Search
Text Size:
Smaller Text Normal Text Larger Text

Blank fields for twilight flats

The "blanks"-catalogue is a merged catalogue of the "old and new blanks fields". In the Table below fields with red are from the "old" blank fields (blanks_old.cat). The coordinates of these fields are collected from various sources.
The new fields (with full information and a pre-image) (blanks_new.cat ) are fields on the sky which have only faint stars, which should make them attractive for flat fields. Depending on the region of the sky the fields have different overall limits, ranging from 13 to 15. Limits in one band can be of course even lower. The data was optained using photographic plates which have the colours J (λ = 480nm), F (λ = 650nm) and N (λ = 850nm), comparable to B (λ = 428nm), R (λ = 631nm) and i (λ = 810nm). Marked are those fields which have a limit in F of 16+.

The "max peak ADU" gives an idea of the flux of the brightest field star (including bias) and the next column the number of field stars.
The coordinates were chosen from the guide star catalogue (GSC2.3, Lasker et al. 2008AJ), looking for positions on the sky with no stars brighter than a certain limit in a radius of 5' to cover the field of view of ALFOSC. The TCSTGT is a link to a preimage of each field, typically 60 seconds ALFOSC R-band integration.

In the evening, select a field with RA a couple of hours more than current ST to make sure you avoid pointing towards the sun in the west. For the morning twilight point to the west, RA of blank field being 2-3 hours less than the current ST.


TCS blanks-catalogue

Name RA Decl galactic galactic number limit limit limit R-band exposure scaled to 60 sec (raw frame)     K<14
TCSTGT J2000.0 J2000.0 l b of stars J F N max peak kADU stars with peak > 20 kADU FWHM K (max) N
Blank00+07 00:24:00 +07:54:00 111 -54 119 16 15 15 30 2 0.9 14.85 0
Blank01+12 01:21:00 +12:00:00 134 -50 165 17 15 15 40 1 0.9 14.93 0
Blank01+02 01:47:40 +02:20:00 150 -57 540 3 0.7 10.69 5
Blank02+13 02:21:00 +13:12:00 154 -44 155 18 16 15 27 3 0.9 13.48 2
Blank03+31 03:33:00 +31:03:00 159 -20 13 18 17 16 16 0 1.3 13.50 2
Blank04+25 04:42:00 +25:33:00 175 -13 33 18 16 15 12 0 1.3 11.98 4
Blank05-02 05:45:00 -02:09:00 207 -15 165 17 15 14 23. 3 1.3 11.49 7
Blank06+42 06:51:00 +42:24:00 174 18 316 14 13 XX 66 12 1.3 14.31 0
Blank07+64 07:48:00 +64:30:00 152 30 202 15 14 14 33 4 1.4 12.68 4
Blank08+37 08:45:00 +37:12:00 185 38 158 15 14 14 30 3 1.0 14.06 0
Blank09-07 09:12:00 -07:50:50 160 10 0.8 13.28 6
Blank09+46 09:10:28 +46:26:23 173 43 62 2 0.8 11.85 5
Blank09+66 09:24:00 +66:42:00 147 40 117 16 15 15 41. 3 1.0 14.13 0
Blank10+58 10:24:00 +58:36:00 152 49 101 16 15 15 25. 3 1.0 13.59 3
Blank10+57 10:52:00 +57:36:00 624 7 0.8 14.02 0
Blank11+51 11:09:00 +51:48:00 154 59 90 17 16 15 17. 0 1.1 15.27 0
Blank12+54 12:21:00 +54:12:00 133 62 187 17 16 16 12. 0 1.1 13.96 1
Blank12+02 12:29:20 +02:01:00 624 6 0.8 10.24 4
Blank13+29 13:07:00 +29:35:00 175 1 0.7 13.66 1
Blank13+63 13:21:00 +63:48:00 117 53 134 16 15 15 17 0 1.1 13.69 1
Blank13+62 13:36:20 +62:14:00 47 3 0.6 10.67 2
Blank13+05 13:48:20 +05:38:00 78 4 0.7 12.95 1
Blank14+17 14:12:00 +17:39:00 10 69 272 16 16 15 15. 0 1.0 13.97 1
Blank15+53 15:27:00 +53:45:00 87 51 151 17 16 15 19. 0 1.0 14.65 0
Blank16+55 16:24:30 +55:44:00 163 3 0.8 11.79 7
Blank16-15 16:50:53 -15:21:45 4 18 55 18 16 15 12. 0 1.0 11.36 6
Blank17+34 17:27:00 +34:03:00 58 31 396 15 14 14 120. 21 0.7 13.01 3
Blank17+66 17:59:40 +66:21:00 193 9 1.0 10.60 7
Blank19+59 19:15:00 +59:33:00 90 20 355 14 13 13 217. 25 0.8 12.00 5
Blank20-09 20:45:00 -09:06:00 38 -29 366 14 13 13 76. 31 1.0 12.97 8
Blank21+11 21:24:00 +11:30:00 63 -27 374 14 13 13 >140 31 0.8 13.24 8
Blank21-08 21:29:30 -08:38:00 108 6 1.0 9.47 6
Blank22-08 22:36:00 -08:33:00 57 -53 152 15 14 14 70. 8 0.8 13.95 1
Blank23+11 23:15:50 +11:27:00 603 2 0.9 11.11 3
Blank23+09 23:39:00 +09:30:00 95 -49 103 16 15 15 56. 6 0.8 13.18 1
Blank23+00 23:47:00 +00:57:00 292 6 0.9 13.01 3

The visibility plot of the blank fields for today is here.