Transient events exhibit strong UV radiation, but transient activity is not well studied in the UV. Ground-based telescopes have an untapped potential to support space-based UV observations of transients, down to the atmospheric cutoff of roughly 320nm. The Super-LOTIS (Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System) telescope is the first ground-based optical telescope that is being converted for NUV transient science. It will follow up on transient targets identified by the Swift/UVOT instrument, ground-based robotic transient finders, and future space-based missions. It will also have the capacity to conduct its own observations. The development of the Super-LOTIS telescope will provide a model for future ground-based UV surveys. In this paper, we report on the progress to modify the existing camera optics to use a new NUV sensitive camera and filter system.
Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are a cornerstone of modern cosmology. Upcoming missions like the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope are pushing to high redshifts to measure cosmological parameters like the dark energy equation of state. Despite the impressive success of empirically standardizing their luminosities, the explosion mechanism of SNe Ia remains hotly debated; e.g., the mass of the white dwarf (WD) when it explodes and the state of the companion star (degenerate or non-degenerate) are all currently in question.
Early-time UV observations are sensitive to the outermost layers of the ejecta (and least affected by the explosion itself) and show the most diversity for SNe Ia. This makes the UV bandpass an excellent probe to solve these open questions about the nature of these cosmological distance indicators. To achieve this science, we present UVIa, a CubeSat that will be reactive and have simultaneous optical, Near-UV (NUV), and Far-UV (FUV) coverage, takes advantage of state-of-the-art UV coatings, UV-enhanced silicon detectors with whitelight rejection filter, and autonomous observing scheduling, updated regularly based on newly discovered SNe Ia from modern transient surveys.
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