SCUBA-2: The 10000 pixel bolometer camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

TL;DR

SCUBA-2 is a highly sensitive, wide-field submillimetre camera with 10,000 pixels on the JCMT, enabling faster sky mapping and new astronomical surveys of galaxies, stars, and planets.

Contribution

This paper introduces SCUBA-2, a novel 10,000-pixel bolometer camera, detailing its design, capabilities, and early performance, significantly advancing submillimetre astronomy.

Findings

SCUBA-2 maps the sky 100-150 times faster than previous instruments.

It has successfully begun legacy surveys providing new astronomical data.

Early performance figures demonstrate high sensitivity and operational stability.

Abstract

SCUBA-2 is an innovative 10000 pixel bolometer camera operating at submillimetre wavelengths on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). The camera has the capability to carry out wide-field surveys to unprecedented depths, addressing key questions relating to the origins of galaxies, stars and planets. With two imaging arrays working simultaneously in the atmospheric windows at 450 and 850 microns, the vast increase in pixel count means that SCUBA-2 maps the sky 100-150 times faster than the previous SCUBA instrument. In this paper we present an overview of the instrument, discuss the physical characteristics of the superconducting detector arrays, outline the observing modes and data acquisition, and present the early performance figures on the telescope. We also showcase the capabilities of the instrument via some early examples of the science SCUBA-2 has already undertaken. In February 2012, SCUBA-2 began a series of unique legacy surveys for the JCMT community. These surveys will take 2.5 years and the results are already providing complementary data to the shorter wavelength, shallower, larger-area surveys from Herschel. The SCUBA-2 surveys will also provide a wealth of information for further study with new facilities such as ALMA, and future telescopes such as CCAT and SPICA.