Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:03:18.264Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Introduction of Tech Pan Film at the UK Schmidt Telescope

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Quentin A. Parker  and
David Malin
Quentin A. Parker
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, Siding Spring Mountain, Coonabarabran, NSW 2357, Australia Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH9 3HJ, UK; q.parker@roe.ac.uk
David Malin
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 292, Epping, NSW 1717, Australia
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Kodak Technical Pan (Tech Pan) emulsion on a film base has been in use at the UK Schmidt Telescope (UKST) since 1992. This material is extremely fine grained and its resolution is well matched to images produced by the UKST under good conditions. Tech Pan yields wide-angle photographs that are about 1 (stellar) magnitude fainter than equivalent IIIa-F plates but have considerably lower grain noise. A wide variety of new projects are under way which take advantage of this remarkable material. In this paper empirical results from experiments with Tech Pan from a number of sources are tied in with UKST experience to present an overview of the properties of the emulsion from an astronomical perspective. We compare Tech Pan's properties with those of equivalent IIIa-F emulsion, to which it seems superior in almost every respect. This overview and groundwork are currently missing from the published astronomical literature. The technical background and developments leading to adoption of this material at the UKST are presented.

Keywords

instrumentation: detectorsmethods: observationaltechniques: photographic body
Type
Research Article
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , 1999 , pp. 288 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1999

References

Babcock, T. A., Ferguson, P. M., Lewis, W. C., & James, T. H. 1975, Phot. Sci. Eng., 19, 49 & 211 Google Scholar
Conrad, C. M., Smith, A. G., & McCuiston, W. B., 1985, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 38, 3 Google Scholar
Eccles, M. J., Sim, M. E., & Tritton, K. P. 1983, Low Level Light Detectors in Astronomy, Chapters2&3 (Cambridge Univ. Press)Google Scholar
Everhart, E. 1980, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 24, 3 Google Scholar
Everhart, E. 1981, in Astronomical Photography, ed. J. L. Heudier & M. E. Sim, Occasional reports of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, 117 (Royal Observatory Edinburgh)Google Scholar
Hadley, B. W. 1984, in Astronomical Photography, ed. M. E. Sim & K. Ishida, Occasional reports of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, 177 (Royal Observatory Edinburgh)Google Scholar
Heudier, J. L., Labeyrie, C., Maury, A. 1981, in Astronomical Photography, ed. M. E. Sim & K. Ishida, Occasional reports of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, 113 (Royal Observatory Edinburgh)Google Scholar
Humphries, C. M., & Morgan, D. H. 1988, in Astrophotog-raphy, ed. S. Marx (Heidelberg: Springer), p. 234 Google Scholar
Kodak, 1970, Publication Q-34Google Scholar
Kodak, 1981, Publication P-255Google Scholar
Kodak, 1987, Publication P-315Google Scholar
Liller, W. 1985, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 39, 6 Google Scholar
Malin, D. F. 1978, in Modern Techniques in Astronomical Photography, ed. R. M. West & J.-L. Heudier, Proc. ESO Conference, p. 107 Google Scholar
Marling, J. B. 1980, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 24, 9 Google Scholar
Martys, C. R. 1982, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 29, 11 Google Scholar
Martys, C. R. 1984, in Astronomical Photography, ed. M. E. Sim & K. Ishida, Occasional reports of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, 135 (Royal Observatory Edinburgh)Google Scholar
Martys, C. R. 1991, J. Br. Astron. Assoc., 101, 4 Google Scholar
Miller, W. C. 1977, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 16, 3 Google Scholar
Morgan, D. H., & Parker, Q. A. 1998, in Multiwavelength Sky Surveys, ed. B. J. Mclean et al., IAU Symp. 179, (Dordrecht: Kluwer), p. 374 Google Scholar
Ogura, K., & Liller, W. 1985, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 40, 11 Google Scholar
Parker, Q. A., Phillipps, S., & Morgan, D. H. 1995, in Future Utilisation of Schmidt Telescopes, ed. J. M. Chapman, R. D. Cannon, S. J. Harrison & B. Hidayat, IAU Coll. 148, ASP Conf. Ser. 84 (San Fransisco: ASP), p. 129 Google Scholar
Parker, Q. A., & Phillipps, S. 1998a, PASA, 15, 28 Google Scholar
Parker, Q. A., & Phillipps, S. 1998b, Astron. & Geophys., 39, issue 4, 10 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, Q. A, Malin, D. F., Cannon, R. D., Phillipps, S., & Russell, K. S. 2000, MNRAS, (submitted)Google Scholar
Phillipps, S., & Parker, Q. A. 1993, MNRAS, 265, 385 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reipurth, B. 1996, ESO Messenger, 85, 8 Google Scholar
Roberton, W. J. 1984, in Astronomical Photography, ed. M. E. Sim & K. Ishida, Occasional reports of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, 191 (Royal Observatory Edinburgh)Google Scholar
Russell, K. S., Malin, D. F., Savage, A., Hartley, M., & Parker, Q. A. 1992, in Digitised Optical Sky Surveys, ed. H. T. MacGillivray & E. B. Thomson (Dordrecht: Kluwer), p. 23 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoening, W. E. 1976, Bull. Am. Astron. Soc., 11, 5 Google Scholar
Schwartzenberg, J. M., Phillipps, S., & Parker, Q. A. 1995, A&A, 293, 332 Google Scholar
Schwartzenberg, J. M., Phillipps, S., & Parker, Q. A. 1996, A&A Suppl. Ser., 117, 179 Google Scholar
Scott, R. L. 1983, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 33, 14 Google Scholar
Scott, R. L. 1986, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 42, 6 Google Scholar
Sim, M. E., Hawarden, T. G., & Cannon, R. D. 1976, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 11, 3 Google Scholar
Sim, M. E. 1977, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 14, 9 Google Scholar
Smith, A. G. 1982a, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 30, 6 Google Scholar
Smith, A. G. 1982b, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 31, 9 Google Scholar
Smith, A. G. 1983, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 34, 3 Google Scholar
Smith, A. G., & Leacock, R. J. 1973, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 7, 18 Google Scholar
Smith, A. G., Phillips, C. A., Hahn, E. J., & Leacock, R. J. 1985, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 39, 8 Google Scholar
Walker, P. E. 1980, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 24, 7 Google Scholar
West, R. M., Kurtanidze, O. M., Geonijan, L. A., & Kimeridze, G. N. 1981, AAS Photo-Bulletin, 28, 3 Google Scholar