A Wide-Field Infrared Camera for the Palomar 200-inch Telescope

Wilson, John C.; Eikenberry, S. S.; Henderson, Christine; Hayward, T. L.; Carson, J.; Pirger, Bruce; Barry, D. J.; Brandl, Bernhard R.; Houck, J. R.; Fitzgerald, Gregory J.; Stolberg, Todd M.

doi:10.1117/12.460336

Cited by 131 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…An occultation of WASP-12b was also observed with the Wide-Field Infrared Camera (WIRC, Wilson et al 2003) on the Hale 200-inch telescope at Palomar Observatory on 18 March 2017. This observation was made in the K s band using a new Hawaii-II detector installed on WIRC in January 2017 (Tinyanont et al 2019) and a near-infrared Engineered Diffuser (Stefansson et al 2017).…”

Section: Wirc Observationsmentioning

confidence: 86%

The Orbit of WASP-12b Is Decaying

Yee

Winn

Knutson

et al. 2019

ApJL

143

166

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WASP-12b is a transiting hot Jupiter on a 1.09-day orbit around a late-F star. Since the planet's discovery in 2008, the time interval between transits has been decreasing by 29 ± 2 msec year −1 . This is a possible sign of orbital decay, although the previously available data left open the possibility that the planet's orbit is slightly eccentric and is undergoing apsidal precession. Here, we present new transit and occultation observations that provide more decisive evidence for orbital decay, which is favored over apsidal precession by a ∆BIC of 22.3 or Bayes factor of 70,000. We also present new radial-velocity data that rule out the Rømer effect as the cause of the period change. This makes WASP-12 the first planetary system for which we can be confident that the orbit is decaying. The decay timescale for the orbit is P/Ṗ = 3.25 ± 0.23 Myr. Interpreting the decay as the result of tidal dissipation, the modified stellar tidal quality factor is Q = 1.8 × 10 5 .

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Section: Wirc Observationsmentioning

confidence: 86%

The Orbit of WASP-12b Is Decaying

Yee

Winn

Knutson

et al. 2019

ApJL

143

166

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“…This suggests that there is no optical transient temporally coincident with S190814bv but possibly some underlying nuclear variability. On 2019-08-22 UT, we observed AT2019osy in the near infrared using the Wide-field Infrared Camera (WIRC, Wilson et al 2003) with the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory for a total of 10 minutes exposure time (De et al 2019). The WIRC data were reduced and stacked using a custom pipeline (De et al, in preparation).…”

Section: Optical Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ASKAP Search for a Radio Counterpart to the First High-significance Neutron Star–Black Hole Merger LIGO/Virgo S190814bv

Dobie

Stewart

Murphy

et al. 2019

ApJL

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We present results from a search for a radio transient associated with the LIGO/Virgo source S190814bv, a likely neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger, with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. We imaged a 30 deg 2 field at ∆T = 2, 9 and 33 days post-merger at a frequency of 944 MHz, comparing them to reference images from the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey observed 110 days prior to the event. Each epoch of our observations covers 89% of the LIGO/Virgo localisation region. We conducted an untargeted search for radio transients in this field, resulting in 21 candidates. For one of these, AT2019osy, we performed multi-wavelength follow-up and ultimately ruled out the association with S190814bv. All other candidates are likely unrelated variables, but we cannot conclusively rule them out. We discuss our results in the context of model predictions for radio emission from neutron star-black hole mergers and place constrains on the circum-merger density and inclination angle of the merger. This survey is simultaneously the first large-scale radio follow-up of an NSBH merger, and the most sensitive widefield radio transients search to-date.

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“…On UT 2014 August 18, we also simultaneously observed a transit of KIC 12557548b with the Palomar Hale 200 inch telescope and its Wide-field Infra Red Camera (WIRC; Wilson et al 2003) in the H band. We used an engineering-grade Note.The exposure time for SpeX spectra t phot , and FWHM median seeing are in arcseconds, measured across the infrared wavelengths from 0.9 to 2.3 μm.The airmass column shows the starting, minimum, and ending airmass.…”

Section: Wirc Photometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

REDUCED ACTIVITY AND LARGE PARTICLES FROM THE DISINTEGRATING PLANET CANDIDATE KIC 12557548b

Schlawin

Herter

Zhao

et al. 2016

ApJ

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The intriguing exoplanet candidate KIC 12557548b is believed to have a comet-like tail of dusty debris trailing a small rocky planet. The tail of debris scatters up to 1.3% of the stellar light in the Kepler observatory's bandpass (0.42-0.9 μm). Observing the tail's transit depth at multiple wavelengths can reveal the composition and particle size of the debris, constraining the makeup and lifetime of the sub-Mercury planet. Early dust particle size predictions from the scattering of the comet-like tail pointed toward a dust size of ∼0.1 μm for silicate compositions. These small particles would produce a much deeper optical transit depth than near-infrared transit depth. We measure a transmission spectrum for KIC 12557548b using the SpeX spectrograph (covering 0.8-2.4 μm) simultaneously with the MORIS imager taking r′ (0.63 μm) photometry on the Infrared Telescope Facility for eight nights and one night in H band (1.63 μm) using the Wide-field IR Camera at the Palomar 200 inch telescope. The infrared spectra are plagued by systematic errors, but we argue that sufficient precision is obtained when using differential spectroscopic calibration when combining multiple nights. The average differential transmission spectrum is flat, supporting findings that KIC 12557548b's debris is likely composed of larger particles 0.5 μm for pyroxene and olivine and 0.2 μm for iron and corundum. The r′ photometric transit depths are all below the average Kepler value, suggesting that the observations occurred during a weak period or that the mechanisms producing optical broadband transit depths are suppressed.

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A Wide-Field Infrared Camera for the Palomar 200-inch Telescope

Cited by 131 publications

References 8 publications

The Orbit of WASP-12b Is Decaying

The Orbit of WASP-12b Is Decaying

An ASKAP Search for a Radio Counterpart to the First High-significance Neutron Star–Black Hole Merger LIGO/Virgo S190814bv

REDUCED ACTIVITY AND LARGE PARTICLES FROM THE DISINTEGRATING PLANET CANDIDATE KIC 12557548b

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