SVOM/C-GFT: Instrumentation and Performances on the SVOM Alerts

TL;DR

The paper details the instrumentation, operational framework, and performance of the Chinese Ground Follow-up Telescope (C-GFT) supporting the SVOM mission, demonstrating it meets design specifications during over a year of operations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the C-GFT system, including hardware, automation, data pipelines, and performance results, highlighting its readiness for GRB follow-up observations.

Findings

System meets its design specifications.

Robust observational and operational performance achieved.

Over one year of successful SVOM post-launch operations.

Abstract

The Chinese Ground Follow-up Telescope (C-GFT) is an optical facility upgraded to support the Space Variable Objects Monitor mission (\textit{SVOM}). Located at the Jilin Observation Station, it is capable of rapidly identifying and monitoring the optical counterparts of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). The 1.2-m telescope is equipped with two switchable focal-plane instruments: the prime-focus wide-field LATIOS camera and the Cassegrain-focus three-channel CATCH camera. In this paper, we present a system overview, including the observatory, the telescope, the instrumentation, the automated operational framework managed by the Operations Center, and the data processing pipelines. We also report the performance results obtained during over one year of \textit{SVOM}'s post-launch operations. The results demonstrate that the system meets its design specifications and delivers robust observational and operational performance.