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 per 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 PPARC. ULTRACAM saw 'first light' on 16 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 on 4 May 2005. To date, ULTRACAM has been awarded a total of 92 nights of time on these telescopes for projects as varied as white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, asteroseismology, pulsars, black-hole/neutron-star X-ray binaries, eclipsing binary stars, gamma-ray bursts, cataclysmic variables, extrasolar planets, active galactic nuclei, Kuiper Belt objects and Saturn's moon Titan. 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 position as the world's premier instrument for high-speed optical astrophysics. As well as maximising the return on PPARC's original investment, this money will also allow us to continue to offer ULTRACAM to others in the UK and astronomical community who wish to use it.
Organisations
Publications
De Martino D
(2008)
1RXS J173021.5-055933: a cataclysmic variable with a fast-spinning magnetic white dwarf
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Littlefair S
(2006)
A Brown Dwarf Mass Donor in an Accreting Binary
in Science
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
Kurtz D
(2008)
A search for a new class of pulsating DA white dwarf stars in the DB gap A new class of pulsating white dwarf stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dhillon V
(2006)
A search for optical bursts from the rotating radio transient J1819-1458 with ULTRACAM
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bentley S
(2009)
A stellar flare during the transit of the extrasolar planet OGLE-TR-10b
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Burdge K
(2020)
A Systematic Search of Zwicky Transient Facility Data for Ultracompact Binary LISA-detectable Gravitational-wave Sources
in The Astrophysical Journal
Vuckovic M
(2007)
An old puzzle in a new light: PG 1336-018
in Communications in Asteroseismology
Föhring D
(2019)
Atmospheric scintillation noise in ground-based exoplanet photometry
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Van Den Besselaar E
(2007)
DE Canum Venaticorum: a bright, eclipsing red dwarf-white dwarf binary
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Besselaar E
(2007)
DE CVn: A bright, eclipsing red dwarf - white dwarf binary
Van Den Besselaar E
(2007)
DE CVn: A Bright, Eclipsing Red Dwarf - White Dwarf Binary
in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
Nieder L
(2019)
Detection and Timing of Gamma-Ray Pulsations from the 707 Hz Pulsar J0952-0607
in The Astrophysical Journal
Nieder L
(2020)
Discovery of a Gamma-Ray Black Widow Pulsar by GPU-accelerated Einstein@Home
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Munoz-Darias T
(2007)
Echoes from the companion star in Sco X-1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Muñoz-Darias T
(2007)
Echoes from the companion star in Sco X-1
Clark C
(2021)
Einstein@Home discovery of the gamma-ray millisecond pulsar PSR J2039-5617 confirms its predicted redback nature
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
Roques F
(2006)
Exploration of the Kuiper Belt by High-Precision Photometric Stellar Occultations: First Results
in The Astronomical Journal
Bonnet-Bidaud J
(2020)
Fast quasi-periodic oscillations in the eclipsing polar VV Puppis from VLT and XMM-Newton observations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Gandhi P
(2016)
Furiously fast and red: sub-second optical flaring in V404 Cyg during the 2015 outburst peak
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society