First scientific operation of JPCam, the 1.2 Gpixel camera for the Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS)

Le résumé fourni par la source

First scientific operation and performances of the Javalambre Panoramic Camera (JPCam) are presented in this paper. JPCam, deployed on the 2.6m large field-of-view Javalambre Survey Telescope (JST250) at the Observatorio Astrof´ısico de Javalambre (OAJ), is a 1.2 Gpixel camera conceived to perform the Javalambre Physics of the Accelerated Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS). J-PAS in an unprecedented photometric sky survey of several thousand square degrees of the northern sky in 56 optical bands, 54 of them narrow-band filters (145 Å FWHM). The innovative designs of the J-PAS instrument and filter system has been optimized to accurately measure photometric redshifts for galaxies up to z∼1 and to study stellar populations in nearby galaxies. As a result, J-PAS will provide a low-resolution spectroscopy for hundreds of millions of other galaxies. The data set produced by this survey will have a unique legacy value, allowing a wide range of astrophysical studies. To this aim, JPCam is equipped with a mosaic of 14 large format 9.2k x 9.2k, 10μm pixel, low noise detectors from Teledyne-E2V, providing an unvignetted Field of View of 3.4 square degrees with a plate scale of 0.2267′′/pix. Its filter unit admits 5 filter trays, each mounting 14 filters corresponding to the 14 CCDs of the mosaic and allowing all the J-PAS filters to be permanently installed. To optimize image quality during the observations, the position of the JST250 secondary mirror and JPCam focal plane are maintained optically aligned by means of two hexapod systems. To perform this task, JPCam includes 12 auxiliary detectors, 4 for autoguiding and 8 for image quality control through wavefront sensing. JPCam commissioning was successfully completed and first scientific operation started in summer 2023. This paper shows JPCam on-sky operation and first J-PAS Science Verification results, demonstrating fulfilment of the main J-PAS scientific requirements.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.