Overview
PRIME is a 1.8-m diameter wide field alt-az telescope with a near IR (to H-band) prime focus camera giving a 1.13° x 1.13° field of view. In addition there will be a fibre-fed high resolution spectrograph, SAND, which will cover 900-1200Å at R ~ 55000.
PRIME is a joint Japanese-US-South African project involving the University of Osaka, The AstroBiology Center of the Japanese National Institutes of Natural Sciences, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, the University of Maryland and SAAO. The fraction of time available to the South African community outright is 14%, although the data from the main survey (which will represent 50% of the observing time) will be made available to the community.
It is expected to be installed in Sutherland in the latter part of 2020.
The (outdated) website for PRIME is: [1]
A presentation on PRIME by the PI, Taka Sumi, can be downloaded from here:
Specifications:
diameter = 1.8-m
f/ratio (prime) = f/2.3
f/ratio (fibre injection) = f/3.3
prime focus detector = mosaic of 4 x H4RG-10 HgCdTe arrays with 10 micron pixels (flight spares from the WFIRST mission)
filters: z, Y, J, H, selected narrow bands ([FeII]、Paβ、HeI, used in parallel with broadband to reduce OH contamination)
Science Drivers:
Main programme (50% of total time, mostly in winter):
microlensing detection in the Galactic bulge (50% of total time) to search for exoplanets
Secondary programmes (comprising the remaining 50% of the time):
exoplanet transits
Galactic structure
variable stars
transients (with ToO over-ride capability)
Schedule:
Preliminary building design: completed Nov 2019
Ash Dome (9-m diameter): arrival at Sutherland expected end Mar 2020
Building commencement expected: end-April 2020
Building completion expected: end-Sep 2020
Telescope and dome installation: Oct 2020
Camera completion: end 2020
Commissioning: beginning early 2021
SAAO Contact:
David Buckley (PM)