Packing the sky: coverage optimization and evaluation for large telescope arrays

TL;DR

This paper presents a method for optimizing telescope pointing patterns and evaluating sky coverage for large optical telescope arrays like the Argus Array, enabling efficient deployment and coverage of the entire night sky.

Contribution

It introduces a novel algorithm for creating and evaluating telescope pointing patterns, facilitating optimal sky coverage for large arrays with flexible mounting configurations.

Findings

Effective pointing pattern for large telescope arrays

Rapid evaluation algorithm for sky coverage and overlaps

Flexible array configurations for different mounting options

Abstract

Recent advancements in low-cost astronomical equipment, including high-quality medium-aperture telescopes and low-noise CMOS detectors, have made the deployment of large optical telescope arrays both financially feasible and scientifically interesting. The Argus Optical Array is one such system, composed of 900 eight-inch telescopes, which is planned to cover the entire night sky in each exposure and is capable of being the deepest and fastest Northern Hemisphere sky survey. With this new class of telescope comes new challenges: determining optimal individual telescope pointings to achieve required sky coverage and overlaps for large numbers of telescopes, and realizing those pointings using either individual mounts, larger mounting structures containing telescope subarrays, or the full array on a single mount. In this paper, we describe a method for creating a pointing pattern, and an algorithm for rapidly evaluating sky coverage and overlaps given that pattern, and apply it to the Argus Array. Using this pattern, telescopes are placed into a hemispherical arrangement, which can be mounted as a single monolithic array or split into several smaller subarrays. These methods can be applied to other large arrays where sky packing is challenging and evenly spaced array subdivisions are necessary for mounting.