PreCam: A Precursor Observational Campaign for Calibration of the Dark Energy Survey

Journal Article · Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/670592· OSTI ID:1097425

Kuehn, K.; Kuhlmann, S.; Allam, S.; Annis, J. T.; Bailey, T.; Balbinot, E.; Bernstein, J. P.; Biesiadzinski, T.; Burke, D. L.; Butner, M.; Camargo, J. I. B.; da Costa, L. A. N.; DePoy, D.; Diehl, H. T.; Dietrich, J. P.; Estrada, J.; Fausti, A.; Gerke, B.; Guarino, V.; Head, H. H. ; Kessler, R.; Lin, H.; Lorenzon, W.; Maia, M. A. G.; Maki, L.; Marshall, J.; Nord, B.; Neilsen, E.; Ogando, R. L. C.; Park, D.; Peoples, J.; Rastawicki, D.; Rheault, J. -P.; Santiago, B.; Schubnell, M.; Seitzer, P.; Smith, J. A.; Spinka, H.; Sypniewski, A.; Tarle, G.; Tucker, D. L.; Walker, A. R.; Wester, W.

PreCam, a precursor observational campaign supporting the Dark Energy Survey (DES), is designed to produce a photometric and astrometric catalog of nearly a hundred thousand standard stars within the DES footprint, while the PreCam instrument also serves as a prototype testbed for the Dark Energy Camera's hardware and software. This catalog represents a potential 100-fold increase in Southern Hemisphere photometric standard stars, and therefore will be an important component in the calibration of the Dark Energy Survey. We provide details on the PreCam instrument's design, construction, and testing, as well as results from a subset of the 51 nights of PreCam survey observations on the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy's Curtis-Schmidt telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). We briefly describe the preliminary data processing pipeline that has been developed for PreCam data and the preliminary results of the instrument performance, as well as astrometry and photometry of a sample of stars previously included in other southern sky surveys.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Contributing Organization: for the Dark Energy Survey Collaboration
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1097425
• Report Number(s): SLAC-PUB-15820; arXiv:1208.0865
• Journal Information: Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Vol. 125, Issue 926; ISSN 0004-6280
• Publisher: Astronomical Society of the Pacific
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
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