the cable-net is predicted.Hence Condition-Based Maintenance(CBM)of FAST cable-net structure can be realized.The PHM system described in this paper can effectively guarantee the healthy and safe operation of the FAST cable-net structure,greatly improve the maintenance efficiency and reduce the cost for maintenance works.

Research on design of adaptive connecting mechanisms for the cable-net and panels of FAST

The reflector system of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope （FAST） is designed to incorporate 4450 rigid panels supported by a flexible cable-net structure. The shapechanging operation that occurs in the process of observation will lead to a relative displacement between adjacent nodes in the cable-net. In addition, three nodes on a rigid panel are fixed with respect to each other. Thus, adaptive connecting mechanisms between panels and the cable-net are certainly needed. The present work focuses on the following aspects. Firstly, the degrees of freedom of adaptive connecting mechanisms were designed so that we can not only adapt the panel to the deformation of the cable- net, but also restrict the panel to its right place. Secondly, finite element and theoretical analyses were applied to calculate the scope of motion in adaptive connecting mechanisms during the cable-net＇s shape-changing operation, thus providing input parameters for the design size of the adaptive connecting mechanisms. In addition, the gap size between the panels is also investigated to solve the trade-off between avoiding panel collisions and increasing the observation efficiency of FAST.

An algorithm to resolve γ-rays from charged cosmic rays with DAMPE

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer（DAMPE）,also known as Wukong in China,which was launched on 2015 December 17,is a new high energy cosmic ray and γ-ray satellite-borne observatory.One of the main scientific goals of DAMPE is to observe Ge V-Te V high energy γ-rays with accurate energy,angular and time resolution,to indirectly search for dark matter particles and for the study of high energy astrophysics. Due to the comparatively higher fluxes of charged cosmic rays with respect to γ-rays,it is challenging to identify γ-rays with sufficiently high efficiency,minimizing the amount of charged cosmic ray contamination. In this work we present a method to identify γ-rays in DAMPE data based on Monte Carlo simulations,using the powerful electromagnetic/hadronic shower discrimination provided by the calorimeter and the veto detection of charged particles provided by the plastic scintillation detector. Monte Carlo simulations show that after this selection the number of electrons and protons that contaminate the selected γ-ray events at～10 Ge V amounts to less than 1% of the selected sample.Finally,we use flight data to verify the effectiveness of the method by highlighting known γ-ray sources in the sky and by reconstructing preliminary light curves of the Geminga pulsar.

A Wideband Microwave Holography Methodology for Reflector Surface Measurement of Large Radio Telescopes

Most reflector surface holographic measurements of a large radio telescope utilize a geostationary satellite as the signal source. The shortcoming is that those measurements could only be done at a limited elevation angle due to the satellite’s relatively stationary state. This paper proposed a new wideband microwave holographic measurement method based on radio sources to achieve full-elevation-angle measurement with small size reference antenna. In theoretical derivation, the time delay and phase change due to path length and device difference between the antenna under test and reference antenna are compensated first. Then the correct method of wideband holography effect, which is because of antenna pattern differing under different wavelengths when receiving a wideband signal, is presented. To verify the proposed methodology, a wideband microwave holographic measurement system is established, the data processing procedure is illustrated, and the reflector surface measurement experiments on a 40 m radio telescope at different elevation angles are conducted. The result shows that the primary reflector surface root-mean-square at around elevation angles of 28°, 44°, 49°, and 75° are respectively 0.213 mm, 0.170 mm, 0.188 mm, and 0.199 mm. It is basically consistent with the real data, indicating that the proposed wideband microwave holography methodology is feasible.

The New Wuqing 70 m Radio Telescope and Measurements of Main Electronic Properties in the X-band

The new Wuqing 70 m radio telescope is first used for the downlink data reception in the first Mars exploration mission of China,and will be used for the other deep space communications and radio astronomical observations in the future.The main specifications and measurement results of some properties in the X-band are introduced in this paper,such as pointing calibration,gain and efficiency,system noise temperature,system equivalent flux density,and variations with elevation.The 23 parameters pointing calibration model considering the atmospheric refraction correction in real time is presented in the telescope,and the pointing accuracy reaches 570 in azimuth direction and 607 in elevation direction for different weather conditions.More than 62%efficiencies are achieved at full elevation range,and more than 70%in the mid-elevation.The system equivalent flux density of the X-band in the mid-elevation reaches 26 Jy.

Distortion mapping correction in the AIMS primary mirror testing by a computer-generated hologram

The National Solar Observatory is currently developing the Accurate Infrared Magnetic Field Measurements of the Sun(AIMS). The primary mirror of the AIMS solar telescope is an off-axis parabolic with a diameter of 1 m and with a large off-axis amount of 1 m. Due to the surface figure of the primary mirror under the used state is directly related to image quality of the whole system, a computer-generated hologram(CGH) is carried out to test the primary mirror, and the test results are used to polish the mirror to a higher surface accuracy. However, the fact that the distortion exists in the testing results leads to the failure of a further guide to deterministic optical processing. In this paper, a distortion correction method is proposed, which uses an orthogonal set of vector polynomials to mapping the coordinates of the mirror and the pixels of fringes, and then an interpolation method is adopted to obtain the corrected results. The testing accuracy by using CGH is also verified by an auto-collimate test experiment. According to the distorted corrected results, the root-mean-square of the surface figure is about 1/50λ(λ=632.8 nm) after polishing.

Design and calibration of a high-sensitivity and high-accuracy polarimeter based on liquid crystal variable retarders

Polarimetry plays an important role in the measurement of solar magnetic fields. We devel- oped a high-sensitivity and high-accuracy polarimeter （HHP） based on nematic liquid crystal variable retarders （LCVRs）, which has a compact setup and no mechanical moving parts. The system design and calibration methods are discussed in detail. The azimuth error of the transmission axis of the polarizer as well as the fast axes of the two LCVRs and the quarter-wave plate were determined using dedicated procedures. Linearly and circularly polarized light were employed to evaluate the performance of the HHP. The experimental results indicate that a polarimetric sensitivity of better than 5.7 × 10-3 can be achieved by using a single short-exposure image, while an accuracy on the order of 10-5 can be reached by using a large number of short-exposure images. This makes the HHP a high-performance system that can be used with a ground-based solar telescope for high-precision solar magnetic field investigations.

LAMOST CCD camera-control system based on RTS2

The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope（LAMOST） is the largest existing spectroscopic survey telescope, having 32 scientific charge-coupled-device（CCD） cameras for acquiring spectra. Stability and automation of the camera-control software are essential, but cannot be provided by the existing system. The Remote Telescope System 2 nd Version（RTS2） is an open-source and automatic observatory-control system. However, all previous RTS2 applications were developed for small telescopes. This paper focuses on implementation of an RTS2-based camera-control system for the 32 CCDs of LAMOST. A virtual camera module inherited from the RTS2 camera module is built as a device component working on the RTS2 framework. To improve the controllability and robustness, a virtualized layer is designed using the master-slave software paradigm, and the virtual camera module is mapped to the 32 real cameras of LAMOST. The new system is deployed in the actual environment and experimentally tested. Finally, multiple observations are conducted using this new RTS2-frameworkbased control system. The new camera-control system is found to satisfy the requirements for automatic camera control in LAMOST. This is the first time that RTS2 has been applied to a large telescope, and provides a referential solution for full RTS2 introduction to the LAMOST observatory control system.

Investigating the efficiency of the Beijing Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera(BFOSC)of the Xinglong 2.16-m reflector

The Beijing Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera （BFOSC） is one of the most important instruments operating in conjunction with the 2.16-m telescope at Xinglong Observatory. Every year there are - 20 SCI-papers published based on observational data acquired with this telescope. In this work, we have systemically measured the total efficiency of the BFOSC that operates as part of the 2.16-m reflector, based on observations of two ESO flux standard stars. We have obtained the total efficiencies of the BFOSC instrument of different grisms with various slit widths in almost all ranges, and analyzed factors which effect the efficiency of this telescope and spectrograph. For astronomical observers, the result will be useful for them to select a suitable slit width, depending on their scientific goals and weather conditions during observations. For technicians, the result will help them to systemically identify the real efficiency of the telescope and spectrograph, and to further improve the total efficiency and observing capacity of the telescope technically.

Distributed Control Software for the Active Surface System of Tian-ma Radio Telescope

The Tian-ma Radio Telescope(TMRT) applies an Active Surface System(ASFS), which corrects for large-scale deformations due to gravity and thermal on the primary reflector. The centralized and automated management of the ASFS using software has become a challenge, for which we have developed the TMRT Active Surface System Control Software(TASCS). This paper describes the design and implementation of TASCS for device control,status monitoring, human-computer interaction, and data management functionalities. TASCS adopts the opensource Tango Controls framework and distributes middleware technology to realize real-time automated adjustment of the primary reflector through remote centralized control of a large number of actuators. At present, it has been successfully deployed on the TMRT and has played an important role in Event Horizon Telescope observations.

The Chromatic Point-spread Function of Weak Lensing Measurement in the Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope

Weak gravitational lensing is a powerful tool in modern cosmology.To accurately measure the weak lensing signal,one has to control the systematic bias on a small level.One of the most difficult problems is how to correct the smearing effect of the Point-Spread Function(PSF)on the shape of the galaxies.The chromaticity of PSF for a broad-band observation can lead to new subtle effects.Since the PSF is wavelength-dependent and the spectrum energy distributions between stars and galaxies are different,the effective PSF measured from the star images will be different from those that smear the galaxies.Such a bias is called color bias.We estimate it in the optical bands of the Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope from simulated PSFs,and show the dependence on the color and redshift of the galaxies.Moreover,due to the spatial variation of spectra over the galaxy image,another higher-order bias exists:color gradient bias.Our results show that both color bias and color gradient bias are generally below 0.1%in CSST.Only for small-size galaxies,one needs to be careful about the color gradient bias in the weak lensing analysis using CSST data.

An open-loop control algorithm of the active reflector system of FAST

An open-loop control algorithm is put forward for continuous paraboloid deformation of the active reflector system of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope(FAST).The method is based on a calibration database and interpolation in 2D spatial domain and temperature domain,respectively.It is completely independent of real-time measurement of cable nodes so that it has advantage of working all-weather and no additional electro-magnetic interference(EMI).Furthermore,its control accuracy can be effectively improved via reasonable layout of the calibrated paraboloids and increasing calibration accuracy.Meanwhile deformation safety is considered via calibration as well.Finally its control accuracy is also confirmed via site measurements of paraboloid deformations.

Performance Evaluation of Baseline-dependent Averaging Based on Full-scale SKA1-LOW Simulation

The Square Kilometre Array(SKA)is the largest radio interferometer under construction in the world.Its immense amount of visibility data poses a considerable challenge to the subsequent processing by the science data processor(SDP).Baseline dependent averaging(BDA),which reduces the amount of visibility data based on the baseline distribution of the radio interferometer,has become a focus of SKA SDP development.This paper developed and implemented a full-featured BDA module based on Radio Astronomy Simulation,Calibration and Imaging Library(RASCIL).Simulated observations were then performed with RASCIL based on a full-scale SKA1-LOW configuration.The performance of the BDA was systematically investigated and evaluated based on the simulated data.The experimental results confirmed that the amount of visibility data is reduced by about 50%to 85%for different time intervals(Δt_(max)).In addition,differentΔt_(max)have a significant effect on the imaging quality.The smallerΔt_(max)is,the smaller the degradation of imaging quality.

Simulation of a ground-layer adaptive optics system for the Kunlun Dark Universe Survey Telescope

Ground Layer Adaptive Optics （GLAO） is a recently developed technique extensively applied to ground-based telescopes, which mainly compensates for the wavefront errors induced by ground-layer turbulence to get an appropriate point spread function in a wide field of view. The compensation results mainly depend on the turbu-lence distribution. The atmospheric turbulence at Dome A in the Antarctic is mainly distributed below 15 meters, which is an ideal site for applications of GLAO. The GLAO system has been simulated for the Kunlun Dark Universe Survey Telescope, which will be set up at Dome A, and uses a rotating mirror to generate several laser guide stars and a wavefront sensor with a wide field of view to sequentially measure the wavefronts from different laser guide stars. The system is simulated on a computer and parameters of the system are given, which provide detailed information about the design of a practical GLAO system.