FIREBall-2 UV balloon telescope in-flight calibration system
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
- Fernando Cruz Aguirre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4628-8524)
- Drew M. Miles
- J. Richard
- Aafaque R. Khan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1244-0295)
- Haeun Chung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3043-2555)
- Matthew Werneken
- Trenton Brendel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6375-8674)
- Keri Hoadley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8636-3309)
- Catherine Hourtolle
- Charles-Antoine Chevrier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3097-5063)
- D. Valls‐Gabaud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9821-2911)
- Meghna Sitaram (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7714-6137)
- D. Vibert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0607-631X)
- Nicolas Bray (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4143-8194)
- P. Blanchard
- Jean-Noel Valdivia
- Harrison Bradley
- Alain Peus
- Philippe Balard
- Jared Termini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2370-3935)
- Gillian Kyne
- Olivia Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4870-5547)
- Ignacio Cevallos-Aleman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8255-7424)
- Marty Crabill
- Erika Hamden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3131-7372)
- Simran Agarwal
- Nicole Melso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4895-6592)
- Nazende I. Kerkeser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0229-2221)
- Jessica Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7232-5483)
- Zeren Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7405-1228)
- D. Christopher Martin
- Fabien Harmand
- Xihan Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8344-8266)
- David Schiminovich
- Johan Montel
- Shouleh Nikzad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1255-1018)
- Greyson Davis
- Vincent Picouet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1425-3601)
Institutions
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- University of Iowa (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Aix-Marseille Université (FR)
- Centre National d'Études Spatiales (FR)
- Observatoire de Paris (FR)
- Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (FR)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Columbia University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Astronomical Telescopes Instruments and Systems
- Published
- 2024-08-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jatis.10.3.035002
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Photocathodes and Microchannel Plates
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.18