Speaker
Description
Time-domain and multimessenger astronomy are entering a new observational regime in which rapid and continuous monitoring of large sky areas becomes essential for the detection and characterization of electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational waves, neutrinos, gamma-ray bursts, fast radio bursts, and other transient phenomena. Traditional wide-field surveys typically rely on sequential sky tiling, trading sky coverage against sensitivity and cadence. MezzoCielo explores a different observational paradigm: continuous monitoring of the entire accessible sky through a highly modular ultra-wide-field optical system.
The proposed concept is based on a spherical refractive assembly coupled to a hemispherical focal surface populated by a large number of identical optical cameras. The system exhibits strong spherical and chromatic aberrations, but with high uniformity across the full field of view, enabling local correction by replicated optical channels. In its final configuration, MezzoCielo is expected to monitor approximately 10000 square degrees with about 900 optical cameras, delivering seeing-limited imaging with arcsecond level sampling and a total focal plane of about 80 gigapixels. The project combines large instantaneous sky coverage, substantial collecting area, scalability, and high observational cadence within a sustainable and modular architecture. Current activities include optical and mechanical prototyping, development of an on-sky demonstrator, and definition of science-driven technical requirements and data-handling strategies.
MezzoCielo is proposed as a scalable platform for continuous all-sky multimessenger astronomy.