ULTRASAT: A wide-field time-domain UV space telescope: A Wide-field Time-domain UV Space Telescope

Y. Shvartzvald, E. Waxman, A. Gal-Yam, E. O. Ofek, S. Ben-Ami, D. Berge, M. Kowalski, R. Bühler, S. Worm, J. E. Rhoads, I Arcavi, D. Maoz, D. Polishook, N. Stone, B Trakhtenbrot, M. Ackermann, O. Aharonson, O. Birnholtz, D. Chelouche, Dafne GuettaN. Hallakoun, Assaf Horesh, D. Kushnir, T. Mazeh, J. Nordin, A. Ofir, S. Ohm, D. Parsons, A. Pe'er, H. B. Perets, V. Perdelwitz, D. Poznanski, I. Sadeh, Ilan Sagiv, S. Shahaf, Maayane T. Soumagnac, L. Tal-Or, J. Van Santen, B. Zackay, O. Guttman, P. Rekhi, A. Townsend, A. Weinstein, I. Wold

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite (ULTRASAT) is scheduled to be launched to geostationary orbit in 2026. It will carry a telescope with an unprecedentedly large field of view (204 deg2) and NUV (230-290nm) sensitivity (22.5 mag, 5σ, at 900s). ULTRASAT will conduct the first wide-field survey of transient and variable NUV sources and will revolutionize our ability to study the hot transient universe: It will explore a new parameter space in energy and time-scale (months long light-curves with minutes cadence), with an extra-Galactic volume accessible for the discovery of transient sources that is >300 times larger than that of GALEX and comparable to that of LSST. ULTRASAT data will be transmitted to the ground in real-time, and transient alerts will be distributed to the community in <15 min, enabling a vigorous ground-based follow-up of ULTRASAT sources. ULTRASAT will also provide an all-sky NUV image to >23.5 AB mag, over 10 times deeper than the GALEX map. Two key science goals of ULTRASAT are the study of mergers of binaries involving neutron stars, and supernovae: With a large fraction (>50%) of the sky instantaneously accessible, fast (minutes) slewing capability and a field-of-view that covers the error ellipses expected from GW detectors beyond 2025, ULTRASAT will rapidly detect the electromagnetic emission following BNS/NS-BH mergers identified by GW detectors, and will provide continuous NUV light-curves of the events; ULTRASAT will provide early (hour) detection and continuous high (minutes) cadence NUV light curves for hundreds of core-collapse supernovae, including for rarer supernova progenitor types.
Original languageEnglish
Article number74
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume964
Issue number1
Early online date18 Mar 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished Online - 18 Mar 2024

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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