Mini-Tracker concepts for the SALT transient follow-up program

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new mini-tracker system for SALT to enable rapid, wide-area spectroscopic follow-up of transient astronomical events detected by next-generation surveys like LSST and SKA.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-mini-tracker configuration for SALT, expanding its patrol area and enabling efficient real-time spectroscopic follow-up of transients.

Findings

Design concept for mini-tracker array around SALT

Potential to increase transient follow-up efficiency

Enhanced capability for early-time astrophysical studies

Abstract

The MeerKAT radio telescope array, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), and eventually the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will usher in a remarkable new era in astronomy, with thousands of transients being discovered and transmitted to the astronomical community in near-real-time each night. Immediate spectroscopic follow-up will be critical to understanding their early-time physics - a task to which the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is uniquely suited, given its southerly latitude and the 14-degree-diameter uncorrected field (patrol area) of its 10-m spherical primary mirror. A new telescope configuration is envisioned, incorporating multiple mini-trackers that range around a much larger patrol area of 35 degrees in diameter. Each mini-tracker is equipped with a small spherical aberration corrector feeding an efficient, low resolution spectrograph to perform contemporaneous follow-up observations.