SuperBIT Superpressure Flight Instrument Overview and Performance: Near-diffraction-limited Astronomical Imaging from the Stratosphere

Gill, Ajay S.; Benton, Steven J.; Damaren, Christopher J.; Everett, Spencer W.; Fraisse, Aurelien A.; Hartley, John W.; Harvey, David; Holder, Bradley; Huff, Eric M.; Jones, William C.; Lagattuta, David; Leung, Jason S.-Y.; Jauzac, Mathilde; Li, Lun; Luu, Thuy Vy T.; Massey, Richard; McCleary, Jacqueline E.; Nagy, Johanna M.; Netterfield, C. Barth; Paracha, Emaad; Redmond, Susan F.; Rhodes, Jason D.; Robertson, Andrew; Romualdez, L. Javier; Schmoll, Jürgen; Shaaban, Mohamed M.; Sirks, Ellen L.; Vassilakis, Georgios N.; Vitorelli, André Z.

Abstract

SuperBIT was a 0.5 m near-UV to near-infrared wide-field telescope that launched on a NASA superpressure balloon into the stratosphere from New Zealand for a 45-night flight. SuperBIT acquired multiband images of galaxy clusters to study the properties of dark matter using weak gravitational lensing. We provide an overview of the instrument and its various subsystems. We then present the instrument performance from the flight, including the telescope and image stabilization system, the optical system, the power system, and the thermal system. SuperBIT successfully met the instrument’s technical requirements, achieving a telescope pointing stability of 0.″34 ± 0.″10, a focal plane image stability of 0.″055 ± 0.″027, and a point-spread function FWHM of ∼0.″35 over 5-minute exposures throughout the 45-night flight. The telescope achieved a near-diffraction-limited point-spread function in all three science bands (u, b, and g). SuperBIT served as a pathfinder to the GigaBIT observatory, which will be a 1.34 m near-UV to near-infrared balloon-borne telescope.

Citation

Gill, A. S., Benton, S. J., Damaren, C. J., Everett, S. W., Fraisse, A. A., Hartley, J. W., Harvey, D., Holder, B., Huff, E. M., Jones, W. C., Lagattuta, D., Leung, J. S.-Y., Jauzac, M., Li, L., Luu, T. V. T., Massey, R., McCleary, J. E., Nagy, J. M., Netterfield, C. B., Paracha, E., …Vitorelli, A. Z. (2024). SuperBIT Superpressure Flight Instrument Overview and Performance: Near-diffraction-limited Astronomical Imaging from the Stratosphere. Astronomical Journal, 168(2), Article 85. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad5840

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 9, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jul 22, 2024
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 31, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 31, 2024
• Journal: Astronomical Journal
• Print ISSN: 0004-6256
• Electronic ISSN: 1538-3881
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 168
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 85
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad5840
• Keywords: Space telescopes, Weak gravitational lensing, High altitude balloons, Astronomical instrumentation, Gravitational lensing, Galaxy clusters
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2617789