DECam integration tests on telescope simulator

TL;DR

This paper reports on the integration tests of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) using a telescope simulator, verifying its readiness for the Dark Energy Survey and ensuring it meets technical specifications before deployment.

Contribution

It introduces a full-sized telescope simulator for DECam, enabling comprehensive pre-shipment testing and validation of the camera's performance for the DES.

Findings

Successful simulation of a DES observing run with 4 nights of data

Verification that DECam meets technical specifications for DES

Identification of potential issues before actual deployment

Abstract

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is a next generation optical survey aimed at measuring the expansion history of the universe using four probes: weak gravitational lensing, galaxy cluster counts, baryon acoustic oscillations, and Type Ia supernovae. To perform the survey, the DES Collaboration is building the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), a 3 square degree, 570 Megapixel CCD camera which will be mounted at the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory. DES will survey 5000 square degrees of the southern galactic cap in 5 filters (g, r, i, z, Y). DECam will be comprised of 74 250 micron thick fully depleted CCDs: 62 2k x 4k CCDs for imaging and 12 2k x 2k CCDs for guiding and focus. Construction of DECam is nearing completion. In order to verify that the camera meets technical specifications for DES and to reduce the time required to commission the instrument, we have constructed a full sized telescope simulator and performed full system testing and integration prior to shipping. To complete this comprehensive test phase we have simulated a DES observing run in which we have collected 4 nights worth of data. We report on the results of these unique tests performed for the DECam and its impact on the experiments progress.