Abstract:
The Multi-Channel Imager (MCI) is a powerful near-ultraviolet (NUV) and visible imager onboard the Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope (CSST). The MCI provides three imaging channels, which are the NUV channel, the Blue channel and the Red channel, with the wavelength ranges of 255–430 nm, 430–700 nm, and 700–1000 nm, respectively. MCI’s three channels can target the same field simultaneously, which is unique compared to other imagers onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) or the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Each channel employs a CCD focal plane of 9216 × 9232 pixels and ∼7
5 × 7
5 field of view (FOV), which are ≳4 times the FOVs of HST imagers. The MCI’s three channels feature unprecedented sensitivities and FOVs, complementing the NUV and visible capabilities of the CSST for high-precision photometry and weak-signal detection, which would help build a new standard-star system and the deepest UV-Optical exposures for CSST. Rich filter sets of MCI would help explore other areas of science such as local emission line mapping, searching for high-z Lyα emitters, etc. Here we present key design features, results of current ground tests, and suggest observing strategies for the MCI.
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Subject:
Astronomy
>>
Astrophysical processes
Journal:
Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics
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Contribution：
Published
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Cite as:
ChinaXiv:202609.00322
(or this version
ChinaXiv:202609.00322V1)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-4527/ae4a05
CSTR:32003.36.ChinaXiv.202609.00322
- Recommended references：
Zhen-Ya Zheng,Chun Xu,Xiaohua Liu,Yong-He Chen,Fang Xu,Hu Zhan,Xinfeng Li,Lixin Zheng,Huanyuan Shan,Jing Zhong,Zhaojun Yan,Fang-Ting Yuan,Chunyan Jiang,Xiyan Peng,Wei Chen,Xue Cheng,Zhen-Lei Chen,Shuairu Zhu,Lin Long,Xin Zhang,Yan Gong,Li Shao,Wei Wang,Tianyi Zhang,,
Guohao Ju6
, Chenghao Li6
, Wei Wang6
, Zhiyuan Li7
, Tao Wang7
, Junfeng Wang8
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, Bin Ma9
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Lei Wang11, Dezi Liu12, Nie Lin
, Kexin Li
, Xinrong Wen
, Maochun Wu
, Ruqiu Lin1
, and Xiang Ji.MCI: Multi-channel Imager on the Chinese Space Station Survey Telescope.Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics:https://chinaxiv.org/abs/202609.00322.[ChinaXiv:202609.00322V1]
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