%0 Generic %1 romualdez2016design %A Romualdez, L. Javier %A Benton, Steven J. %A Clark, Paul %A Damaren, Christopher J. %A Eifler, Tim %A Fraisse, Aurelien A. %A Galloway, Mathew N. %A Hartley, John W. %A Jones, William C. %A Li, Lun %A Lipton, Leeav %A Luu, Thuy Vy T. %A Massey, Richard J. %A Netterfield, C. Barth %A Padilla, Ivan %A Rhodes, Jason D. %A Schmoll, Jürgen %D 2016 %K UV balloon imaging near %T The design and development of a high-resolution visible-to-near-UV telescope for balloon-borne astronomy: SuperBIT %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.02502 %X Balloon-borne astronomy is unique in that it allows for a level of image stability, resolution, and optical backgrounds that are comparable to space-borne systems due to greatly reduced atmospheric interference, but at a fraction of the cost and over a significantly reduced development time-scale. Instruments operating within visible-to-near-UV bands ($300$ - $900$ um) can achieve a theoretical diffraction limited resolution of $0.01"$ from the stratosphere ($35$ - $40$ km altitude) without the need for extensive adaptive optical systems required by ground-based systems. The Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope ("SuperBIT") is a wide-field imager designed to achieve 0.02$"$ stability over a 0.5$^\circ$ field-of-view, for deep single exposures of up to 5 minutes. SuperBIT is thus well-suited for many astronomical observations, from solar or extrasolar planetary observations, to resolved stellar populations and distant galaxies (whether to study their morphology, evolution, or gravitational lensing by foreground mass). We report SuperBIT's design and implementation, emphasizing its two-stage real-time stabilization: telescope stability to $1$ - $2"$ at the telescope level (a goal surpassed during a test flight in September 2015) and image stability down to $0.02"$ via an actuated tip-tilt mirror in the optical path (to be tested during a flight in 2016). The project is progressing toward a fully operational, three month flight from New Zealand by 2018

@misc{romualdez2016design, abstract = {Balloon-borne astronomy is unique in that it allows for a level of image stability, resolution, and optical backgrounds that are comparable to space-borne systems due to greatly reduced atmospheric interference, but at a fraction of the cost and over a significantly reduced development time-scale. Instruments operating within visible-to-near-UV bands ($300$ - $900$ um) can achieve a theoretical diffraction limited resolution of $0.01"$ from the stratosphere ($35$ - $40$ km altitude) without the need for extensive adaptive optical systems required by ground-based systems. The {\it Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope} ("SuperBIT") is a wide-field imager designed to achieve 0.02$"$ stability over a 0.5$^\circ$ field-of-view, for deep single exposures of up to 5 minutes. SuperBIT is thus well-suited for many astronomical observations, from solar or extrasolar planetary observations, to resolved stellar populations and distant galaxies (whether to study their morphology, evolution, or gravitational lensing by foreground mass). We report SuperBIT's design and implementation, emphasizing its two-stage real-time stabilization: telescope stability to $1$ - $2"$ at the telescope level (a goal surpassed during a test flight in September 2015) and image stability down to $0.02"$ via an actuated tip-tilt mirror in the optical path (to be tested during a flight in 2016). The project is progressing toward a fully operational, three month flight from New Zealand by 2018}, added-at = {2016-08-09T10:20:20.000+0200}, author = {Romualdez, L. Javier and Benton, Steven J. and Clark, Paul and Damaren, Christopher J. and Eifler, Tim and Fraisse, Aurelien A. and Galloway, Mathew N. and Hartley, John W. and Jones, William C. and Li, Lun and Lipton, Leeav and Luu, Thuy Vy T. and Massey, Richard J. and Netterfield, C. Barth and Padilla, Ivan and Rhodes, Jason D. and Schmoll, Jürgen}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2c9d204b9d9693a3ffe726b2ebab46877/miki}, description = {[1608.02502] The design and development of a high-resolution visible-to-near-UV telescope for balloon-borne astronomy: SuperBIT}, interhash = {b5833ad05da7439b8a562e7d44e05441}, intrahash = {c9d204b9d9693a3ffe726b2ebab46877}, keywords = {UV balloon imaging near}, note = {cite arxiv:1608.02502Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016}, timestamp = {2016-08-09T10:20:20.000+0200}, title = {The design and development of a high-resolution visible-to-near-UV telescope for balloon-borne astronomy: SuperBIT}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.02502}, year = 2016 }