ULTRACAM: an ultra-fast, triple-beam CCD camera for high-speed astrophysics

Understand

ULTRACAM is a portable, high-speed imaging photometer designed to study faint astronomical objects at high temporal resolutions.

• ULTRACAM employs two dichroic beamsplitters and three frame-transfer CCD cameras to provide three-colour optical imaging at frame rates of up to 500 Hz.
• The instrument has been mounted on both the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope on La Palma and the 8.2-m Very Large Telescope in Chile, and has been used to study white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, pulsars, black-hole/neutron-star X-ray binaries, gamma-ray bursts, cataclysmic variables, eclipsing binary stars, extrasolar planets, flare stars, ultra-compact binaries, active galactic nuclei, asteroseismology and occultations by Solar System objects (Titan, Pluto and Kuiper Belt objects).
• In this paper we describe the scientific motivation behind ULTRACAM, present an outline of its design and report on its measured performance.