Stokes-polarimeter for 1-meter telescope

TL;DR

The paper introduces the 'StoP' photometer-polarimeter for the 1-meter telescope, detailing its design, operational modes, and demonstrating its effectiveness through polarimetric observations of a blazar, with results comparable to larger telescopes.

Contribution

It presents a new polarimeter instrument for small telescopes and validates its performance with real astronomical observations.

Findings

Successful polarimetric measurements of blazar S5 0716+714.

Instrument performance comparable to larger 6-m telescopes.

Operational in photometric and polarimetric modes since 2020.

Abstract

We present the "StoP" photometer-polarimeter (Stokes-polarimeter) used for observations with the 1-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences since the beginning of 2020. We describe the instrument and its parameters in observations performed in the photometric and polarimetric modes. We demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument through the polarimetry of the blazar S5 0716+714 and compare the results with those earlier obtained with the 6-m telescope.