Indian researchers have developed a new online tool that promises to significantly improve the performance of the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), one of the largest ground-based telescopes set to be operational in the next decade.
This innovative tool will create a comprehensive catalogue of Near Infrared (NIR) stars, crucial for the telescope's Adaptive Optics (AO) system.
The TMT, along with the Giant Magellan Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope, represents the future of ground-based astronomy.
The TMT's Adaptive Optics System (AOS), known as the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS), aims to counteract these distortions.
However, to correct for atmospheric effects, the system requires feedback from three real stars, called Natural Guide Stars (NGS).
Indian researchers have developed a new online tool that promises to significantly improve the performance of the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), one of the largest ground-based telescopes set to be operational in the next decade.
This innovative tool will create a comprehensive catalogue of Near Infrared (NIR) stars, crucial for the telescope's Adaptive Optics (AO) system.
The TMT, along with the Giant Magellan Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope, represents the future of ground-based astronomy.
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India is a key partner in the TMT project, with the India TMT Center at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) leading the national collaboration.
Ground-based telescopes face challenges due to atmospheric distortion, which affects image quality.
The TMT's Adaptive Optics System (AOS), known as the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS), aims to counteract these distortions.
Dr. Sarang Shah from IIA explained that NFIRAOS will use a Laser Guide Star (LGS) facility, projecting up to nine lasers into the sky to create artificial guide stars. However, to correct for atmospheric effects, the system requires feedback from three real stars, called Natural Guide Stars (NGS).
The new automated code, developed by researchers at IIA and their collaborators, can compute the expected near-infrared magnitudes of stellar sources identified in various optical sky surveys. This tool is crucial as no comprehensive catalogue currently exists that can reliably provide NGS for all sky regions.
Dr. Smitha Subramanian, co-author and faculty at IIA, noted that the team used multi-band optical photometry from the PAN-STARRS telescope to identify stars and predict
their near-infrared magnitudes. The method was validated using data from the UKIDSS survey, achieving over 85% accuracy in NIR magnitude predictions.
