The photometric system of the one-meter telescope at Weihai observatory of Shandong university

Abstract

The one-meter telescope at Weihai Observatory (WHO) of Shandong University is an f/8 Cassegrain telescope. Three sets of filters are installed in a dual layer filterwheel that use Johnson - Cousins UBVRI, Sloan Digital Sky Survey u′g′r′i′z′ and Strömgren uvby. The photometric system and the CCD camera are introduced, followed by detailed analysis of their performances, and determination of the relevant parameters, including gain, readout noise, dark current and linearity of the CCD camera. In addition, the parameters describing the site's astro-climate, including typical seeing, statistics on the number of clear nights and average sky brightness, based on data gathered from Sep. 2007 to Aug. 2013, are systematically studied and reported in this work. Photometric calibrations were done using Landolt standard star observations spanning eight nights, which yielded transformation coefficients, photometric precision and system throughput. The limiting magnitudes are simulated using the derived calibration parameters and classic observation conditions at WHO. © 2014 National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd.