Rashman, MF, Steele, IA, Bates, SD, Copley, D and Longmore, SN (2019) Uncooled Microbolometer Arrays for Ground Based Astronomy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 492 (1). pp. 480-487. ISSN 0035-8711

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Abstract

We describe the design and commissioning of a simple prototype, low-cost 10 μm imaging instrument. The system is built using commercially available components including an uncooled microbolometer array as a detector. The incorporation of adjustable germanium reimaging optics rescale the image to the appropriate plate scale for the 2 m diameter Liverpool Telescope. From observations of bright Solar system and stellar sources, we demonstrate a plate scale of 0.75 arcsec per pixel and confirm the optical design allows diffraction limited imaging. We record a ∼10 percent photometric stability due to sky variability. We measure a 3σ sensitivity of 7 × 103 Jy for a single, ∼0.11 s exposure. This corresponds to a sensitivity limit of 3 × 102 Jy for a 60 s total integration. We present an example science case from observations of the 2019 January total lunar eclipse and show that the system can detect and measure the anomalous cooling rate associated with the features Bellot and Langrenus during eclipse.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2019 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	astro-ph.IM; astro-ph.IM
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Related URLs:	Author
Date Deposited:	06 Jan 2020 10:24
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 08:14
DOI or ID number:	10.1093/mnras/stz3497
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/11945

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