Developing a fast, triple-beam camera for variable star observers

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Mon, 11/07/2016 - 17:40

 

Hi,

a group of us here at the University of Southampton is currently developing a fast, triple-beam camera in collaboration with colleagues at UNAM in Mexico. By "triple-beam" I mean that it will allow users to obtain simultaneous photometry in 3 wavelength bands (e.g. U, B and V), and by "fast" I mean it will do so on time-scales well below 1 second and hopefully down to about 1 millisecond.

Our project has been motivated by the huge success of ULTRACAM, a similar camera that was developed by Vik Dhillon (Sheffield) and Tom Marsh (Warwick) and has been used as a visitor instrument at many professional observatories. ULTRACAM has had a tremendous impact on variable star astronomy, from studies on flickering in accreting compact objects, to eclipses in cataclysmic variables, to observations of extrasolar planet transits.

In the process of developing our own instrument, we have realized that it may be possible to design a camera along those lines that might be affordable to dedicated amateur variable star astronomers (mainly by using off-the-shelf components where possible and exploiting recent progress in detector technologies). We are therefore now wondering whether there is interest within the variable star community in such an instrument. If there is, we could try to contact a camera manufacturer to see if there is scope for developing this.

With this in mind, we have designed a very brief 10-question survey to gauge the level of interest among variable star observers. We would be hugely grateful if as many of you as possible could take part in this -- it really will not take you more than a few minutes and would be hugely appreciated! The direct link to the survey is 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BYRCY78

Thanks in advance for your help!

Christian Knigge, Dan Whiter, Poshak Gandhi & Diego Altamirano