The ASTRI SST-2M prototype for the Cherenkov Telescope Array: opto-mechanical performance

Canestrari, R.; Giro, E.; Sironi, G.; Antolini, E.; Fugazza, D.; Scuderi, S.; Tosti, G.; Tanci, Claudio; Russo, F.; Gardiol, D.; Fermino, Carlos Eduardo; Stringhetti, L.; Pareschi, G.; Marchiori, G.; Busatta, A.; Marcuzzi, Enrico; Folla, Ivan

doi:10.1117/12.2232270

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The ASTRI-Horn telescope Cornelia Arcaro position along the telescope's field of view and its elevation [11,12], showing that the required specification of a flat PSF of ∼ 10 arcminutes along a large field of view is fulfilled. The monitoring of the mirror reflectivity is crucial for evaluating the degradation of their reflective coating due to the environmental impact.…”

Section: Pos(heasa2019)046mentioning

confidence: 99%

The ASTRI-Horn Dual-Mirror Small-Size Cherenkov Telescope: recent updates, first results and outlook

Arcaro¹

2020

Proceedings of 7th Annual Conference on High Energy Astrophysics in Southern Africa — PoS(HEASA2019)

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The ASTRI project represents an effort of an international collaboration led by the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy, in conjunction with the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the NorthWest University, South Africa, aiming at assessing the technology of an array of smallsize Cherenkov telescopes (SSTs). In this respect, the ASTRI-Horn telescope, an end-to-end prototype, has been installed in Sicily, on the slopes of the Etna volcano at 1735 m a.s.l. The telescope is characterized by a dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder design that covers a wide field of view and favors gamma-ray observations in the range from few TeVs up to tens of TeV. Its curved focal-plane camera consists of Silicon-photomultipliers, which are controlled by fast front-end electronics. The complete end-to-end approach includes the implementation of calibration as well as control and acquisition systems, together with the data reduction, archiving and analysis software. The ASTRI collaboration has successfully completed the commissioning and science verification phase of the prototype, including observation of the Crab Nebula. A mini-Array composed of nine ASTRI telescopes is being developed and operated by INAF in the context of the preparatory effort for the proposed participation in the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Apart from a few minor changes implemented to improve the telescope design, the mini-array telescopes will be very similar to the ASTRI-Horn telescope. In this contribution an overview of the main features and performance of the ASTRI-Horn telescope is presented together with recent updates and first scientific results. In addition to this, the technological evolution towards the ASTRI mini-array and its scientific expectations are outlined.

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Section: Pos(heasa2019)046mentioning

confidence: 99%

The ASTRI-Horn Dual-Mirror Small-Size Cherenkov Telescope: recent updates, first results and outlook

Arcaro¹

2020

Proceedings of 7th Annual Conference on High Energy Astrophysics in Southern Africa — PoS(HEASA2019)

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“…The ASTRI-Horn telescope is based on the so-called Schwarzschild-Couder (SC) design proposed by Vassiliev et al [8] for the application in Cherenkov astronomy, allowing to correct contemporaneously spherical, coma and astigmatism aberrations on a large field of view. It is a compact system, with a 4 m-diameter primary and a 1.8 m-diameter secondary mirror, with a primary-to-secondary distance of 3 m, and a secondary-to-camera distance of 0.52 m [9]. It adopts…”

Section: The Astri-horn Telescopementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The optics' PSF has been determined as a function of the position along the telescope's field of view [14]. In addition, the temporal stability of the PSF was determined in function of the telescope elevation [9]. The measurements were carried out with a CCD camera placed at different positions in the telescope's focal plane imaging stars at different sky positions showing that the required specification of a flat PSF of ∼ 10 arcminutes along a large field of view (∼ 10 • ) is fulfilled.…”

Section: The Commissioning Of the Astri-horn Telescopementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The measurements were carried out with a CCD camera placed at different positions in the telescope's focal plane imaging stars at different sky positions showing that the required specification of a flat PSF of ∼ 10 arcminutes along a large field of view (∼ 10 • ) is fulfilled. The PSF stability with elevation and with time [9] has a huge impact on the design of the active mirror control, allowing to use this control as an AIV (Assembly-Integration-Verification) tool for the alignment of the primary mirror's segments at the time of installation and whenever required (typically once per year). The monitoring of the optic's reflectivity is crucial for the degradation evaluation of the reflective mirror coating due to the environmental impact by atmosphere, dust, sand, UV light, etc.…”

Section: The Commissioning Of the Astri-horn Telescopementioning

confidence: 99%

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The ASTRI Dual-Mirror Small-Size Cherenkov Telescope

Arcaro¹

2019

Proceedings of High Energy Astrophysics in Southern Africa — PoS(HEASA2018)

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The ASTRI dual-mirror small-size telescope (ASTRI-Horn) is an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope that was developed by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) within the framework of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project, the next-generation ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray observatory. The CTA observatory will consist of two sites configured in two arrays of telescopes of different sizes. They will be located in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres to cover the full sky. ASTRI (Astrofisica con Specchi a Tecnologia replicante Italiana) is the Italian proposal for the small-size telescopes and its design is based on a Schwarzschild-Couder configuration. To fulfill the required plate scale, the camera is based on a new technology involving the use of Silicon-photomultipliers. With its wide field of view of 10 degrees, it is optimized for gamma-ray observations in the range from few TeV up to several tens of TeV. The ASTRI prototype is installed at Serra La Nave at 1735 m a.s.l. in Sicily, Italy, and is currently going through the science validation phase. A further development of the program foresees the construction of a set of nine ASTRI telescopes proposed as pathfinder for the CTA array. In this contribution, the main features of the ASTRI telescope will be described and an update on the latest news on the prototype activities and the mini-array will be presented.

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“…Several tests have been already conducted and the necessary control/acquisition systems optimized. Among them, the telescope control system to move, point and track the rigid altitude-azimuthal telescope structure [18,19] and the camera system to manage and control all its components, from the trigger to the read-out electronics until the ancillary devices and the lid motors [20]. The graphical user interfaces, that provide full access to the capabilities offered by the telescope hardware subsystems for testing and maintenance [21], have been optimized as well as the monitoring and alarms system for the necessary information and communication (ICT) infrastructures [17].…”

Section: 1mentioning

confidence: 99%

ASTRI for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

Maccarone¹

2017

Proceedings of 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2017)

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The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the largest ground-based observatory operating in the very-high-energy gamma-ray (20 GeV -300 TeV) range. It will be based on more than one hundred telescopes, located at two sites (in the northern and southern hemispheres). The energy coverage, in the southern CTA array, will extend up to hundreds of TeV thanks to 70 small size telescopes (SST), with their primary mirrors of about 4 meters in diameter and large field of view of the order of 9 degrees. It is proposed that one of the first sets of precursors for the CTA SSTs array will be represented by (at least) nine ASTRI telescopes. The prototype of such telescopes, named ASTRI SST-2M, is installed in Italy. It is currently completing the overall commissioning before entering the science verification phase that will performed observing bright TeV sources as Crab Nebula, Mrk421 and Mrk 501. This science verification phase will cross-check the prototype performance with the predictions of detailed Monte Carlo simulations.ASTRI telescopes are characterized by a dual-mirror optical design based on the SchwarzschildCouder (SC) configuration. The focal-plane camera is curved in order to fit the ideal prescription for the SC design and the sensors are small size silicon photomultipliers read-out by a fast front-end electronics. The telescope prototype installed in Italy, has been developed by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, INAF, following an end-to-end approach that comprises all aspects from the design, construction and implementation of the entire hardware and software system to the final scientific products. In this respect, the internal and external calibration systems, control/acquisition hardware and software, data reduction and analysis software, and data archiving system are being realized in addition to the telescope structure and camera. All parts of the system have been designed to comply with the CTA requirements. A collaborative effort, addressed to the implementation of the first ASTRI telescopes for the CTA southern site, is now on-going led by INAF with the Universidade de Sao Paulo (Brazil), the North-West University (South Africa) and the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, INFN. In this contribution we will describe the main features of the ASTRI telescopes, the latest news from their prototype, its performance and the expectations of the first set of ASTRI telescopes proposed for CTA. [1,2] is the next generation ground-based observatory for gamma-ray astronomy at very high energies. With more than one hundred Cherenkov telescopes located in two sites, one for each hemisphere, assuring full sky coverage, CTA will detect very high energy radiation with unprecedented accuracy and sensitivity better than current Image Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique (IACT) experiments. Three different classes of telescopes (LST, MST, SST, that is large, medium and small, so defined with respect to their collecting mirror size) will have different field-of-views and are designed to access diff...

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The ASTRI SST-2M prototype for the Cherenkov Telescope Array: opto-mechanical performance

Cited by 5 publications

References 8 publications

The ASTRI-Horn Dual-Mirror Small-Size Cherenkov Telescope: recent updates, first results and outlook

The ASTRI-Horn Dual-Mirror Small-Size Cherenkov Telescope: recent updates, first results and outlook

The ASTRI Dual-Mirror Small-Size Cherenkov Telescope

ASTRI for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

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