Processing Images from the Zwicky Transient Facility

Russ R. Laher; Frank J. Masci; Steve Groom; Benjamin Rusholme; David L. Shupe; Ed Jackson; Jason Surace; Dave Flynn; Walter Landry; Scott Terek; George Helou; Ron Beck; Eugean Hacopians; Umaa Rebbapragada; Brian Bue; Roger M. Smith; Richard G. Dekany; Adam A. Miller; S. B. Cenko; Eric Bellm; Maria Patterson; Thomas Kupfer; Lin Yan; Tom Barlow; Matthew Graham; Mansi M. Kasliwal; Thomas A. Prince; Shrinivas R. Kulkarni

arXiv · 1708.01584

Processing Images from the Zwicky Transient Facility

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Abstract

The Zwicky Transient Facility is a new robotic-observing program, in which a newly engineered 600-MP digital camera with a pioneeringly large field of view, 47~square degrees, will be installed into the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The camera will generate $\sim 1$~petabyte of raw image data over three years of operations. In parallel related work, new hardware and software systems are being developed to process these data in real time and build a long-term archive for the processed products. The first public release of archived products is planned for early 2019, which will include processed images and astronomical-source catalogs of the northern sky in the $g$ and $r$ bands. Source catalogs based on two different methods will be generated for the archive: aperture photometry and point-spread-function fitting.

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Russ R. Laher, Frank J. Masci, Steve Groom, Benjamin Rusholme, David L. Shupe, Ed Jackson, Jason Surace, Dave Flynn, Walter Landry, Scott Terek, George Helou, Ron Beck, Eugean Hacopians, Umaa Rebbapragada, Brian Bue, Roger M. Smith, Richard G. Dekany, Adam A. Miller, S. B. Cenko, Eric Bellm, Maria Patterson, Thomas Kupfer, Lin Yan, Tom Barlow, Matthew Graham, Mansi M. Kasliwal, Thomas A. Prince, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni. 2017-08-04. Processing Images from the Zwicky Transient Facility. https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.01584

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