We have developed the KASI Deep Rolling Imaging Fast Telescope (K-DRIFT) to optimally detect Low Surface Bright (LSB) structure and installed a testbed for K-DRIFT performance testing and verification at the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO). Achieving optimal LSB observations requires minimizing fluctuations in the night sky background value and obtaining high-quality data under stable conditions. For this reason, the remotely controlled K-DRIFT system demands continuous monitoring of the surrounding environment. We have equipped the K-DRIFT testbed with various devices for monitoring the observatory environment. This paper provides an overview of the environmental monitoring system and reports on the performance of the monitoring equipment.
We have developed the KASI-Deep Rolling Imaging Fast Telescope (K-DRIFT), adopting a 300 mm aperture off-axis freeform three-mirror design to detect faint and diffuse low-surface-brightness structures. By conducting the on-sky test observations and performing a series of simulations to analyze the performance of the K-DRIFT, we confirmed three main error sources causing optical performance degradation. The imaging performance of the K-DRIFT has successfully improved by correcting low-to-mid spatial frequency wavefront errors based on performance analysis results. This paper presents the K-DRIFT’s optical performance analysis algorithm and the optical performance improvement.
The prototype of KASI-Deep Rolling Imaging Fast-optics Telescope (K-DRIFT) pathfinder is a 300 mm confocal off-axis freeform three-mirror system that has been developed for the detection of extended low surface brightness (LSB; below μV = 28 mag arcsec-2) structures. Until now, it is still very difficult to observe the LSB features due to systematic errors introduced by natural and instrumental effects. To overcome these, we apply the confocal off-axis telescope design theory that removed linear astigmatism, and each mirror made of Zerodur is set as a freeform surface to remove the residual aberration. Through the design, we can get high-quality images in a wide field of view and minimize sky background fluctuations. The size of the entrance pupil of the telescope is 300 mm and the focal length is 1200 mm. The field of view of the telescope is ~1° × 1° and the size of the focal plane is 22.5 mm × 22.5 mm. We have measured root mean square wavefront errors of the system after integration of the mirrors, flexures, and housing. At off-axis fields, the maximum root mean square wavefront error before the alignment is 260 nm, and decreased to 115 nm after alignment. Alignment-induced astigmatism and coma were almost eliminated through the process. In this paper, we briefly present the integration and alignment process of the K-DRIFT pathfinder and the current status of the project.
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