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A new version of the stellar intensity interferometry instrument for the ASTRI Mini-Array telescopes
The secondary mirrors of the ASTRI telescopes were realized already at the beginning of the ASTRI Project. After a few years, some of them revealed a clear degradation of the surface reflective coating. Therefore, it was necessary to look for a qualified industrial supplier able to perform a new coating of these mirrors. To this aim, the ASTRI Collaboration identified the French company CILAS as the best option. In this paper, we present the activities performed by CILAS on the mirrors. We first describe the coating approach adopted by CILAS and its tuning to the case of the ASTRI M2 mirrors. Then, we describe the qualification activities of the coating process, the problems arisen and the remedial actions that were adopted. Finally, we report the obtained results from the reflectivity and homogeneity points of view.
The ASTRI Mini-Array is an international project led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) aiming at building and operating an array of nine Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) at the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). UVSiPM, a calibrated small photon counter working in the 280-900 nm wavelength range, is one of the auxiliary instruments of the ASTRI Mini-Array.
UVSiPM is mainly devoted to measure the level of night sky background during the ASTRI Mini-Array observations in the same energy range of the ASTRI cameras. It is composed of one single multi-pixel SiPM sensor (the same model adopted in the ASTRI Mini-Array Cherenkov cameras) coupled to an electronic chain working in single photon counting mode. The design of the optical system foresees a pin-hole mask equipped with a collimator to regulate the UVSiPM field of view. UVSiPM will be mounted on the external structure of one of the ASTRI Mini-Array telescopes and co-aligned with its camera. In addition, it will be used as a support instrument for the absolute end-to-end calibration of the ASTRI Mini-Array telescopes performed with the illuminator, a further auxiliary device devoted to perform the optical throughput calibration of each telescope of the array. Last but not least, UVSiPM can be used as diagnostic tool for the camera functionalities. In this contribution we present the overall design of the UVSiPM instrument and some preliminary results of its performance based on simulations.
The ASTRI SST-2M telescope structure and mirrors have been installed at the INAF observing station at Serra La Nave, on Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy) in September 2014. Its performance verification phase began in autumn 2015. Part of the scheduled activities foresees the study and characterization of the optical and opto-mechanical performance of the telescope prototype.
In this contribution we report the results achieved in terms of kinematic model analysis, mirrors reflectivity evolution, telescopes positioning, flexures and pointing model and the thermal behavior.
In this framework, the Italian ASTRI program, led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), is currently developing a scientific and technological SST dual-mirror end-to-end prototype named ASTRI SST-2M. It is a 4-meter class telescope; it adopts an aplanatic, wide-field, double-reflection optical layout in a Schwarzschild-Couder configuration. The ASTRI SST-2M telescope structure and mirrors have been already installed at the INAF observing station at Serra La Nave, on Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy).
In this contribution we report about the on-site deployment and the latest results on the opto-mechanical performance test conducted soon after the telescope installation
The next generation of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope will explore the uppermost end of the Very High Energy domain up to about few hundreds of TeV with unprecedented sensitivity, angular resolution and imaging quality.
To this end, the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) is currently developing a scientific and technological telescope prototype for the implementation of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory. The Italian ASTRI program foresees the full design, development, installation and calibration of a Small Size 4-meter class Telescope, adopting an aplanatic, wide-field, double-reflection optical layout in a Schwarzschild-Couder configuration.
In this paper we discuss about the technological solutions adopted for the telescope and for the mirrors. In particular we focus on the structural and electro-mechanical design of the telescope, now under fabrication. The results on the optical performance derived from mirror prototypes are here described, too.
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