Northern Sky Narrowband Survey: Instruments

A survey of the northern sky, focusing on emission lines Hα (656.3 nm), [OIII] (500.7 nm), and [SII] (671.7 nm and 673.0 nm), but also collecting continuum data, started at the end of 2018. The entire northern hemisphere down to a declination of -16° is being surveyed.

This page gives an overview of the instruments used. Results of the survey can be found on the data release pages or in Images section.

Instruments

Below are two tables. The first one describes the different instruments, and the second one lists how many of the instruments from the first table are active in which period.
Instrument index Emission line, Bandwidth / Passband / Filter Field of view Aperture Resolution Comment
1 656.3 nm (Hα, emission line of HII), 3.5nm 7.6° × 5.8° 5 cm 9″ (FWHM) Panasonic MN34230 sensor, f=135 mm lens
2 Bayer CFA + Light pollution filter 15.5° × 10.3° 7 cm 17″ (FWHM) DSLR camera, f=135 mm lens
3 656.3 nm (Hα, emission line of HII), 3.5 nm 7.6° × 5.8° 6 cm 9″ (FWHM) Panasonic MN34230 sensor, f=135 mm lens
4 656.3 nm, 35 nm 7.6° × 5.8° 5 cm 9″ (FWHM) Panasonic MN34230 sensor, f=135 mm lens. Used for exact continuum measurement (wide passband centered to emission line).
5a 410 nm to 550 nm (SDSS G') 6.8° × 4.5° 10 cm 7″ (FWHM) Sony IMX455 sensor, f=300 mm lens
5b 555 nm to 650 nm (SDSS R' + 400 nm to 650nm IR-cut) 6.8° × 4.5° 10 cm 7″ (FWHM) Sony IMX455 sensor, f=300 mm lens
5c 695 nm to 845 nm (SDSS I') 6.8° × 4.5° 10 cm 7″ (FWHM) Sony IMX455 sensor, f=300 mm lens
6a 505.7 nm (emission line of OIII), 4 nm 10° × 6.8° 6 cm 10″ (FWHM) Sony IMX571 sensor, f=135 mm lens
6b 671.7 nm and 673.0 nm (emission lines of SII), 4 nm 10° × 6.8° 6 cm 10″ (FWHM) Sony IMX571 sensor, f=135 mm lens

Instrument index: 1 2 3 4 5a 5b 5c 6a 6b
Nov 2018 to Apr 2020 4 2
Apr 2020 to Jul 2020 1 2 3
Jul 2020 to Jan 2022 2 3 1
Jan 2022 to Sep 2022 2 3 1 1 1 1
Sep 2022 to Dec 2023 3 1 1 1 1
Dec 2022 to Apr 2023 3 1 1 1 1 1 1
Apr 2023 to Jan 2024 3 1 1 1 1 2 3
Since Jan 2024 3 1 1 1 1 3 3
Since Sep 2024 4 1 1 1 3 3

Images of the instruments

Below are a few photos of the instruments. Click on the images for higher resolution versions.
Both arrays of the Northern Sky Narrowband Survey Both arrays of the Northern Sky Narrowband Survey
All instruments are distributed across two arrays which are shown above.
Array of the Northern Sky Narrowband Survey containing H-alpha and continuum instruments Array of the Northern Sky Narrowband Survey containing H-alpha and continuum instruments
Hα instruments (3 and 4; the four smaller lenses) and the continuum cameras (5a to 5c; the three large lenses).
Array of the Northern Sky Narrowband Survey containing [OIII] and [SII] instruments Array of the Northern Sky Narrowband Survey containing [OIII] and [SII] instruments
[OIII] and [SII] instruments (3 × 6a and 3 × 6b).

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