Pointing Calibration for the Cherenkov Telescope Array Medium Size Telescope Prototype

TL;DR

This paper presents a pointing calibration method for the CTA Medium Size Telescope prototype using CCD cameras and software analysis to achieve high-precision source positioning.

Contribution

It introduces a novel pointing calibration approach employing dual CCD cameras and image analysis software for the CTA MST prototype.

Findings

Test results demonstrate the effectiveness of the calibration method.

Preliminary measurements indicate high accuracy in pointing determination.

The method achieves systematic errors below 7 arc seconds.

Abstract

Pointing calibration is an offline correction applied in order to obtain the true pointing direction of a telescope. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) aims to have the precision to determine the position of point-like as well as slightly extended sources, with the goal of systematic errors less than 7 arc seconds in space angle. This poster describes the pointing calibration concept being developed for the CTA Medium Size Telescope (MST) prototype at Berlin-Adlershof, showing test results and preliminary measurements. The MST pointing calibration method uses two CCD cameras, mounted on the telescope dish, to determine the true pointing of the telescope. The "Lid CCD" is aligned to the optical axis of the telescope, calibrated with LEDs on the dummy gamma-camera lid; the "Sky CCD" is pre-aligned to the Lid CCD and the transformation between the Sky and Lid CCD camera fields of view is precisely modelled with images from special pointing runs which are also used to determine the pointing model. During source tracking, the CCD cameras record images which are analysed offline using software tools including Astrometry.net to determine the true pointing coordinates.