A new era of wide-field submillimetre imaging: on-sky performance of SCUBA-2

TL;DR

SCUBA-2 is a large, dual-wavelength submillimetre camera with high sensitivity and wide-field imaging capabilities, successfully installed on the JCMT, enabling efficient sky mapping for astronomical research.

Contribution

This paper reports the on-sky performance, calibration, and operational capabilities of SCUBA-2, a novel wide-field submillimetre camera with high sensitivity and large bolometer arrays.

Findings

Achieved mapping sensitivities of 10 mJy/beam in 2 hours at 850 microns.

Successfully commissioned and operated since October 2011.

Demonstrated effective calibration and noise performance on-sky.

Abstract

SCUBA-2 is the largest submillimetre wide-field bolometric camera ever built. This 43 square arc-minute field-of-view instrument operates at two wavelengths (850 and 450 microns) and has been installed on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. SCUBA-2 has been successfully commissioned and operational for general science since October 2011. This paper presents an overview of the on-sky performance of the instrument during and since commissioning in mid-2011. The on-sky noise characteristics and NEPs of the 450 and 850 micron arrays, with average yields of approximately 3400 bolometers at each wavelength, will be shown. The observing modes of the instrument and the on-sky calibration techniques are described. The culmination of these efforts has resulted in a scientifically powerful mapping camera with sensitivities that allow a square degree of sky to be mapped to 10 mJy/beam rms at 850 micron in 2 hours and 60 mJy/beam rms at 450 micron in 5 hours in the best weather.