Noise characteristics of LCOGT time series photometry
Abstract
The Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) facility consists of a network of robotic telescopes located at multiple sites in both the northern and southern hemispheres. We have deployed and commissioned nine 1.0m telescopes. Eight of these are distributed longitudinally at three sites to provide continuous night-time coverage in the south. LCOGT's unique capabilities can contribute to a wide range of research in the field of time-domain astronomy. To ensure optimal data quality for individual as well as combined multi-telescope time series, it is essential that we understand and correct - whenever possible - the instrument systematics affecting LCOGT network observations. We identify physical sources of noise present in LCOGT 1.0m photometry, and we use singular value decomposition (SVD) to filter correlated noise patterns common to an ensemble of stars in a given time series data set. We quantify and compare the levels of uncorrelated and correlated noise before and after SVD filtering using power spectral analysis. Finally, we discuss the properties of and methods to reduce any remaining post-SVD red noise that is due to instrumental systematics.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #223
- Pub Date:
- January 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014AAS...22330202D