SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 2209.00912

Tip-tilt anisoplanatism in MCAO-assisted astrometric observations

Abstract

A new era of ground-based observations, either in the infrared with the next-generation of 25-40m extremely large telescopes or in the visible with the 8m Very Large Telescope, is going to be assisted by multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) to restore the unprecedented resolutions potentially available for these systems in absence of atmospheric turbulence. Astrometry is one of the main science drivers, as MCAO can provide good quality and uniform correction over wide field of views ($\sim$ 1 arcmin) and offer a large number of reference sources with high image quality. The requirements have been set to very high precisions on the differential astrometry (e.g. 50$\mu$as for MICADO/MORFEO - formerly known as MAORY - at the Extremely Large Telescope) and an accurate analysis of the astrometric error budget is needed. In this context, we present an analysis of the impact of MCAO atmospheric tip-tilt residuals on relative astrometry. We focus on the effects of the scientific integration time on tip-tilt residuals, that we model through the temporal transfer function of the exposure. We define intra- and inter-exposure tip-tilt residuals that we use in the estimation of the centroiding error and the differential tilt jitter error within the astrometric error budget. As a case study, we apply our results in the context of the MORFEO astrometric error budget.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Giulia Carlà, Lorenzo Busoni, Cédric Plantet, Guido Agapito, Carmelo Arcidiacono, Paolo Ciliegi. 2022-09-02. Tip-tilt anisoplanatism in MCAO-assisted astrometric observations. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2627126

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

The EDD Radio Astronomy Backend Framework

Modern digital radio astronomy receivers produce increasingly wide-bandwidth, high bit-rate data streams that necessitate the development of flexible, scalable, and maintainable backend processing and recording systems. Historically, such backend instrumentation has been tightly coupled to telescope observing modes, limiting reuse between observatories and science cases. We present the Effelsberg Direct Digitisation (EDD) backend framework, a software-defined architecture for constructing real-time radio astronomy backends on commodity off-the-shelf computing infrastructure. We describe its design, implementation, supported observing modes, and operational deployments. EDD separates a common core framework from plugin-provided observing capabilities. The core provides orchestration, telescope interfaces, pipeline lifecycle management, monitoring, and deployment tooling, while plugins implement processing pipelines for specific observing modes. The framework is designed to support both single-dish and interferometric instruments through site-specific configuration and plugin selection. EDD currently supports spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry, pulsar timing and searching, baseband recording, very long baseline interferometry, correlation, and beamforming. Operational deployments include the Effelsberg 100-m telescope, the SKA-MPI prototype dish, the Thai National Radio Telescope, and the ARGOS interferometric prototype array. By separating common services, observing-mode plugins, and site-specific configuration, it allows backend capabilities to be deployed across heterogeneous telescope environments and provides a community resource for broadband radio astronomy instrumentation.

astro-ph.IM

Bayesian Superiority in On/Off analysis

We present a detailed comparison of Bayesian criteria with three non-informative priors - flat, Jeffreys, and scale-invariant - for testing a signal against an unknown background and compare them with the classical frequentist Li-Ma approach in the On/Off problem. We perform Monte Carlo simulations for various background levels and evaluate the Li-Ma and Bayesian criteria by their Type I error rates. We then simulate a nonzero signal and compare the criteria in terms of Type II error rates. We find that the Bayesian criterion with the Jeffreys prior yields lower Type I and Type II error rates than the Li-Ma criterion. In addition, we show that the Bayesian criteria are more robust than the Li-Ma criterion when the background distribution is overdispersed relative to the Poisson distribution.

astro-ph.IM

An RFSoC-based Backend and Timing System for the Balloon-borne Very Long Baseline Interferometry Experiment

We present the design and performance characterization of the digital backend and precision-timing system for the Balloon-borne Very Long Baseline Interferometry Experiment (BVEX), a pathfinder for high-frequency stratospheric VLBI at 22 GHz. The backend uses one of the four 14-bit analog-to-digital converter inputs on an AMD-Xilinx RFSoC 4x2. Although the converters support sampling rates up to 5 GSPS, the flight configuration digitizes the 2-4 GHz intermediate frequency at 4.096 GSPS. CASPER firmware provides both a high-resolution spectrometer for pointing and receiver verification, and a VLBI acquisition chain with two-bit requantization that records at a rate of about 8.2 Gbps. The timestamped data packets are sent over 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) to a 16 TB NVMe array in a storage computer that draws approximately 70-80 W. The timing chain uses a Rakon oven-controlled crystal oscillator as a timing reference while a time-interval counter measures its drift relative to a GPS reference with approximately 60 ps resolution. This is the first deployment of an RFSoC-based VLBI backend and precision-timing system on a stratospheric balloon. Ground tests validated the backend, spectrometer, and timing chain. The August 2025 CSA STRATOS flight ended before reaching the target float altitude because of a balloon failure, and as a result no science observations were obtained. For the planned 2027 reflight, we are developing a conduction-cooled data storage computer with 24 TB of NVMe capacity and a direct data path from the 100 GbE interface to the NVMe array.

astro-ph.IM