MezzoCielo is a project of a monocentric optical system with a spherical glass envelope built up by meniscus arranged onto a Platonic or Fullerene-like structure filled with industrial liquid characterized by high transparency and low refractive index. Optical design of the cameras, implying the choice between large multiplexing and moderate individual field of view vs. a limited amount of cameras aiming to correct a much larger individual field of view is discussed, along with the current status of the engineering aspects of its design. A case study for such a telescope as a patrol of GW telescope in order to allow almost real-time pinpointing of the associated multimessengers potential sources is given, showing its capability to explore a unique science.
MezzoCielo represents a novel type of monocentric optical instrument devoted to whole-sky monitoring due to its extremely large field of view. The latter property, combined with the need to realize relative wide optical spheres (with diameters up to few meters) and the limitations related to the manufacturing of large optical elements having high performance, requires the adoption of a segmented structure, presenting, for instance, a Platonic solid-like shape, composed by several identical lenses, supported by a metallic frame along the edges of the solid itself. In this paper, the main aspects concerning the sizing of such frame (chosen to be dodecahedral) and a thermo-mechanical analysis of the lenses support assembly, both analytical and numerical, will be presented. In particular, it will be shown how the lenses are able to operate with little temperature difference across their volume independently from the surrounding conditions and the way in which the telescope can withstand external low temperatures without manifesting high thermal stresses, while maintaining, at the same time, constant focal length. Subsequently, a birefringence investigation completes the opto-mechanical analysis and it will be employed as a further instrument to select the more appropriate lens shape. Eventually, the same analysis is repeated for all the twelve lenses of the dodecahedral structure.
We developed a new opto-mechanical tool to quickly align an optical beam to a reference mechanics. In the alignment of the SOXS Common Path, one of the sub-systems of the SOXS instrument, we used a referenced (and characterized) detector to align the master laser beam to the mechanical structure of the subsystem, and to place and align individual opto-mechanical components to the master laser beam. Based on that experience, we conceptualized and prototype a new effective and much more efficient and easier to handle tool for alignment. A sphere is 3D printed to host a small bare-board CMOS detector with the sensor plane passing through the center of the sphere. This tool used in combination with a portable Coordinate-Measuring Machine (pCMM) allows for a quick alignment of a narrow collimated laser beam or a converging beam on an optical bench as in 3D space. We describe the design, prototyping and test of this new alignment tool.
MezzoCielo (or “half of the sky”), novel concept of extremely large field-of-view monocentric optical devices designed to continuously patrol the whole sky, is an optical sphere which requires the filling of its inner volume with special fluid in order to be actually convergent with reasonable focal ratio (for spherical aberration reduction). This fluid has to be characterized by two main properties, namely low refractive index and extremely high transparency in the visible range, but, of course, many other characteristics, such as thermal and chemical stability over time, no toxicity or flammability, compatibility with glass and metals, are also desirable. By virtue of these considerations, two fluorine liquids have been selected: the fluids commercially known as FC-72, perfluorohexane with nd = 1.251 at T = 25°C, and Novec7200, ethoxy-nonafluorobutane with nd = 1.282 at T = 25°C. In this work, the experimental evaluation of their optical properties (refractive index and transparency) in the visible range and in the thermal interval [-10,+25]°C has been carried out in order to verify the data supplied by the manufacturer and to fully characterize their optical behaviour both spectrally and thermally.
The Son Of X-Shooter (SOXS) will be the specialized facility to observe any transient event with a flexible scheduler at the ESO New Technology Telescope (NTT) at La Silla, Chile. SOXS is a single object spectrograph offering simultaneous spectral coverage in UV-VIS (350-850 nm) and NIR (800-2000 nm) wavelength regimes with an average of R∼4500 for a 1” slit. SOXS also has imaging capabilities in the visible wavelength regime. Currently, SOXS is being integrated at the INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Padova. Subsystem- and system-level tests and verification are ongoing to ensure and confirm that every requirement and performance are met. In this paper, we report on the integration and verification of SOXS as the team and the instrument prepare for the Preliminary Acceptance Europe (PAE).
The FlyEye design makes its debut in the ESA’s NEOSTEL developed by OHB-Italia. This pioneering FlyEye telescope integrates a monolithic 1-meter class primary mirror feeding 16 CCD cameras for discovering Near- Earth Object (NEO) and any class of transient phenomena. OHB-Italia is the prime contractor, receiving extended support from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in the ESA’s NEOSTED program’s integration and testing. The FlyEye distinctive design splits the Field of View into 16 channels, creating a unique multi-telescope system with a panoramic 44 square degree Field of View and a seeing-size pixel-scale, enabling NEOs detection down to apparent magnitudes 21.5 insisting on a 1m diameter spherical mirror. The scientific products of a similar FlyEye telescope can complement facilities such as Vera Rubin (former LSST) and ZTF. The FlyEye has the ability to survey two-thirds of the visible sky about three times per night can revolutionize time-domain astronomy, enabling comprehensive studies of transient phenomena, placing FlyEye in a new era of exploration of the dynamic universe. Efforts to develop automated calibration and testing procedures are keys to realizing this transformative potential.
NirvanaVIS is a proposed upgrade in the visible wavelength for LINC-NIRVANA, the Italian-German high angular resolution near-infrared imager installed on the Large Binocular Telescope. LINC-NIRVANA has demonstrated on-sky, a Ground Layer Adaptive Optics correction improving the FWHM of the PSF up to a factor three within a 2 arcmin diameter field of view. We aim to exploit the AO correction in the visible wavebands (600 to 1000 nm) to achieve on a large FoV AO-assisted speckle holography, in which images are reconstructed from several short exposure frames. We will present the consolidated opto-mechanical design, featuring an 8K fast-frame CMOS, identified to allow this additional mode. We will focus on analysis, trade-offs, simulations, and compromises taken to reach our science objectives, including ways to solve the extra challenge given by a huge amount of data to be acquired and stored while keeping all functionalities of the NIRVANA instrument.
Mezzocielo is a proposed innovative type of telescope, conceived for achieving simultaneous observations of the available sky using a single monocentric collecting optical unit and leaving to an array of optical correctors the purpose of detecting the final starlight. Thanks to a spherical array of field lenses, encompassing an optical fluid and illuminating the correctors, the telescope allows to realize a whole-sky surveying (the estimated Field of View is more than 10 thousand square degrees), with the aim of detect and observe space debris, even if other possibilities are available (the observatory could be configured for different astronomical purposes, like ecliptic observations, extragalactic monitoring or Milky Way monitoring). Objective of the present work is demonstrating the actual feasibility of this instrument and, at the same time, developing a model employable for its first sizing, namely for the selection of the most appropriate dimensions of the whole telescope and its most stressed component, according to the mechanical and hydraulic loads, the boundary conditions and few other constraints. The analytical procedure was eventually verified through a Finite Element Analysis of the most loaded field lens, which has demonstrated the reliability of our approach in terms of safety.
Mezzocielo (or "half of the sky") is a concept for a single large monocentric optical system composed by a tessellated spherical container filled with low refractive index liquid characterized by an extremely high transparency. This system allows for a continuous monitoring of the whole sky with a large number of mass produced correcting cameras. In comparison with existing projects is characterized by a high efficiency and by a relatively large aperture. The current status of development with the aim of producing a prototype of one meter class size is being reported.
Mezzocielo (or "half of the sky") is a concept for a new class of telescopes where a full spherical optical surface is made by filling with a liquid a structure built up with spherical lenses and almost covering an entire sphere. Lenses of the same class of existing ones can be arranged, for example like the faces of a dodecahedron, in order to build up a sphere in the 1 to 4m class in diameter. Liquid with low refractive index and high transparency are available in the electronic and cooling industry and made up devices with strong high order spherical aberrations but consistently identical over basically any direction in the sky simultaneously. An ensemble of moving correctors or a hemispherical array of the same kind of devices can feed a number of detectors lying in the range of the ten of thousands, making modern CMOS the only, today, viable solution to such a kind of futuristic facility.
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