SCUBA-2: The 10000 pixel bolometer camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
Abstract
SCUBA-2 is an innovative 10000 pixel bolometer camera operating at submillimetre wavelengths on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). The camera has the capability to carry out wide-field surveys to unprecedented depths, addressing key questions relating to the origins of galaxies, stars and planets. With two imaging arrays working simultaneously in the atmospheric windows at 450 and 850 microns, the vast increase in pixel count means that SCUBA-2 maps the sky 100-150 times faster than the previous SCUBA instrument. In this paper we present an overview of the instrument, discuss the physical characteristics of the superconducting detector arrays, outline the observing modes and data acquisition, and present the early performance figures on the telescope. We also showcase the capabilities of the instrument via some early examples of the science SCUBA-2 has already undertaken. In February 2012, SCUBA-2 began a series of unique legacy surveys for the JCMT community. These surveys will take 2.5 years and the results are already providing complementary data to the shorter wavelength, shallower, larger-area surveys from Herschel. The SCUBA-2 surveys will also provide a wealth of information for further study with new facilities such as ALMA, and future telescopes such as CCAT and SPICA.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1301.3650,
title = {SCUBA-2: The 10000 pixel bolometer camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope},
author = {W. S. Holland and D. Bintley and E. L. Chapin and A. Chrysostomou and G. R. Davis and J. T. Dempsey and W. D. Duncan and M. Fich and P. Friberg and M. Halpern and K. D. Irwin and T. Jenness and B. D. Kelly and M. J. MacIntosh and E. I. Robson and D. Scott and P. A. R. Ade and E. Atad-Ettedgui and D. S. Berry and S. C. Craig and X. Gao and A. G. Gibb and G. C. Hilton and M. I. Hollister and J. B. Kycia and D. W. Lunney and H. McGregor and D. Montgomery and W. Parkes and R. P. J. Tilanus and J. N. Ullom and C. A. Walther and A. J. Walton and A. L. Woodcraft and M. Amiri and D. Atkinson and B. Burger and T. Chuter and I. M. Coulson and W. B. Doriese and C. Dunare and F. Economou and M. D. Niemack and H. A. L. Parsons and C. D. Reintsema and B. Sibthorpe and I. Smail and R. Sudiwala and H. S. Thomas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.3650},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
23 pages, 20 figures, 3 tables. Accepted by MNRAS