The Astrophysical Journal· 2026Q1
Lensing in the Blue. III. Weak-lensing Shape Catalogs of 30 Merging Galaxy Clusters
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
A new weak gravitational lensing dataset from the SuperBIT balloon telescope provides calibrated galaxy shapes for 30 galaxy clusters, achieving a low multiplicative shear bias of 1.54% ± 6.00% under near-space conditions.
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Key points
- SuperBIT balloon telescope collected weak gravitational lensing data for 30 galaxy clusters.
- Near-diffraction-limited observations were achieved above 98% of Earth's atmosphere.
- Metacalibration algorithm was used to obtain calibrated galaxy shapes.
- Multiplicative shear bias was measured at 1.54% ± 6.00% using simulated images.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract We present the weak gravitational lensing dataset from the Super-pressure Balloon-Borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT), which imaged 30 galaxy clusters during its 45 night flight in 2023 April–May. SuperBIT is a first-of-its-kind balloon-borne imaging telescope that achieved near-diffraction-limited observations in near-space conditions above 98% of the Earth’s atmosphere. We use the metacalibration algorithm to obtain calibrated galaxy shapes for our target clusters and several calibration fields, enabling unbiased reconstruction of the weak-lensing signal. We employ several diagnostics throughout the pipeline, including assessments of point-spread function (PSF) modeling residuals and their impact on weak-lensing measurements, as well as tests for correlations between galaxy shapes and measured galaxy and PSF properties. To assess the multiplicative shear bias of the pipeline, we analyze a parallel set of simulated images that incorporate the real observing conditions from the flight, including measured SuperBIT PSFs, observed sky backgrounds, and detector noise, yielding a bias of (1.54% ± 6.00%).
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The Astrophysical Journal, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy and AstrophysicsPhysics and Astronomy