Electron-Multiplying CCD Imaging: Effectiveness for Stellar Occultations by Faint Objects

Details Electron-Multiplying CCD Imaging: Effectiveness for Stellar Occultations by Faint Objects Electron-Multiplying CCD Imaging: Effectiveness for Stellar Occultations by Faint Objects

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.3408g&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #34.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.480

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Our Portable Occultation, Eclipse, and Transit Systems (POETS; Souza et al. 2006, PASP 118, 1550) have been successfully employed for multiple stellar occultation observations: (i) four systems obtained data in South America during the 11 July 2005 occultation of C313.2 (2UCAC 26257135) by Charon (Gulbis et al. 2006, Nature 439, 48; Person et al. 2006, AJ 132 1575); (ii) four systems obtained data in Australia during the 2006 June 12 occultation of P384.2 (2UCAC 26039859) by Pluto (Elliot et al. 2007, AJ 134, 1), and (iii) three systems were utilized in the Southwestern U.S. for the 2007 March 18 occultation of P445.2 (2UCAC 25823784) by Pluto (Person et al. 2007, this meeting).
Pluto and Charon have apparent V magnitudes of 14 and 16, and the stars for these events had UCAC magnitudes of 14.99 to 15.25. These events were bright enough to achieve fair to excellent signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) at cadences between 2 and 10 Hz by using "conventional” camera modes. POETS also possess electron-multiplying (EM) readout modes, which we have not yet employed for occultation observations because conventional modes have been more than adequate. EM modes have higher read noise, generate an excess noise factor, and limit dynamic range; however, signal can be increased by a factor of up to 1000x, and read noise is effectively eliminated at high EM gain. Here, we explore the benefits and disadvantages of using EM capability for observations of stellar occultations by faint bodies. We focus on prospective occultations by Kuiper Belt objects, predictions of which are increasingly numerous as fainter stars are considered. We identify regimes in which EM modes are most effective by analyzing SNR as a function of exposure time and object/star magnitudes.
This work is supported by NASA Planetary Astronomy grants NNG04GF25G and NNG04GE48G.

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