The Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope

Roming, P. W. A.; Hunsberger, S.; Mason, K. O.; Nousek, J. A.; Broos, P. S.; Carter, Mary J.; Hancock, B.; Huckle, H.; Kennedy, T.; Killough, Ronnie; Koch, T. S.; Pryzby, Michael S.; Soto, Juan Carlos; Stock, J.; Boyd, Patricia T.; Still, M.

doi:10.1117/12.504554

Cited by 87 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Optical and ultraviolet data of UVOT (Roming et al 2005) in the filters B (4329Å) and UV W 1 (2634Å) were considered. The snapshots of every individual pointing were integrated with uvotimsum task and then analyzed with the uvotsource task.…”

Section: Sample Selection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of variability in γ-ray blazars

Foschini

2009

Advances in Space Research

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Preliminary results of a systematic study on the simultaneous optical-to-X-rays variability in blazars are presented. Data from Swift observations of four bright γ−ray blazars (3C 279, ON +231, S5 0716+71, PKS 2155−304) have been analyzed, compared, and discussed. Specifically, 3C 279 shows a variable flattening in the low energy part of the X-ray spectrum that appears to be confined in a specific X-ray vs optical/UV fluxes region. Some implications are shortly analyzed.

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Section: Sample Selection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of variability in γ-ray blazars

Foschini

2009

Advances in Space Research

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“…Testing on a software simulator as well as on the actual hardware equipment verifies that the expected onboard runtime of the algorithm can meet the SVOM engineering requirements. Our algorithm is simpler than the one adopted by the Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope on board the Swift satellite [7] . The Swift algorithm identifies all isolated local maxima as stars when traversing the image, while our algorithm only records the global maxima of each grid cells.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A fast onboard star-extraction algorithm optimized for the SVOM Visible Telescope

Wang

Qiu

Cai

et al. 2010

Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron.

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The Space multi-band Variable Object Monitor (SVOM) is a proposed Chinese astronomical satellite, dedicated to the detection, localization and measurement of the gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) on the cosmological scale. An efficient algorithm is developed for the purpose of onboard star extraction from the CCD images obtained with the Visible Telescope (VT) on board SVOM. The CCD pixel coordinates of the reference stars will be used to refine the astronomical position of the satellite, which will facilitate trigger rapid ground-based follow-up obsevations of the GRBs. In this algorithm, the image is divided into a number of grid cells and the "global" pixel-value maximum within each cell is taken as the first-guess position of a "bright" star. The correct center postion of a star is then computed using a simple iterative method. Applying two additional strategies, i.e., scanning the image only by even (or odd) lines or in a black-white chess board mode, are proposed to further reduce the time to extract the stars. To examine the efficiency of the above aglorithms, we applied them to the experimental images obtained with a ground-based telescope. We find that the accuracy of the astronomical positioning achieved by our method is comparable to that derived by using the conventional star-extraction method, while the former needs CPU time about 25 times less than the latter. This will significantly improve the performance of the SVOM VT mission.

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“…±35°through the utilization of its slewing mirror. The SMT is capable of observing GRBs in single-photon mode with an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) consisting of two layered multi-channel plate (MCP) situated on the focal plane (the same method is employed by the UVOT [14]). Two gimbal motors drive the slewing mirror with sub-arcsec positioning, demonstrating a one second response time across the entire FoV.…”

Section: Slewing Mirror Telescopementioning

confidence: 99%

“…NASA's Swift [7] space observatory was the first mission to provide GRB data across a range of optical / UV bands. One limitation of the Swift instrument is that its observations require the reorientation of the entire spacecraft towards GRB destination, which takes ∼ 100 seconds [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slewing mirror telescope of the UFFO-pathfinder: first report on performance in space

et al. 2017

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Publication date: 2017 Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link back to DTU Orbit Citation (APA): Gaikov, G., Jeong, . S., Agaradahalli, V. G., Park, I. H., Budtz-Jørgensen, C., Castro-Tirado, A. J., ... . Slewing mirror telescope of the UFFO-pathfinder: first report on performance in space. Optics Express, 25(23), 29143-29154. DOI: 10.1364/OE.25.029143 Slewing mirror telescope of the UFFO-pathfinder: first report on performance in space G. GAIKOV, 1,2 S. JEONG, 1,2,3,11 V. G. AGARADAHALLI, 1 Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066, Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16419, South Korea 2 Institute of Science and Technology in Space, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066, Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16419 Technology and Science, Jawahar Nagar, Shamirpet Mandal, India * ilpark@skku.edu Abstract: To observe the early optical emissions from gamma ray bursts (GRBs), we built the Slew Mirror Telescope. It utilizes a 150 mm motorized mirror to redirect incoming photons from astrophysical objects within seconds and to track them as compensating satellite movements. The SMT is a major component of the UFFO-pathfinder payload, which was launched on April 28, 2016, onboard the Lomonosov satellite. For the first time, the slewing mirror system has been proven for the precision tracking of astrophysical objects during space operation. We confirmed that the SMT has 1.4 seconds of response time to the X-gamma-ray trigger, and is able to compensate for satellite drift and to track astrophysical objects with magnitudes from 7 to 18.

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The Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope

Cited by 87 publications

References 24 publications

Patterns of variability in γ-ray blazars

Patterns of variability in γ-ray blazars

A fast onboard star-extraction algorithm optimized for the SVOM Visible Telescope

Slewing mirror telescope of the UFFO-pathfinder: first report on performance in space

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