Wide and fast. Status update on FAVOR project and MegaTORTORA system

S. Karpov1*, G. Beskin1, S. Bondar2, A. Perkov2, G. Greco3, A. Guarnieri4 and C. Bartolini4
1Special Astropysical Observatory, Nizhnij Arkhyz, Russia, 369167
2Institute for Precise Instrumentation, Nizhnij Arkhyz, Russia, 369167
3Astronomical Observatory of Bologna, INAF, Italy
4Astronomy Department of Bologna University, Bologna, Italy

View Full Article: [PDF]

Abstract

Here we briefly summarize our long period experience of constructing and operating wide-field monitoring cameras with sub-second temporal resolution to look for optical components of GRBs, fast-moving satellites and meteors. General requirements for hardware for such systems are discussed along with algorithms of real-time detection and classification of various kinds of short optical transients. We also give a status report on the next generation, multi-objective and transforming monitoring system, the MegaTORTORA, whose 6-channel prototype (MiniMega-TORTORA) is at a final stages of commissioning now at SAO RAS. This system combines a wide field of view with sub-second temporal resolution in monitoring regime, and is able to reconfigure itself, in a fractions of second, to follow-up mode which has better sensitivity and provides us with multi-color and polarimetric information on detected transients simultaneously. Hardware and software solutions used for the prototype (including a ways to rapidly re-point separate channels, process non-poissonian data from image intensifier+CCD combination, etc), as well as perspectives of its operation, are also discussed.



<< Previous | Next Article >>Back to Asics_Vol_007

Keywords : gamma-ray bursts, high time resolution, wide field photometry