Plans for the Survey
One of the main motivations for the LaSilla/QUEST variability survey is
the discovery of low redshift (z < 0.1) Type 1a
Supernovae to complement the high redshift supernova studies such as
LSNS, ESSENCE, JDEM and others for studies of the expansion history of
the Universe.
The variability survey is planning on using 60 second point and track
exposures with the 3.6o by 4.6o QUEST camera (an
active area of 9.4 square degrees). With 40 seconds for read out
and telescope move time an exposure will take 100 seconds. The
survey can thus look at ~ 2400 square degrees per night. We plan
to cover any given area of sky twice per night with about an hour
between exposures to provide discrimination against asteroids, cosmic
rays, etc. We thus plan to cover 1200 square degrees twice per
night. The plan is to return to the same area with a 4-day
cadence for a rolling search of 4800 square degrees.
The variability survey will also feed a rich program on other science
topics such as Type 1b, c and Type II supernovae, quasar and blazar
variability studies, search for Trans Nepturian Objects, etc., etc.
