FIREBall-2 UV balloon telescope in-flight calibration system
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: We present the integration of a new calibration system into the Faint Intergalactic-medium Redshifted Emission Balloon-2 (FIREBall-2), which added in-flight calibration capability for the recent September 2023 flight. This system is composed of a calibration source box containing zinc and deuterium lamp sources, focusing optics, electronics, sensors, and a fiber-fed calibration cap with an optical shutter mounted on the spectrograph tank. We discuss how the calibration cap is optimized to be evenly illuminated through non-sequential modeling for the near-UV (191 to 221 nm) for spectrograph slit mask position calibration, electron multiplying charged-coupled device (EMCCD) gain amplification verification, and wavelength calibration. Then, we present the pre-flight performance testing results of the calibration system and their implications for in-flight measurements. FIREBall-2 flew in 2023, but did not collect calibration data due to early termination of the flight.
Authors: Jessica S. Li, Nazende I. Kerkeser, Aafaque R. Khan, Simran Agarwal, Olivia Jones, Erika T. Hamden, Trenton Brendel, Haeun Chung, Vincent Picouet, David Schiminovich, Drew M. Miles, Keri Hoadley, Ignacio Cevallos-Aleman, Meghna Sitaram, Zeren Lin, Harrison Bradley, D. C. Martin, Marty Crabill, Fernando Cruz Aguirre, Charles-Antoine Chevrier, Philippe Balard, Patrick Blanchard, Nicolas Bray, Greyson Davis, Xihan Deng, Fabien Harmand, Catherine Hourtolle, Gillian Kyne, Nicole Melso, Johan Montel, Shouleh Nikzad, Alain Peus, Julie Richard, Jared Termini, Jean-Noel Valdivia, David Valls-Gabaud, Didier Vibert, Matthew Werneken
Institutions: University of Arizona, University of Iowa, Arizona State University, California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Centre National d'Études Spatiales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Observatoire de Paris
Language: English
Subfield: Instrumentation
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4401334886