Facilities at ARIES for the Nainital-Cape Survey

Abstract

A collaborative programme searching for mmag pulsations in chemically peculiar stars in the northern hemisphere was initiated in 1997 between Nainital, India, and Cape Town, South Africa. It was therefore named as the Nainital-Cape Survey programme. The detection limits imposed by the observing conditions (including atmospheric noise and telescope size) at both Manora Peak and Devasthal sites are described. The scintillation noise on the best photometric nights is ≈0 1 to 0.2 mmag for these sites. Both places allow one to detect few mmag variation in bright stars ( B ≤ 12 mag), and are therefore particularly well-suited for carrying out the proposed survey work. The main characteristics of the three-channel photometer developed at ARIES for carrying out the observations are also presented. This excellent instrument has been used extensively since 1999 at the f/13 Cassegrain focus of ARIES' 10⁴ cm telescope. In particular, it allowed the survey to result in the discovery of δ Scuti like pulsations in four Am stars, in one rapidly oscillating Ap star, and in a number of probable variables so far. The future prospects are then presented, which regard the acquisition of a high speed time series CCD photometer, a project to build a 3-metre class telescope at Devasthal, and collaborative observations with Indian and foreign astronomical sites.