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Pointing calibration of LHAASO-WFCTA telescopes using bright stars

  • LHAASO Collaboration
  • Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • TIANFU Cosmic Ray Research Center
  • Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
  • Max-Planck-Institut for Nuclear Physics
  • State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics
  • University of Science and Technology of China
  • Southwest Jiaotong University
  • Nanjing University
  • Guangzhou University
  • Hebei Normal University
  • Purple Mountain Observatory Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University
  • Shanghai Astronomical Observatory Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Key Laboratory of Cosmic Rays (Tibet University)
  • National Astronomical Observatories Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Sun Yat-Sen University
  • Yunnan University
  • Université de Genève
  • Shandong University
  • Mahidol University
  • CNRS/IN2P3
  • Tsinghua University
  • Zhengzhou University
  • Yunnan Observatories
  • Sichuan University
  • Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences
  • Peking University
  • Guangxi University
  • Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
  • Nanchang University
  • National Space Science Center

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

One of the main scientific objectives of the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) is to perform accurate measurements of the energy spectra for different cosmic ray masses, from a few TeV to 100 PeV. As one of the main sub-arrays of LHAASO, the Wide Field-of-View Cherenkov Telescope Array (WFCTA), which consists of 18 telescopes, can help in achieving this goal. The pointing accuracy of each telescope is crucial for reconstructing energy and determining mass-sensitive parameters. In this study, a method for absolute pointing calibration using ultraviolet bright stars was established. The proposed method can achieve a pointing accuracy of approximately 0.02° by using more than five stars. When more stars are used in the telescope's field of view, the accuracy of the pointing calibration can be improved, e.g, a pointing accuracy of 0.01° can be achieved when using more than 15 stars. A high-precision inclinometer with a monitor resolution of 0.003° was installed on the camera to monitor the zenith direction of the telescope at every second. After calibration using bright stars, the absolute pointing accuracy of the inclinometer was 0.02°.

Original languageEnglish
Article number168662
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume1056
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bright stars
  • Inclinometer
  • Pointing calibration
  • WFCTA

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