The Observatory for Multi-Epoch Gravitational Lens Astrophysics (OMEGA)

Understand

(abridged) The Observatory for Multi-Epoch Gravitational Lens Astrophysics (OMEGA) is a mission concept for a 1.5-m near-UV through near-IR space observatory that will be dedicated to frequent imaging and spectroscopic monitoring of ~100 multiply-imaged active galactic nuclei over the whole sky.

• Using wavelength-tailored dichroics with extremely high transmittance, efficient imaging in six channels will be done simultaneously during each visit to each target.
• The separate spectroscopic mode, engaged through a flip-in mirror, uses an image slicer spectrograph.
• After a period of many visits to all targets, the resulting multidimensional movies can then be analyzed to a) measure the mass function of dark matter substructure; b) measure precise masses of the accreting black holes as well as the structure of their accretion disks and their environments over several decades of physical scale; and c) measure a combination of the local Hubble expansion and cosmological distances to unprecedented precision.