Front‐ vs. back‐illuminated CCD cameras for photometric surveys: a noise budget analysis
Abstract Exoplanetary transit and stellar oscillation surveys require a very high precision photometry. The instrumental noise has therefore to be minimized. First, we perform a semi‐analytical model of different noise sources. We show that the noise due the CCD electrodes can be overcome using a Ga...
| Published in: | Astronomische Nachrichten |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asna.200710820 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fasna.200710820 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/asna.200710820 |
| Summary: | Abstract Exoplanetary transit and stellar oscillation surveys require a very high precision photometry. The instrumental noise has therefore to be minimized. First, we perform a semi‐analytical model of different noise sources. We show that the noise due the CCD electrodes can be overcome using a Gaussian PSF (Point Spread Function) of full width half maximum larger than 1.6 pixels. We also find that for a PSF size of a few pixels, the photometric aperture has to be at least 2.5 times larger than the PSF full width half maximum. Then, we compare a front‐ with a back‐illuminated CCD through a Monte‐Carlo simulation. Both cameras give the same results for a PSF full width half maximum larger than 1.5 pixels. All these simulations are applied to the A STEP (Antarctica Search for Transiting Extrasolar Planets) project. As a result, we choose a front‐illuminated camera for A STEP because of its better resolution and lower price, and we will use a PSF larger than 1.6 pixels. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
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