CFHT Information Bulletin Number 37, Semester 97II
WISP: The CFHT Wide-field Imaging Symbiotic Program
(a near-real-time search for Solar System moving objects), eventually extended to a SNe search
Christian Veillet, CFHT, (veillet@cfht.hawaii.edu)
The WISP goals can be summarized as follows :
- Take benefit of large field imaging for rapid detection of solar system moving objects.
- Make the astrometric data available to the community for follow-up, in order to feed the minor planet database from the CFHT discovered objects, focusing made on non-classical objects (rapid motion, high inclination, Earth or Mars grazers, Centaur's, ...). The Near Earth objects are some of the most interesting targets of this program.
- Insure a close cooperation with Canadian and French observatories (DAO and OCA) for the follow-up of the most interesting objects .
- Study the orbits of these objects in house.
- Develop a scientific program on the asteroid population, mainly through completeness studies on the available fields for objects down to magnitudes as high as 23 to 24 (for ordinary main belt objects).
- Search for TNO's (Trans Neptunian Objects) if the data are well suited for that purpose (fields close to the ecliptic).
- Extend the program to a SNe search, with links to be established with other telescopes for spectroscopic observations.
WISP uses the images taken at CFHT with the agreement of the observers. Most of the scientific programs do not include any Solar System related research. Some of them have collaborations or are entirely dedicated to Kuiper belt object observations. Only very rarely are the "rapid" asteroids also studied. The same statements can be made for SNe search. Even if this SNe search is not ready yet, it is a clear extension of the movers search.
All the data processing of fast movers has to take place very rapidly after the image acquisition, in order to be able to react quickly to any interesting object detection. CFHT is then the ideal place for running WISP, as the data flow is available in real time. Many tasks have to be automated. As the project is quite young, we are far from the most efficient data flow and processing, but each large field imaging run is an opportunity for progress in various areas, as you can see by browsing the pages of WISP on the WEB1.
CFHT Information Bulletin Number 37, Semester 97II
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http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/sci-activities/wisp/wisp.html
tmca@cfht.hawaii.edu
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