The Dynamic REd All-sky Monitoring Survey is a near-infrared fully automated all-sky survey that will be conducted using a custom built 0.5m telescope that will be located at the Australian National University’s Siding Spring Observatory.
![DREAMS Conceptual Design](/assets/images/dreams_overview.png)
![DREAMS](/assets/images/dreams_recent.jpg)
DREAMS is designed to search for astronomical transient and variable events every night. An example of these types of events is a an exploding star known as a supernova. The video below shows SN 2018gv as captured by the Hubble space telescope.
![DREAMS Conceptual Design](/assets/images/astronomy/sn_2018gv-hubble.gif)
Credit: NASA, ESA, J. DePasquale (STScI), M. Kornmesser and M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble), A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team, and the Digitized Sky Survey
DREAMS will create reference images of the southern sky and then use a data reduction and analysis technique known as difference imaging to detect these type of events and more.
DREAMS consists of two major components, the optical tube/telescope assembly (OTA) and the imager/instrument. The table below lists the major properties for each component, the final survey specifications are primarily determined by the instrument properties.
DREAMS | OTA | Instrument |
---|---|---|
Aperture | 0.5m | |
F/ratio | 6.0 | 2.0 |
Field of View | 12.19 square degrees | 3.71 square degrees |
Pixel scale | 2.48"/pixel | |
Operating Wavelengths | 0.9 - 1.7 µm | |
Filters | (Y), J, and H | |
Survey Depth | 17.8 MAB | |
Survey Speed | Visible sky every 4 nights |
The large field of view of DREAMS will allow it to fulfill a unique part in near-infrared astronomical surveys. The following comparison compares the survey speed at the DREAMS magnitude limit against other previous surveys.
![DREAMS Survey Speed](/assets/images/dreams_comparison.png)
Recent Updates
Assembly and alignment is ongoing
Assembly and alignment of the optical and mechanical parts of DREAMS is still on-going.