Operation of the CCD/Transit Instrument (CTI)The fully automated imaging survey telescope at Kitt Peak known as the CCD/Transit Instrument (CTI) has no moving parts, and employs two CCDs aligned east-west in the focal plane that are operated in the time delay and integrate mode, at the apparent sidereal rate, in order to produce a strip image of the sky. This image is 8.25-arcmin wide in declination and 8 hr in duration, to yield about 15 sq deg of sky from each night's survey; this, over the course of a year, represents more than 40 sq deg in a continuous strip. The CTI is addressing such astronomical tasks as the determination of the supernova production rate by counting, galactic structure investigations, and the definition of a complete sample of quasars. Attention is given to the CTI's bimetallic, thermally self-compensating structure and three-mirror wide-field optical system.
Document ID
19870049108
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Mcgraw, J. T. (Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Cawson, M. G. M. (Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Keane, M. J. (Steward Observatory Tucson, AZ, United States)