No description available.

The Pyramid Sensor (PS) is a promising wavefront sensor (WFS) for astronomical adaptive optics (AO) due to its potential to increase the number of accessible scientific targets by more efficiently using guide star (GS) photons. This so-called magnitude gain, as well as the key role played by the PS in several novel multi-reference wavefront sensing schemes have generated intense interest in the device. The diffraction based theory of PS and the underlying optical shop test, the Foucault knife-edge test, is reviewed. The theory is applied to calculate the magnitude gain. The impact of the magnitude gain on the number of galaxies accessible to observation with classical A0 on a TMT sized telescope for the Virgo Cluster Catalogue is assessed via simulations. Additional simulation results are shown to elucidate the impact of various parameters of the pyramidal prism on the magnitude gain. The results of experiments conducted in the UVIC A0 lab with a prototype Id PS are discussed. The Id PS uses a novel optical element called a holographic diffuser to linearize the response of the PS to wavefront tilt. The results of calibrating the sensor are given as well as caveats to the use of such a device. The results of using the Id PS to measure a static aberration as well as spatial and temporal characterization of turbulence produced by the UVIC A0 lab's Hot-Air Turbulence Generator are given.

QC 351 A7 no. 38 / A brief description is given of the various types of image tubes presently used in astronomical research and a review is presented of the past applications of image tubes to direct astronomical photography. A detailed laboratory evaluation of the Carnegie image tube is summarized and photographs at the telescope are presented to confirm and extend the results obtained in the laboratory. Iris photometry of stellar images can be carried out on Carnegie tube photographs with about the same accuracy as is obtained by normal photographic techniques. Compared to unaided plates the image tube typically requires about 1/15 the exposure time to record stellar images of a specified threshold magnitude. When exposures are made to near the sky limit, however, the Carnegie tube cannot record stars as faint as can be recorded with an unaided plate. When exposed at a given focal length telescope, the limiting magnitude of an image tube record is about 1 magnitude brighter than that of an unaided photograph. Primarily two characteristics of the Carnegie tube, an over-all mottled sensitivity pattern and a light- induced background, are found to be responsible for the loss in limiting magnitude of a Carnegie tube record. The mottle pattern is characterized by an rms variation in sensitivity of ±1.3 percent. It modulates the photographic record of the night-sky radiation and seriously affects the signal -to -noise ratio of the threshold images. The additional background produced by the light- induced background of the image tube generally amounts to 25 percent of the night-sky radiation on a sky-limited photograph. In order to record the same sky-limited magnitude on a Carnegie tube plate and an unaided plate, the image tube record must be exposed at a longer focal length telescope. The exposure time required by the image tube is then about 1/2 to 1/3 that of the unaided plate. Because of the higher scale of the image tube photograph in such a case, however, the effective gain provided by the image tube over the unaided plate is generally somewhat larger than the relative exposure time. The photography of extended objects is found to be particularly affected by the nonuniformities of the image tube. Besides reducing the over-all signal-to-noise ratio of the image tube record, the generalmottle pattern and additional discrete patches and ripples in sensitivity of the image tube tend to mimic low contrast features of galaxies and nebulae. The rather subjective effects of the nonuniformities can be significantly reduced by using telescopes with moderately long focal lengths, so that the seeing image is then large in comparison to the nonuniformities. The photography of astronomical sources through narrowband interference filters has been found to be a particularly promising application of the Carnegie image tube. Preliminary tests reported in the present study include the photography of supernova remnants, planetary nebulae, galaxies, and reflection nebulae. The basic quality criterion for comparing the image tube to unaided photographic emulsions is argued to be the detective quantum efficiency. Typical values of the gain over unaided emulsions provided by the Carnegie tube are calculated to be in the range 10 to 20. It is emphasized, however, that because of the variety of requirements in specific research areas and because of the several unique characteristics of a given image tube, no single figure of merit may be defined that will predict the usefulness of an image tube in all applications. It is suggested that the resolution of a detector should not generally be combined into the calculation of a single figure of merit but should be considered as a separate quality criterion. Certain problems with the Carnegie tube (and other image tubes as well) potentially limit its usefulness in specific research areas. Besides the problems already mentioned, other problems include low resolution, geometrical distortion, the complexities of analyzing the final record (as compared to an unaided photograph), and the limited field of the image tube. Each of these characteristics can be highly significant or entirely inconsequential in different applications.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2006. / Principal faculty advisor: John E. Gizis, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy. Includes bibliographical references.

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No description available.

This thesis presents the results of a spectroscopic survey of the RCS2319+00 supercluster field using the VIMOS instrument on the 8-meter Very Large Telescope. This system is a rare and massive high-redshift structure, comprising at least three galaxy clusters at z = 0.9, separated by less than 3 Mpc, and is one of the few examples of the progenitors of present-day massive galaxy clusters. / We measure 638 new redshifts from a sample of 1134 target sources, 49 of which are consistent with the supercluster redshift. Redshifts are also obtained for 24 radio galaxies within the field, with 6 of these identified as cluster members. We combine the VIMOS redshift catalogue with the data analyzed by Gilbank et al. (2008) from the IMACS spectrograph on the 6-meter Magellan telescope for a total of 1051 redshifts over an area of ∼ 30 x 30 square arcminutes, with 94 spectroscopically confirmed supercluster members. From this combined data set the mean spectroscopic redshifts of the three galaxy clusters were refined and found to be zspec = 0.9056, 0.9041, and 0.9047 for clusters A, B, and C respectively. A new velocity dispersion of sigmav = (1300 +/- 410) km S-1 was calculated for the largest component cluster, A, and was used to estimate a new cluster membership redshift range of 0.8857 ≤ z ≤ 0.9239. / These data will facilitate further scientific study of RCS2319+00 and will shed light on the evolution of massive clusters, hierarchical structure formation, and galaxy evolution. In combination with other spectroscopy this data will allow: the full extent of the supercluster and its substructure in redshift space to be traced; a determination of the dynamical masses of the individual sub-clusters; and a study of the galaxy population within the structure, in particular the star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei as traced by radio and infrared emission.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University (Canada), 1995. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-03, Section: B, page: 1860. Adviser: C. D. Wilson.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-- California Institute of Technology. / 1.6 megabytes, 167 pages in Adobe pdf format. Also privately published by the author in paperback format. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-151).

Thesis (M.A.)--Jāmiʻat Ḥalab. / Includes bibliographical references.