Campo Imperatore Observatory

Discovery and followup of NEO and Space Debris

from Campo Imperatore Observatory

A. Di Paola

INAF – Rome Astronomical Observatory

Andrea Di Paola INAF – Rome Astronomical Observatory [email protected] Fabrizio Fiore INAF – Rome Astronomical Observatory [email protected] Alessio Giunta INAF – Rome Astronomical Observatory/Tor Vergata Univ [email protected] Nicola Napoleone INAF – Rome Astronomical Observatory Mauro Centrone INAF – Rome Astronomical Observatory

Site and Activities • The Campo Imperatore Facility is maintained by the Rome Astronomical

Observatory and represents the core element of an international scientific collaboration that includes Teramo and San Petersburg (RU) observatories

• The Observatory is located on the GranSasso D’Italia mountain at 2200 m of elevation and about 100 km from Rome and could be easily reached both in summer and winter

• The fraction of observable time is about 40% due to meteorological conditions and the magnitude of the sky background is beyond the 21th magnitude in the V band

• Campo Imperatore is producing scientific paper at a rate of about 8 referred papers and many circulars per year

• The Observatory is equipped with two telescopes: 60/90/180cm Schmidt telescope 110cm Ritchey-Chretien telescope

• The Campo Imperatore Observatory operated on discovery and followup of Near Earth Objects with the CINEOS project since 1997

Site and Activities

• We are now investigating the possibility to apply existing instrumentation to the discovery and followup of Space Debris by capitalizing the long experience accumulated on NEO observations

• Many other scientific programs are carried on using the two telescopes (i.e.: first absolute observation of GRB performed through Schmidt telescope has been obtained from us)

• Currently we are proceeding with the Schmidt telescope refurbishment (motion control and focal plane array using the same technology used at the LBT Prime Focus Camera)

The CINEOS project 1/2

In the period October 2001 / September 2005 the CINEOS project:

• observed more than 30’000 asteroids

• discovered 7 new NEA

• discovered comet 167P/(CINEOS)

• discovered some peculiar objects (i.e. 2004XH50)

• contributed almost 2’200 preliminary designations

In the course of 160 nights CINEOS surveyed about 4,250 sqdeg (3 or 4 images per field) to an average limiting magnitude of 20.5

The CINEOS project 2/2

About 20% of CINEOS observations have been carried out at Low Solar Elongations where other surveys do not operate

Instrumentation:

the Schmidt telescope • 60cm aperture and 90cm main mirror Schmidt telescope (this

is the larger instrument of this type operating in Italy)

• F/3 with 36 square degrees FoV

• Pointing down to 10deg of elevation

• Automatic management system

• 2048x2048 back-illuminated CCD in refurbishment phase (to be completed within 2012)

• 1.5arcsec/pixel sampling • 0.7 sq deg FoV • 20.5 limit mag in 60 sec • 22.5 limit mag in 5 minutes

Instrumentation:

the AZT-24 telescope

• Aperture of 110cm • F/7.2 and 20arcmin of corrected FoV • Pointing down to 15deg of elevation • Automatic management system • 256x256 NIR Array with broad (J, H e

K) and narrow band filters and a R~300 spectroscopic mode

• 1.03 arcsec/pixel sampling • 4.4x4.4 arcmin FoV • 17.8 limit mag in 60 sec using J band

• We are building an All-Sky Monitor that should be able to reach 10th mag with 1min exposure and 250 arcsec/pixel sampling

• Currently we completed the procurement phase and should start integration in September

• This instrument will allow full remote operation of the observatory major telescopes by monitoring sky conditions besides to detect transients (fireballs, etc…)

Instrumentation:

the All Sky Monitor

Instrumentation:

the remote managent system

Instrumentation Improvement 1/2

1. The focal plane sensor of the Schmidt telescope already used for CINEOS project, still has to be integrated into the new management system of the telescope. This would improve the readout speed and Read-Out-Noise with respect to the previous system and could be implemented in 4/6 months.

2. The Schmidt telescope could host focal plane sensors much larger than that used up to now. Building a new cryostat would permit to easily have a 3 times larger Field of View. For instance a camera equipped with 3 CCD chips type E2V CCD4240 would allow to have a 2.2 sqdeg FoV and could be realized in 6/10 months.

3. Changes to the Schmidt dome would allow a complete remote management of the system with no on site assistance.

The AZT-24 telescope due to its small FoV and high Read-Out-Noise has never been used for objects discovery and only marginally to perform followup.

1. The acquisition of a CCD camera to be applied to the AZT-24 focal plane would permit to overcome the current IR instrumentation limits with a gain of more than 4 magnitudes (21.8 limit mag in 60 sec or 22.8 limit mag in 5 minutes using V band) and an 15 times larger FoV (17x17arcmin). With a careful optical path design both camera (optical and NIR) could be operated simultaneously.

2. Upgrading the dome opening system would permit a totally remote or robotic usage of the telescope without requiring on site assistance.

Instrumentation Improvement 2/2

SSA Contribution

The Campo Imperatore Observatory with the two 1 meter class telescopes could easily satisfy some SSA requirements both about discovery and followup of NEOs and debris. In the framework of a simultaneous usage of both telescopes, AZT-24 could take care of the followup of the objects just discovered by the Schmidt telescope increasing overall efficiency.

The fraction of telescopes time devoted to SSA and their focal plane instrumentation heavily affect the possible contribution to SSA activities. With an advanced camera (3 CCDs) and 20.5 limiting magnitude the Schmidt telescope could cover 400/500 sqdeg per night.

The percentages of observing time available on the two telescopes are:

• >=50% on the Schmidt telescope

• <=30% on the AZT-24

SSA Contribution

The possible contributions to SSA of the Campo Imperatore observatory are: • already available or easily deliverable instrumentation for

wide survey and follow-up • to develop and test different observing strategies to be

implemented with the next generation NEO surveys (Fly-Eye Telescopes)

• to train SSA-NEO Segment qualified personnel • to complement NeoDys activity through discovery and

followup observations • to test a remotely operated telescope from ESRIN, where the

SBDC is installed