Flarescope

A Space-weather Monitoring Optical Instrument

Flarescope is a fully automated observatory being installed on Palomar mountain that represents the culmination of my first three years of research at Caltech. A combination of a small aperture (0.5m), engineered diffusers, a frame-transfer EMCCD, and a high-precision tracking mount that allows it to reach sub-mmag precision on bright targets (m > 2) on the order of 5-10 minutes. Flarescope will be monitoring stellar activity from nearby, sun-like stars simultaneously with the Long Wavelength Array at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO-LWA) in order to characterize space-weather from young, solar analogs. The coordination of Flarescope and OVRO-LWA represents the beginning of a pan-chromatic study of extrasolar space weather in an attempt to constrain habitability and exo-biogenesis.

As of November 2023, Flarescope is operational! You can read about its design, performance, and coordination with the OVRO-LWA here. If you want to see how it compares to its original design and performance expectations, you can also read the preliminary design review here!