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
Wild J
(2020)
Spectroscopic and photometric periods of six ultracompact accreting binaries
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wang L
(2019)
The Pre-He White Dwarf in the Post-mass Transfer Binary EL CVn
in The Astronomical Journal
Vuckovic M
(2010)
Multicolour photometry of EO Ceti (PB 8783)
in Astrophysics and Space Science
Unda-Sanzana E
(2009)
The not-so-extreme white dwarf of the CV GD 552
in Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Tulloch S
(2011)
On the use of electron-multiplying CCDs for astronomical spectroscopy Astronomical spectroscopy with EMCCDs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Silvotti R
(2010)
V391 Peg: Identification of the two main pulsation modes from ULTRACAM u'g'r' amplitudes
in Astronomische Nachrichten
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
Shahbaz T
(2010)
Observations of the quiescent X-ray transients GRS 1124-684 (=GU Mus) and Cen X-4 (=V822 Cen) taken with ULTRACAM on the VLT
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Schwarz R
(2009)
Hunting high and low: XMM monitoring of the eclipsing polar HU Aquarii
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
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
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 |