ULTRACAM operations
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
ULTRACAM is a digital camera capable of taking (and storing) up to 500 red, green and blue images every second. The instrument was built in just under 3 years by a consortium from the Universities of Sheffield, Warwick and the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, using a £300,000 grant awarded by STFC. ULTRACAM saw 'first light' in May 2002 on the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma, and first light on the 8.2-m Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile in May 2005. To date, ULTRACAM has been awarded a total of 147 nights of time on these telescopes to study white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, pulsars, black-hole/neutron-star X-ray binaries, gamma-ray bursts, cataclysmic variables, eclipsing binary stars, extrasolar planets, flare stars, ultra-compact binaries, active galactic nuclei, asteroseismology and occultations by Solar System objects (Titan, Pluto, the moons of Uranus and Kuiper Belt Objects). This grant proposal requests funding for the proper maintenance and operation of ULTRACAM, as well as a modest programme of minor upgrades, thereby ensuring that ULTRACAM maintains its status as the world's premier instrument for high-speed optical astrophysics. As well as maximising the return on STFC's original investment, this money will also allow us to continue to offer ULTRACAM to others in the astronomical community who wish to use it.
Organisations
Publications
Casewell S
(2020)
WD1032 + 011, an inflated brown dwarf in an old eclipsing binary with a white dwarf
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Copperwheat C
(2011)
The photometric period in ES Ceti The photometric period in ES Ceti
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pala A
(2019)
Evidence for mass accretion driven by spiral shocks onto the white dwarf in SDSS J123813.73-033933.0
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Doressoundiram A
(2013)
Ground-based exploration of the outer Solar system by serendipitous stellar occultations?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Osborn J
(2011)
Conjugate-plane photometry: reducing scintillation in ground-based photometry Conjugate-plane photometry
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dhillon V
(2011)
A search for optical bursts from the rotating radio transient J1819-1458 with ULTRACAM - II. Simultaneous ULTRACAM-Lovell Telescope observations A search for optical bursts from RRAT J1819
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hynes R
(2019)
Optical and X-ray correlations during the 2015 outburst of the black hole V404 Cyg
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Copperwheat C
(2009)
ULTRACAM observations of two accreting white dwarf pulsators
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Föhring D
(2019)
Atmospheric scintillation noise in ground-based exoplanet photometry
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Marsh T
(2020)
Optical, X-ray, and ?-ray observations of the candidate transitional millisecond pulsar 4FGL J0427.8-6704
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Parsons S
(2013)
Eclipsing post-common envelope binaries from the Catalina surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Copperwheat C
(2011)
SDSS J0926+3624: the shortest period eclipsing binary star The shortest period eclipsing binary star
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Misra R
(2019)
Puzzling blue dips in the black hole candidate Swift J1357.2 - 0933, from ULTRACAM, SALT, ATCA, Swift, and NuSTAR
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Savoury C
(2011)
Cataclysmic variables below the period gap: mass determinations of 14 eclipsing systems Short-period CVs below the period gap
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Kurtz D
(2013)
Hot DAVs: a probable new class of pulsating white dwarf stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schaffenroth V
(2021)
A quantitative in-depth analysis of the prototype sdB+BD system SDSS J08205+0008 revisited in the Gaia era
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Unda-Sanzana E
(2009)
The not-so-extreme white dwarf of the CV GD 552
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Vuckovic M.
(2010)
Multicolour photometry of EO Ceti (PB 8783)
in Astrophysics and Space Science
Beuermann K
(2010)
Two planets orbiting the recently formed post-common envelope binary NN Serpentis
in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Bentley S
(2009)
A stellar flare during the transit of the extrasolar planet OGLE-TR-10b
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bonnet-Bidaud J
(2020)
Fast quasi-periodic oscillations in the eclipsing polar VV Puppis from VLT and XMM-Newton observations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Schwarz R
(2009)
Hunting high and low: XMM monitoring of the eclipsing polar HU Aquarii
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Silvotti R
(2010)
Search for p -mode oscillations in DA white dwarfs with VLT-ULTRACAM I. Upper limits to the p -modes ?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Meza E
(2019)
Lower atmosphere and pressure evolution on Pluto from ground-based stellar occultations, 1988-2016
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Silvotti R
(2010)
V391 Peg: Identification of the two main pulsation modes from ULTRACAM u'g'r' amplitudes
in Astronomische Nachrichten
| Description | We have used this grant to operate ULTRACAM on the 3.5m New Technology Telescope and the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope. ULTRACAM is a high-speed astronomical camera which has helped increase our understanding of the dead remnants of stars: white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. |
| Exploitation Route | Our findings provide the observational underpinning of theories of the structure and evolution of binary stars containing white dwarf, neutron stars and black holes. |
| Sectors | Education |
| URL | http://www.vikdhillon.staff.shef.ac.uk/ultracam/ |
| Description | Advanced Grant |
| Amount | € 3,500,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 01/2014 |
| End | 12/2018 |