Gabriele Coppi, Simon Dicker, James E. Aguirre, Jason E. Austermann, James A. Beall, Susan E. Clark, Erin G. Cox, Mark J. Devlin, Laura M. Fissel, Nicholas Galitzki, Brandon S. Hensley, Johannes Hubmayr, Sergio Molinari, Federico Nati, Giles Novak, Eugenio Schisano, Juan D. Soler, Carole E. Tucker, Joel N. Ullom, Anna Vaskuri, Michael R. Vissers, Jordan D. Wheeler, Mario Zannoni, (The BLAST Observatory Collaboration)
{"title":"The BLAST Observatory: A Sensitivity Study for Far-IR Balloon-borne Polarimeters","authors":"Gabriele Coppi, Simon Dicker, James E. Aguirre, Jason E. Austermann, James A. Beall, Susan E. Clark, Erin G. Cox, Mark J. Devlin, Laura M. Fissel, Nicholas Galitzki, Brandon S. Hensley, Johannes Hubmayr, Sergio Molinari, Federico Nati, Giles Novak, Eugenio Schisano, Juan D. Soler, Carole E. Tucker, Joel N. Ullom, Anna Vaskuri, Michael R. Vissers, Jordan D. Wheeler, Mario Zannoni, (The BLAST Observatory Collaboration)","doi":"10.1088/1538-3873/ad2e11","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Sensitive wide-field observations of polarized thermal emission from interstellar dust grains will allow astronomers to address key outstanding questions about the life cycle of matter and energy driving the formation of stars and the evolution of galaxies. Stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes can map this polarized emission at far-infrared wavelengths near the peak of the dust thermal spectrum—wavelengths that are inaccessible from the ground. In this paper we address the sensitivity achievable by a Super Pressure Balloon polarimetry mission, using as an example the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) Observatory. By launching from Wanaka, New Zealand, the BLAST Observatory can obtain a 30 days flight with excellent sky coverage—overcoming limitations of past experiments that suffered from short flight duration and/or launch sites with poor coverage of nearby star-forming regions. This proposed polarimetry mission will map large regions of the sky at sub-arcminute resolution, with simultaneous observations at 175, 250, and 350 <italic toggle=\"yes\">μ</italic>m, using a total of 8274 microwave kinetic inductance detectors. Here, we describe the scientific motivation for the BLAST Observatory, the proposed implementation, and the forecasting methods used to predict its sensitivity. We also compare our forecasted experiment sensitivity with other facilities.","PeriodicalId":20820,"journal":{"name":"Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/ad2e11","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Sensitive wide-field observations of polarized thermal emission from interstellar dust grains will allow astronomers to address key outstanding questions about the life cycle of matter and energy driving the formation of stars and the evolution of galaxies. Stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes can map this polarized emission at far-infrared wavelengths near the peak of the dust thermal spectrum—wavelengths that are inaccessible from the ground. In this paper we address the sensitivity achievable by a Super Pressure Balloon polarimetry mission, using as an example the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) Observatory. By launching from Wanaka, New Zealand, the BLAST Observatory can obtain a 30 days flight with excellent sky coverage—overcoming limitations of past experiments that suffered from short flight duration and/or launch sites with poor coverage of nearby star-forming regions. This proposed polarimetry mission will map large regions of the sky at sub-arcminute resolution, with simultaneous observations at 175, 250, and 350 μm, using a total of 8274 microwave kinetic inductance detectors. Here, we describe the scientific motivation for the BLAST Observatory, the proposed implementation, and the forecasting methods used to predict its sensitivity. We also compare our forecasted experiment sensitivity with other facilities.
期刊介绍:
The Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP), the technical journal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), has been published regularly since 1889, and is an integral part of the ASP''s mission to advance the science of astronomy and disseminate astronomical information. The journal provides an outlet for astronomical results of a scientific nature and serves to keep readers in touch with current astronomical research. It contains refereed research and instrumentation articles, invited and contributed reviews, tutorials, and dissertation summaries.