The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) 2005: Calibration and Targeted Sources

TL;DR

The paper reports on the calibration, observations, and data analysis of the BLAST05 submillimeter telescope flight, including measurements of various celestial sources and implications for instrument calibration.

Contribution

It presents detailed calibration procedures, flux measurements, and spectral energy distributions for multiple sources observed during the BLAST05 flight, enhancing submillimeter observational accuracy.

Findings

BLAST05 successfully mapped several celestial sources.

Flux densities and spectral energy distributions were measured and compared.

BLAST data can improve calibration of other submillimeter instruments.

Abstract

The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) operated successfully during a 100-hour flight from northern Sweden in June 2005 (BLAST05). As part of the calibration and pointing procedures, several compact sources were mapped, including solar system, Galactic, and extragalactic targets, specifically Pallas, CRL 2688, LDN 1014, IRAS 20126+4104, IRAS 21078+5211, IRAS 21307+5049, IRAS 22134+5834, IRAS 23011+6126, K3-50, W 75N, and Mrk 231. One additional source, Arp 220, was observed and used as our primary calibrator. Details of the overall BLAST05 calibration procedure are discussed here. The BLAST observations of each compact source are described, flux densities and spectral energy distributions are reported, and these are compared with previous measurements at other wavelengths. The 250, 350, and 500 um BLAST data can provide useful constraints to the amplitude and slope of the submillimeter continuum, which in turn may be useful for the improved calibration of other submillimeter instruments.