Wide-field prime-focus corrector design: application to the Catalina Sky Survey

We present a baseline, cost-effective upgrade solution for the 61" Kuiper Telescope that enhances its capabilities for a wide-field-of-view survey mission. The proposed solution features a prime focus corrector operating at f /4.5, which achieves a diagonal field of view of approximately 0.94 ∘ . The optical design emphasizes simplicity and efficiency, offering three key advantages. First, it is cost-effective because all lenses are composed of planar or spherical surfaces, significantly reducing manufacturing and testing complexity and costs. Second, the design employs a single optical material, streamlining material requirements. Third, it offers exceptional achromatic performance over a wide field of view, enabling high-fidelity survey imaging. The upgraded system will host a 10 µm -pixel detector, ensuring high-resolution imaging capabilities. Baseline analyses, including sensitivity and Monte Carlo simulations, demonstrate the robustness of our design. This upgrade aims to enhance the telescope’s performance and integrate seamlessly into the broader telescope network for the Catalina Sky Survey Mission, thereby advancing survey throughput, cost-efficiency, and imaging capabilities.